The song was also performed at the 1985 Live Aid concert in Wembley Stadium. The song is regarded as a staple of the synthpop genre that was popularised in the early 1980s. According to Currie, Ure was hesitant about the overly classical romantic feel of the orchestration, and said: 'This means nothing to me', to which the producer Conny Plank replied: 'Well, sing that then. It also won 'Single of the Year' at the 1981 Brit Awards. The lyrics, which are about a brief love affair in the city of Vienna, were quickly written by Midge Ure. Nevertheless, the single peaked at number one on the Top 40 charts in many European areas including the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland. The single was certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry in February 1981, for UK sales exceeding 500,000 copies.

'Vienna' is ranked as the eighth best-selling UK single for 1981. It spent four consecutive weeks at number two in the UK Singles Chart without ever getting to number-one it was kept off the number-one spot by John Lennon's 'Woman' for a week, and then by Joe Dolce's 'Shaddap You Face', for a further three weeks. It was released as the third single from the band's fourth album Vienna on 9 January 1981 through Chrysalis Records. 'Vienna' is a 1980 song by British new wave band Ultravox.

Ultravox vienna lyrics