Who do you think of if I mention the song Vienna?

[LesMisSaigon]

AIBU to think most people think of Ultravox if asked "Who sang Vienna?"
My DD reckons more people think of Billy Joel.(I didn't even know he had a much earlier single out called Vienna)
So my fellow Mumsnetters, tell me who you think of please?
Yanbu- Of course it's Ultravox.
Yabu- Billy Joel, you philistine.

Thanks to the Christmas Gavin and Stacey he's now just called Midgeure in my house!

Vic Reeves

Billy Joel!

Ultravox. But prefer the Billy Joel song.

Ultravox. Didn’t know Billy Joel did anything called Vienna.

I’m in my 60s.

Disturbed by the number of people here who haven't even heard of Ultravox. For the first time ever, I feel old. Even though Billy Joel is even older!

Yep 😁

Would have been Billy Joel for me until getting together with my DH, a huge fan of 80s music.

I have never heard of them so I looked them up. It looks like they were only popular for less than 10 years in the '80s, and mostly only in the UK. I'm guessing that's why people haven't heard of them over Billy Joel, who has been popular for over 50 years, all over the world. It's probably less to do with age and more to do with longevity.

Um….i think you’ll know which way I’ll vote!

I think of Rigsby's cat.

Ultravox (and Gene Hunt)

Vienna is a cat.

I had this same discussion with DD who is 22 last week when she said something about Vienna and I said “it means nothing to me” and then had to explain about the song and she thought I meant the Billy Joel one and it all got very confusing as I hadn’t heard of the Billy Joel song and she hadn’t heard of the Ultravox one. Alexa played Ultravox when we asked her to play Vienna.

Yes, but Ultravox's Vienna was a massive hit single in the UK and Billy Joel's was an album track from 1977. Unless you actually bought his album (which no self-respecting teenager would be doing), you would never have heard the song. Presumably all the people that know it now have heard it on Tiktok etc, rather than hearing it being played as a classic song on the radio, or hearing their parents playing it.

A few people have mentioned “Rigsby’s cat”, which I’ve never heard of. What cultural reference am I missing here? Another TikTok thing?

I think of my cat
he’s called Vienna!

No, a 70s thing.

Comedy called rising damp
rigsby had a black and white cat called Vienna

I know both songs, but I would think of Ultravox first ... crap for dancing , as proved at many student union discos in the early 80s. See also, Bohemian Rhapsody.

Anyone else listening to Ultravox now…?

Both for me, but the Billy Joel song is on my playlist. My mum loved the Ultravok song so it makes me think of her. The Billy Joel one makes me want to watch 13 going on 30!

Ultravox

Exactly this.

You could not have heard Billy Joel's Vienna in 1977 and been unaware of Ultravox'a Vienna only 3 years later. So anyone claiming the former as the more famous song has to be a younger person who missed out on how big Ultravox were at the time.

Father Benny Cake. I had no idea it was ever a Billy Joel song.