257:. Sonja Jordan and Marvin Arkham recorded a demo of 'Second Generation', one of the band's first songs which helped them land a label deal with Big Noise Records, a German independent label. Big Noise released 'Second Generation' in 1993 as The Merry Thoughts' first single. The band moved to Big Noise's subsidiary for gothic and darkwave music, Dion Fortune Records, where they released their second single, 'Pale Empress', and their debut album 'Millennium Done I: Empire Songs' (both released in 1993).
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Carsten Mainz (guitar, synthesizer) and Olaf
Wollschläger (synthesizer, drum machine) formed The Merry Thoughts in 1983 in Neuss, Germany. Marvin Arkham first joined on the synthesizer, later moving to vocals. Sonja Jordan also joined in late 1983 to play synthesizer before taking over guitar duties
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For their second album The Merry
Thoughts moved to SPV, one of the largest independent record companies in the world. In 1996, SPV released 'Psychocult' on their Oblivion imprint. The album entered the German Alternative Charts Top Twenty where it would stay for more than two months.
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Up until 2000 Sonja and Marvin still played live and continued to record and write new material. Sonja Jordan left the group in 2000 after their last concert at Albion
297:. The Merry Thoughts are often considered to be gothic-rock because of their great success in the 90s gothic-rock scene and uncanny similarity to
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Due to problems with their record company and the long process of recording, the band was basically destroyed after finishing 'Psychocult'.
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The band played a number of high-profile shows throughout Europe during their career, including an appearance at the
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By the early 90s, Olaf
Wollschläger had left to pursue electronic music and Carsten Mainz left to form
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According to Marvin Arkham, influences of The Merry
Thoughts include
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Touched By The Hand Of Goth Vol. III CD (Sub
Terranean 1997)
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Touched By The Hand Of Goth Vol. IV CD (Sub
Terranean 1998)
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Unofficial german The Merry
Thoughts Website (Webarchive)
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Andromeda - The
Spectral Compilation CD (Discordia 1993)
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List of all releases including compilation appearances
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German Mystic Sound
Sampler Vol. III CD (Zillo 1992)
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Selections from the Black Bible CD (Cleopatra 1998)
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Touched By The Hand Of Goth CD (Sub Terranean 1995)
56:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
365:Dion Fortune Sampler Vol. 3 CD (Dion Fortune 1994)
359:Dion Fortune Sampler Vol. 2 CD (Dion Fortune 1993)
301:. The band describes their music as 'counterpop'.
404:"~ Official Website Wave-Gotik-Treffen Leipzig ~"
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425:"The Merry Thoughts: album reviews and ratings"
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353:New Alternatives 2 CD (Nightbreed Recordings)
222:Olaf Wollschläger - Synthesizer, Drum Machine
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116:Learn how and when to remove this message
371:Reconstruction Time CD (Khazad-Dum 1996)
383:The Black Bible IV CD (Cleopatra 1998)
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526:Musical groups disestablished in 2000
492:1996 Interview with Marvin Arkham in
483:1995 Interview with Marvin Arkham in
531:Gothic rock albums by German artists
54:adding citations to reliable sources
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478:Biography of the band (in Japanese)
337:"Second Generation" (1993 - CD EP)
334:"Pale Empress EP" (1993 - CD Maxi)
220:Carsten Mainz - Guitar, Synthesizer
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521:Musical groups established in 1983
350:Angel Child CD (M&A Music Art)
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295:Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft
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468:Netgoth.Org overview of the band
374:2222 Tage CD (Dion Fortune 1997)
322:Psychocult: The Interim Versions
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316:Millennium Done I: Empire Songs
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427:. Said Sukkarieh, Musicfolio
340:"Wires Hum" (2011 - CD Maxi)
278:in Leipzig in 1995, and the
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218:Sonja Jordan - Guitar, Bass
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453:The Merry Thoughts Website
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224:Pino Eichhorn - Guitar
150:Background information
494:Forever Free Magazine
448:Official Myspace page
280:Whitby Gothic Weekend
202:Aldi Althaus - Guitar
200:Marvin Arkham - Voice
299:The Sisters of Mercy
65:"The Merry Thoughts"
50:improve this article
463:Musicfolio reviews
276:Wave Gotik Treffen
231:The Merry Thoughts
144:The Merry Thoughts
132:The Merry Thoughts
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429:. Retrieved
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345:Compilations
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214:Past members
176:Years active
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48:Please help
43:verification
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21:Merrythought
496:(in German)
487:(in German)
305:Discography
287:David Bowie
235:Gothic rock
169:Gothic rock
505:Categories
431:2009-06-24
391:References
76:newspapers
282:in 1997.
180:1983–2000
106:July 2020
324:(1996)
318:(1993)
250:later.
245:History
197:Members
159:Germany
90:scholar
310:Albums
185:Labels
165:Genres
155:Origin
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239:Neuss
97:JSTOR
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69:news
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