T-shirts
Several Alphaville fans have produced their own T-shirts, but as far as I know
only one of these fans ever produced more than one: The mad erstwhile editor
of The Golden Path made no less than five T-shirts featuring the
dolphins from Afternoons in Utopia and the
Alphaville logo. If anyone knows of any other mass-produced fan T-shirts,
please let me know.
The Breathtaking Blue
Features the two Egyptian figures from the back of the album on the left
breast in blue, with the words "Alphaville" and "The Breathtaking Blue" in
red, in the same script as appears on the album. The back of the T-shirt
features Michelangelo's sun from the album.
Marian Gold writes:
The image of the two egyptian figures features Amenophis IV (known as the
rebel king Echnaton) and his wife Nofretete. I loved it because it expresses
so much love and emotional intensity despite the very restricting laws of
ancient egyptian art.
Big in Japan 1992
Similar to the cover of the single: White with a large red circle in the
centre, and a phonetic spelling of "Alphaville - Big in Japan" in black
Japanese characters.
First Harvest
An ad on the back of the first MoonPaper (1/92) featured a First Harvest
t-shirt and sweatshirt. From the ad's illustration, the T-shirt features a
stretched version of the eye from the cover of "Romeos".
So Long Celeste
Advertised in MoonPaper 3/92, this is a line drawing by Pablo Picasso of a
Minotaur lying down beside a naked woman. The drawing ('Ze Minotaure') is one
of a hundred illustrations by Picasso, created between 1930 and 1937,
collectively called the 'Vollard Suite'. The T-shirt was available in white on
black or black on white.
Peace on Earth
MoonPaper 1/95 listed this T-shirt, available in a variety of colours. It was
on sale at many of the European Alphaville concerts.
Salvation
A white T-shirt featuring the Salvation cover.
Dreamscapes Tour
This T-shirt was available at Alphaville's first US concerts in Salt Lake City,
16 th and 17 th July 1999.
There was also a blue T-shirt featuring the Dreamscapes cover.
Posters
Afternoons in Utopia
An A1 poster similar to the album cover. As far as I know, this was not
officially released (my copy came from a record shop), but several Alphaville
fans have this poster.
The CD inlay for Afternoons in Utopia folds out
into a poster.
The Breathtaking Blue
A large (A1) copy of the album cover.
A huge (A0) b/w photo of Ricky, Marian and Bernhard, same photo that appears
on the inner sleeve. With a dark blue / black background of Bruegel's Tower of
Babel (though it's barely discernable), and the Alphaville logo in white.
An A1 colour poster of Marian, Bernhard and Ricky, released by Atlantic in
1989. It features the Alphaville logo from The
Breathtaking Blue across the top, and a blue splodge in the shape of
the sun (i.e., no detail) in the bottom right corner. Mine also has some very
interesting creases caused by the postperson forcing it through the letterbox.
So Long Celeste
Advertised in MoonPaper 2/92. No illustration given, but there is a
description: "4-colours, Motiv:Marian", so I assume it's the same as the
cover of the album.
Navigator Room
A large montage of tinted photos of Marian, Bernhard and Ricky, against a
white background. This was designed by Marian Gold, and given free to members
of the fan club at the end of 1994.
Badges
A series of nine one-inch badges were produced in 1985 by a company called
Hysteria in the UK (note: as far as I can tell, this company is no longer in
business). Most of these badges featured photos of the group, but one simply
had the Alphaville logo. Hysteria also produced two 1.25-inch badges, one of
which was the group photo from the cover of Forever
Young, the other was the three photos from inside the album. There
was also a square badge from the group photo cover.
A small, well-crafted silver and blue metal badge of the sun from
The Breathtaking Blue, with a banner reading
"Alphaville".
Marian Gold writes:
The Breathtaking Blue sun designed by Ulf Meyer zu Kueingdorf (who did the
artwork of all the first three AV-albums including their singles) is
actually a combination of the face of a sybel from Michelangelo's fresco The
Last Supper, which can be admired in the Sixtinian Chapel in the Vatican,
the halo of sunrays is of unknown origin.
A strange, hand-made badge was given to members of the fan club in early
1993 (as the first surprise gift - the second being the
History tape). The badge features a raised "alpha" character (that is,
the character from the Greek alphabet), with a sunken stylised "ville", quite
like the logo on First Harvest. It also has a
chain similar to those found on pocket watches.
MoonPaper 3/92 offered a So Long Celeste silver
and gold badge.
Miscellaneous
Hysteria also produced a few other Alphaville items, badly reproduced below:
An Alphaville sweatband. Well, this was the eighties... Younger webbers
might not remember sweatbands. They were generally made of cotton or some other
absorbent cloth, and worn on the wrist, their purpose being to soak up sweat
that might be generated when dancing like a total maniac to the latest
groovy sounds.
An Alphaville patch, with a staggeringly unrecognisable drawing of three
people who might or might not be members of Alphaville. The word "Alphaville"
appears on the patch to make things a little clearer. Again, younger webbers
might not remember the great patch craze of 1984, when people who didn't have
enough band-allegiance patches on their faded denim jackets were cruelly
tormented by those of us who did.
Scarves. One made of wool with the word "Alphaville", the other made of silk
with a photo of the group (from the cover of "Big in Japan") and the actual
Alphaville logo.
Hysteria also produced a heart-shaped crystal keyring with the Alphaville logo.
Unfortunately the image I have doesn't reproduce well enough to clearly make
it out. Sorry. (But not as sorry as I am about the scarves...)
A black towel, inspired by Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy.
Marian Gold adds:
The towel was a X-Mas present to close friends and business
partners of the band in 1987, it beared the word ALPHAVILLE, plus the sign
for infinity, plus the line "Onward Earthling" on both sides. One may ask
why it was inspired by Douglas Adams. Well, if one reads the first volume of
the trilogy very carefully, one might probably find out. Probably. If one
would read the singer's mind he definitely would.
MoonPaper 2/92 offered a So Long Celeste silver
and gold keychain.
An Alphaville phone card promoting the First
Harvest album was released in Germany, identification number 0 193. Note
that the back of the card (reproduced on the right) refers to the album as
"First Harvest 1984-1991", rather than 1992.
An Alphaville bumper sticker of unknown origin...