Rosenmontag

“Nightmares” was the 7th single released by synth-pop band Flock Of Seagulls. The single was taken from the the bands second album “Listen.” “Nightmares” peaked at #53 on the UK singles chart on April 16, 1983 and #62 on the US Billboard Dance Chart.

The two B-sides reveal the often-overlooked experimental side of Flock of Seagulls. Slightly edited versions of “The Last Flight of Yuri Gagarin” and “Rosenmontag” appeared on the original cassette and CD pressings of “Listen.” Both tracks are extended for this 12″ and have never appeared on CD. However the 2010 remastered CD version of “Listen” does contain the 12″ version of “Nightmares”.

Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin was [bad word] cosmonaut and the first man in space. He orbited the earth in April 1961, a humilating blow to the U.S. spaceflight team which at the time was in [bad word] with [bad word] counterparts. His “last flight” took place on March 27, 1968, when the UTI MiG-15 (an experimental jet he was piloting) crashed. He was 34 years old. The Apollo 15 astronauts put a plaque on the moon naming all of the men who’d died in the space race. Gagarin was honored among them.

“Rosenmontag” (German for “Rose Monday”) is a festival which takes place in Cologne, Germany in the days leading up to Lent. Rosenmontag is the Monday prior to Ash Wednesday. It is likely that the band learned about this Catholic holiday while in Germany during the recording of “Listen.” Coincidentally, it is also the title of a 1930 film directed by Hans Steinhoff.