David Bowie famously moved to Berlin in 1976 to escape the drug scene in LA - decades before the German city became a hipster's hub. Bowie's interest in German culture went back to his teenage years. In an interview with the magazine "Uncut," he says he was attracted to the city where "Metropolis" was created. The 1927 Expressionist film was directed by Fritz Lang.

This other Expressionist classic from 1920 tells the story of the murders committed by an insane hypnotist. The dark and twisted visual style of the film definitely influenced Bowie to use stark imagery in his own performances.

"Since my teenage years I had obsessed on the angst-ridden, emotional work of the Expressionists, both artists and film makers, and Berlin had been their spiritual home," Bowie told "Uncut." "Die Brücke," a group of German Expressionist artists, was another major influence. During his time spent in Berlin from 1976 to 1979, Bowie often went to the Brücke Museum for inspiration.

David Bowie also cited the influential German poet and playwright as a source of inspiration. In 1982, Bowie starred in a BBC production of Bertolt Brecht's play "Baal." In September of the previous year, he recorded the five songs he performed in the play at the Hansa Studios in Berlin, working together with American producer Tony Visconti. The EP was named "David Bowie in Bertolt Brecht's Baal."

The Austrian-born theater director, producer and filmmaker is cited as another reason Bowie moved to Berlin. Establishing and leading a number of major theaters in Berlin at the beginning of the 20th century, Reinhardt is considered a pioneer of modern stage presentation. After leaving Nazi Germany, he worked and lived in the US.

The release of the album "Autobahn" by the electronic music band in 1974 attracted Bowie's attention back to Germany. Bowie said, however, that many have overestimated Kraftwerk's influence on his Berlin albums. Kraftwerk was very controlled and robotic - unlike his work with Brian Eno, which he described as "Expressionist mood pieces."

Marlene Dietrich's relationship with her hometown was a troubled one. The rise of the Nazis would send the star into perpetual exile - but her conflicted longing for Berlin would never cease, captured so poignantly in the German-language heartbreaker "I still have a Suitcase in Berlin." She would finally return to her estranged homeland after her death in 1992, to be buried beside her mother.

Written about watching the world roll out behind glass on Berlin's S-Bahn train, "The Passenger" has since become a counter-cultural anthem. Recorded at the legendary Hansa Studios by the Berlin Wall while Iggy Pop was in self-imposed exile in the divided city, the song featured on 1977's "Lust for Life" album, which would propel the former frontman of The Stooges to commercial success.

Following speculation about his health, Bowie sent the music world into a frenzy in 2013 by dropping a new single: "Where Are We Now?" He recorded the bulk of his Berlin Trilogy in the city in the 70s - including the masterwork, "Heroes" - but "Where Are We Now?" revisits the city as an elderly gentleman. A nostalgic stroll through the city he once called home: "A man lost in time near KaDeWe."

Unlike Bowie and Iggy Pop, punk granddaddy Lou Reed never lived in Berlin. But that didn't stop him drawing on the city for his Kurt Weill-esque 1973 album "Berlin." The lyrics of the eponymous title track perfectly conjured up the paradoxical zeitgeist of a generation: "In Berlin, by the Wall / You were five feet, ten inches tall / It was very nice / candlelight and Dubonnet on ice."

As a Jew, Leonard Cohen would always have his troubles with Berlin. But as a songwriter he was naturally drawn to the city's explosive 20th century history. On his 1987 cult classic "First We Take Manhattan," the Canadian would reference it directly, chanting ominously: "First we take Manhattan…then we take Berlin." The powerful critique of global hegemony would spur countless cover versions.

In 1991, U2 were looking for a new beginning. "Rattle and Hum" had alienated some for its pomposity, so Bono went scrounging for new inspiration...in Berlin. Decamping to Hansa Studios, the band laid down a song that would define a bold new epoch: "Zoo Station." Named for the Berlin train station, the band used the metaphor for a reunited Berlin and new world order - and named the album "Zooropa."

By the mid 2000s Berlin had become a sanctuary for misfits, drawn to its pivotal place between an old century and a new one. The UK's alt rock princelings Bloc Party were amongt them, drawing from the city's loaded landmarks to try to make sense of their own lives. As the 2007 single "Kreuzberg" pined: "There is a wall that runs right through me / Just like this city, I will never be joined."

While most are drawn to Berlin's gritty contemporary history, Rufus Wainwright takes his cues from the city's Weimar era of decadence and cabaret. "Tiergarten" has proved one of his most enduring ballads. Set in Berlin's central park, the Tiergarten, it swoons with the romantic refrain: "Won't you walk me through the Tiergarten / Doesn't matter if it's raining / Won't you walk me through it all."

Why do you do when you're one of the coolest bands in the world? Naturally, you write a song for one of the coolest cities in the world. The second track on Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's 2007 record "Baby 81," "Berlin" doesn't make any particular reference to the German capital, yet its stonking and gritty guitar riff is unmistakably Berlin: cocky, edgy and oh so sexy.

From the very first "hey ho, let's go" The Ramones made no secret of their fascination with all things Teutonic - provocatively naming their debut 1976 single "Blitzkreig Bop." Lead songwriter Dee Dee Ramone was born to a German mother and grew up in Berlin. And his love for the German capital (and narcotics) would be committed to history forever with his 1995 ditty, "Born to Die in Berlin."