Berlin bass player John Crawford wrote this song. The Metro is the underground transportation system in Paris, and the song tells the story of a woman riding a train to see a former love. The couple clearly has a lot of history, and the moments of this meeting and the lead-up to it are etched in her memory, as she recalls the train ride in vivid detail, including the soldier sleeping next to her.
John Crawford was good at crafting songs that let lead singer Terri Nunn get into character. She was an actress before joining the band and even had an audition to
play Princess Leia in
Star Wars.
Berlin consider "The Metro" their signature song, the one that embodies their sound. They were very excited when they came up with it after a few years of fits and starts as the band came together. The group formed in 1978 and went through two lead singers before Terri Nunn joined in 1980. But then Nunn left, and a third vocalist sang on their 1980 debut album. Nunn returned, and when they came up with "The Metro," they gelled.
System Of A Down released a rather intense cover of "The Metro" in 2000 that features in the movies Dracula 2000 and Not Another Teen Movie.
Berlin couldn't get many radio stations to play this song, but they had better luck with MTV, which put the video in rotation thanks in no small part to lead singer Terri Nunn, who gave them an attractive woman to show alongside their Toto and Huey Lewis & the News clips. MTV was still in its infancy, so record companies were stingy with budgets for the videos. Berlin shot the clips for "The Metro" and "
Sex (I'm A...)" back to back over two days. Nunn was not happy about shooting the subway scene over and over. Exhausted, she got frustrated and started crying, which was the footage they used. Her anger and tears were exactly what the director was looking for.
The song was released late in 1981 ahead of Berlin's second album, Pleasure Victim. They were on an independent record label and did their best to promote the song in and around Los Angeles. They found an ally in disc jockey Richard Blade at the station KROQ ("The Roq of the '80s") who gave it some spins. Blade ended up dating Terri Nunn and inspiring their song "Sex (I'm A...)," which landed on Pleasure Victim.
The group got a deal with Geffen Records in 1983, and they issued "Sex" as a single, followed by a reissue of "The Metro," which climbed to #58 that summer.
This is one of the synthier hits of the early '80s, complete with a keyboard solo and an electronic simulation of a French police siren. The group had three guys who could play keyboards.
John Crawford plays Terri Nunn's love interest in the video. They had great stage chemistry and would play the part of lovers when performing their song "Sex (I'm A...)," but they weren't a romantic couple in real life.
The group is from Los Angeles, not Berlin. They chose the name because they wanted to be associated with the synth-pop bands emerging from Europe, not the glam rockers in LA.
So if you're scoring at home, we have an American band with a German name singing a song about a transportation system in France.
Berlin are best known for their 1986 #1 hit "
Take My Breath Away" from the movie
Top Gun, but they didn't write the song and didn't play any instruments on it - Terri Nunn sang it over a track complied by producer Giorgio Moroder. They broke up a year later, and in 1999 Nunn started touring with a different lineup.
Berlin were the first band featured on the VH1 series Bands Reunited, which went on the air in 2004. After much cajoling, six members from their '80s lineups agreed play a one-off show that featured "The Metro." The show didn't permanently reunite this lineup but it got Terri Nunn and John Crawford talking again - Crawford had beef with Nunn for taking control of the band without his involvement. In 2016 Crawford, Nunn and a third classic lineup member, Dave Diamond, returned as Berlin and played lot of '80s nostalgia shows.
