Complex (formerly known under the placeholder name ”Cheer”) is a formerly unidentified minimal wave/synthpunk song recorded and released by the Swiss band HET in 1988. It was taken from an old tapes compilation on YouTube with other unknown songs, uploaded by user Нет войне! (No war!).
Search History
2010s-2022
On September 2nd, 2015, YouTube user Нет войне! posted a video titled "Unknown Postpunk & Wave from Switzerland" claiming that he "found these snippets on an old tape, I guess, all the bands are switzerland-based."
Upon the four clips was a short six-second one, along with the text on the screen "As far as I remember, this one is called complex and had a both male & female singer". After a while, the rest of the clips were found, other than Complex. The video itself was privated.
On May 31st, 2020, a new video was uploaded, called "unknown Postpunk & Wave from Switzerland". This version had all the lost songs from his older videos uploaded in 2015 and some never before seen clips from his tapes. This also included another lost song Damenwahl from his older video.
This new video had the "Complex" snippet with a voice saying something that was interpreted as a "Cheer" but was proved to be an editing mistake done by нет войне!. The voice actually said "Yes" and was taken from the song "Loneliest Person" by The Indian Feast.
On May 12th, 2022, on a нет войне!'s blog post he stated that he recorded mostly from a radio station called DRS 3 specifically the "CH Special" which played music from local bands and "strange" people according to нет войне!, which he stated on his YouTube comments that's probably where the song was recorded from. [1]
2023-Early 2024
Over time, the song was reuploaded to YouTube by several users, such as MistaEgg, Ofrix, Q, S2h, Zumi, LostwaveFinder, Jcorsen, multiple others, amassing over 100k views.
On March 4th, 2024, the OP responded to a comment theorizing that the song was by the band The Cassandra Complex, they provided more details about how they remembered the song, saying:
"It was more in a harsh spoken word type, the refrain used a melody but in an unemotional way, Cassandra Complex seems to use a gothrock-type of singing. both voices - female & male - were very similar: somber, but not Andrew Eldritch-alike-deep and no etheral or classical singing. it sounded desperate and angry but no EBM-type aggressive shouting. (But yeah... it's decades ago....)"[2]
On March 27th, 2024, the OP released a recreation of the song based on his memory. On April 5th, 2024, YouTuber Moody Riffs uploaded their own recreation of the song based on the OP's cover.
Late 2024
On August 14th, 2024, Discord user PNWM-Trabial discovered a listing for a song named Complex by a Swiss band called Het on the website of the Swiss National Sound Archives[3][4]. The band shared a similar musical style to the song and recorded in the same studio as Micro Kids, the band that the OP originally believed to have created the song.[5]
A day later, the OP claimed that he skipped work to listen to the recording at a library and confirmed that it was the same song[6], but he was wasn’t allowed to create a copy of the original recording[7]. That same day, Eva Frosch, the female singer, confirmed to Discord user saber that it was indeed a song from HET. [8]
A day after that, on August 16th, 2024, Eva gave the file with the complete song to Discord user sveta under the file name "High Society (Strange Complex)", and the song was fully identified as Complex by HET.
On December 16th, 2024, during an email exchange with user Jack Torrance, Franz Frosch, the male singer, provided the front and back cover of the cassette. It was discovered that the song was indeed just called "Complex", instead of "Strange Complex" or "High Society" which was misremembered by Eva when she was typing the file name. This was further cemented by Franz confirming the title directly as "Complex" in a later message.
Lyrics
[Verse 1: Franz Frosch]
She's got more money, more cars, more men
She lives how I will never can
I love her once, I do it twice
In bed, we're playing cat & mice
[Chorus: Franz & Eva Frosch]
You may say she only likes my sex
It's not true 'cause her strange complex
Is that even though her problem is
Only like the mine does smell her piss
You may say she only likes my sex
It's not true 'cause her strange complex
Is that even though her problem is
Only like the mine does smell her p-p-p-piss
[Verse 2: Franz Frosch, Franz & Eva Frosch]
She is from the high society
Is driving Jaguars & drinking tea
She looks like Karloff, she is so strong
I have been hers yet for so long
[Chorus: Franz & Eva Frosch]
You may say she only likes my sex
It's not true 'cause her strange complex
Is that even though her problem is
Only like the mine does smell her piss
You may say she only likes my sex
It's not true 'cause her strange complex
Is that even though her problem is
Only like the mine does smell her p-p-p-piss
Gallery
.jpg "Cheer (7).jpg (73 KB)")
Trivia
- Contrary to the popular belief, the song is not about urine, but is based on a Swiss German saying which says that no matter the financial or hierarchical status of someone, everyone is equal to everyone. [9]
- The name Karloff in the third line of the second verse refers to the British actor Boris Karloff, mostly known for having played the role of The Monster in several Frankenstein movies.
External Links
- Original YouTube upload.
- Unlisted YouTube upload giving more info.
- OP's recreation
- Subreddit search sub (r/LostwaveCheer).
- Full song upload.
- (Outdated) lyrics on Genius.com[10]
- The band on Discogs.
- Unofficial censored version.
References
- ↑ https://kauft-mein-buch.blogspot.com/2022/05/drs3-sounds.html?view=classic
- ↑
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/Lostwave/comments/1et0ytz/cheer_is_in_verification_needed_het_complex/
- ↑ https://www.fonoteca.ch/cgi-bin/oecgi4.exe/inet_fnbasedetail?REC_ID=1449.011&LNG_ID=ENU
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O3hbH2SGVg
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6n0ssD2zGg&lc=UgyXxcJAOYZcdsb0WG94AaABAg.A78TCtsGEubA7AAXukId4Y
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6n0ssD2zGg&lc=UgyXxcJAOYZcdsb0WG94AaABAg.A78TCtsGEubA7AJHA8rAwW
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsGOOcs1hCk&lc=Ugx2mdFIQkok3FOKIOF4AaABAg.A7DJQAwNMsxA7DJzM0mcTj
- ↑ Reddit post confirming that the song is not about urine.
- ↑ The principal editor of the page, theeDave, does not let anyone edit it to add the actual lyrics. Please beware when you consult the Genius page.
|
нет войне!’s Lostwave Songs | |
|---|---|
| Battle For The Northstar • Can't Stop Rudie • Complex • D.D. Dig We Must (Ed Bahlman Remix) • Don't Open The Arc • Elefant Mo • Fortune Teller • Holocaust Ride • Hypnotised • La Fille Aux Yeux Telescopiques • Loneliest Person • Masquerade • Mind Over Matta • Parco Degli Aranci • Psychopath • Ruff It Up • State Of Stress | |
| Carnival • Damenwahl • No More Feelings • Old Tape Instrumental • Swiss Rock Instrumental • Unterm Rad | |