Lostwave is an internet term used to describe music and songs whose artist, title or origin are unknown. The term was coined on Reddit in 2019 when people searching for the identity of The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet made a subreddit dedicated to searching for other unknown songs, such as Everyone Knows That (Ulterior Motives). While most lostwave comes from the pre-internet age, most notably the 1980s and 1990s, lostwave songs can come from any decade in history. The term is a portmanteau of the words "lost" and "wave", a suffix used to describe other genres such as "new wave", "cold wave", and "vaporwave".

Examples

The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet

The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet was recorded by a user named Darius S from a radio program that aired on West German public radio station Norddeutscher Rundfunk.[1][2] The song was recorded onto a cassette tape, which also included other songs by XTC and The Cure. To get a clean copy of the songs, the DJ chatter was removed, which is likely why the song's exact airplay date and title are unknown.[3]

The song was first posted to the internet between 2004 and 2007, but did not pick up much traction at the time. In 2019, questions about the song's origins began to pick up steam when Brazilian teenager Gabriel da Silva Vieira began searching for the song's origin after learning of it from Nicolás Zúñiga of the Spanish independent record label Dead Wax Records. Gabriel uploaded the excerpt of the song to YouTube and many music-related Reddit communities, and eventually founded r/TheMysteriousSong.[4]

On May 27, 2019, Australian music news website Tone Deaf wrote the earliest article focusing on the song, with author Tyler Jenke discussing the preliminary stages of the search for the track and noting that the search was similar to a 2013 search for a song ultimately identified as "On the Roof" by Swedish musician Johan Lindell.[5][6]

Also in 2019, DJ Paul Baskerville was thought to be related to the song, as his program Musik für junge Leute ("music for young people") was thought to have been the show from which the song was taped.[7][8][9] He suspects that it was a demo recording that was played once by an NDR presenter and then thrown away.[10]

Everyone Knows That (Ulterior Motives)

In 2021, user carl92 uploaded a 17 second sample of a song they recorded in 1999 onto WatZatSong. They had found the recording amongst files in a DVD backup, and speculates it was a leftover from when they were learning to capture audio.[11][12]

On the Roof

On the Roof is a song by Swedish musician Johan Lindell whose identity remained a mystery for several years until 2013, when it was identified as being by Lindell. He had since abandoned music to pursue a career in painting, and was unaware of the search.[5][13]

Ready 'n' Steady

Ready 'n' Steady is a song by American musicians Dennis Lucchesi and Jim Franks under the name D.A, which was released in 1979. The song, despite not being officially released, debuted on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart by Billboard at number 106, rising to number 102 before falling off the chart.[14] To date, this remains the only case of a song without an official release appearing on a Billboard chart. The song's existence was in question for many years,[15] but was confirmed to be real in 2016. It also debuted on KFAI in Minneapolis, Minnesota that same year,[16] the only known instance of it being played on radio.

Chapolin Polka

Chapolin Polka is an electronic instrumental song clip used as the Brazilian opening theme of El Chapulín Colorado Mexican comedy series broadcast nationwide on SBT Network from 1984 to 2020. The theme was used by the network in other shows since mid-80s until becoming the theme for the show in 1993 for its Brazilian-made exclusive opening. Fans of the show have been trying to identify the name and origin of the song since 2013.[17]

Knew It In a Heartbeat

Knew It In a Heartbeat is a song written and produced in 1988 by Lenny Macaluso, otherwise known as "Lenny Mac" for "a young rocker from Chicago" [18]. The song was never put in a film or TV show, and was written with the intent of capturing a "Huey Lewis vibe". The (lead) singer is unknown (Lenny Mac was the background singer) alongside the name of the song.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Browne, David (24 September 2019). "The Unsolved Case of the Most Mysterious Song on the Internet". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  2. ↑ Jones, Alexandra Mae (2019-11-18). "Help solve a decades-long mystery: What is the name of this mysterious 80s song?". CTVNews. Archived from the original on 2023-05-24. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  3. ↑ Reeve, Tanja (30 May 2020). "Die Jagd nach dem Most Mysterious Song on the Internet". Braunschweiger Zeitung. Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  4. ↑ "This Mysterious Three-Minute Song Has The Internet Baffled". 2 Ocean's Vibe News. 2021-07-29. Archived from the original on 2021-12-26. Retrieved 2021-12-25.
  5. 1 2 Jenke, Tyler (2019-05-27). "Can you help some internet sleuths identify a mysterious song?". Tone Deaf. Archived from the original on 2023-05-31. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
  6. ↑ Newstead, Al (2013-09-23). "The 30 Year Puzzle Of The Mystery Song Finally Solved". Tone Deaf. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  7. ↑ Knörer, Ekkehard (2019-09-27). "Wer kennt diesen Song?". www.zeit.de. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
  8. ↑ "80er-Song lässt User verzweifeln: "Most mysterious song on the internet"? Spuren nach Deutschland". www.rotenburger-rundschau.de (in German). 4 June 2020. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
  9. ↑ Ulrich, Viola (2019-09-11). "Mysteriöser Song: Wer kennt dieses Lied aus den 80er-Jahren?". DIE WELT. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  10. ↑ "Hamburg Journal: Der geheimnisvolle Song aus dem NDR Archiv | ARD Mediathek". www.ardmediathek.de (in German). Archived from the original on 2020-11-15. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  11. ↑ Klee, Miles (2023-11-12). "Internet Sleuths Want to Track Down This Mystery Pop Song. They Only Have 17 Seconds of It". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  12. ↑ carl92. "Can you help me name this tune?". WatZatSong. Retrieved 2023-11-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ↑ Newstead, Al (2013-09-23). "The 30 Year Puzzle Of The Mystery Song Finally Solved". Tone Deaf. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  14. ↑ "Billboard". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. June 30, 1979 – via Google Books.
  15. ↑ Cofer, Jim (2013-06-20). "The Record That (Apparently) Doesn't Exist". jimcofer.com. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  16. ↑ "Crap From The Past - July 8, 2016: Paul Haney presents a world premiere of D.A.'s Ready 'N' Steady from 1979!". July 8, 2016 – via Internet Archive.
  17. ↑ "Trilha/BGM de Abertura do Chapolin Colorado no SBT - Fórum Chaves • Chaves, Chapolin e Chespirito é aqui". forumchaves.com.br. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
  18. ↑ Unknown (80s/90s?) Song “Knew It In A Heartbeat”, retrieved 2024-01-18
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