This single may have briefly topped the charts in 1982, but the German band Trio disappeared from view just as quickly as they’d appeared. Listening to the whole of the album which followed this single explains why, as every song apart from their chart-topper is minimal Germanic punk of pretty dubious quality and confounded the expectations of a record-buying public expecting retreads of the single.

‘Da Da Da’ however is a perfect, dumb pop tune. Kicking off with Stephan Remmler’s voice, which sounds like a teutonic Lou Reed, vocalising the lyrics “Aha aha aha” in a half singing, half speaking voice. In pops a Casio VL-Tone drumbeat sounding like a primitive black-and-white line 70’s computer game with the ball stuck bouncing between the bat and wall on the tennis setting. Peter Behrens backs up the basic beat with a repetitive bish-bash-bosh on a snare and bass drum only. The vocalist’s sardonic delivery continues as he relates lyrics recounting the end of a love affair in the most stripped down way possible: “Don’t love you/Don’t love me”. Then comes the chorus, as a guitar chimes we’re treated to the timeless numptiness of a chorus of “Da Da Da“s backed by Anette Humpe who sounds like she’s only just bothering to sing along between chewing on her bubblegum. Castanets punctuate the brainless infectiousness as a simple monophonic Casio VL-Tone line is tapped out. The female backing singer then whispers “Ich lieb dich nicht/Du liebst mich nicht” again as we’re treated to more “Aha“s. Then we’re back into another verse and another chous, which is basically a repetition of what came before. It doesn’t need any more. It’s simple and daft as hell, coming across like kindergarten Neu! (Even the sleeve steals Neu!‘s DIY aesthetic)

The lyrics may be about the end of a love affair, but the delivery is brilliantly full of fuck-you-I’m-not-bothered attitude. The guy can’t even really be bothered to sing for Godssake. The B‑side is just the same song in German. Well, why would you expect anything else? And who’d want it anyway? Dig this record out and you’ll play it 10 times in a row before taking it off the turntable and forgetting about it for another five years. The very definition of throwaway, but for a nanosecond Trio hit something so infuriatingly infectious and simple they made everything else in the charts at the time seem like overblown prog in comparison. This single has a strange ability to make the listener feel like their IQ has been halved by listening to it. Dumb, dumb, dumb. A‑ha, a‑ha, a‑ha.