Editing Michael Learns to Rock (section)

===Mainstream success in Asia (1997–1999)===
They released their fourth studio album, ''[[Nothing to Lose (Michael Learns to Rock album)|Nothing to Lose]]'', was released in September 1997, and also sold more than 1.1 million copies. In an incident that showcased Michael Learns to Rock's popularity in Asia, 20,000 fake tickets were sold (more than twice the number of real ones) for a concert in [[Hanoi]], [[Vietnam]], in December 1997 and while the concert was on, those outside with fake tickets tried to break into the concert hall through the windows causing riot police to be deployed.<ref name="urbanwire">{{cite news|title=MLTR: It's about the music|author=Jasmine Oei|url=http://theurbanwire.com/jun04/mltr.html|work=theurbanwire.com|access-date=2 October 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716152847/http://theurbanwire.com/jun04/mltr.html|archive-date=16 July 2011}}</ref><ref name="toi">{{cite news |author=Kevin Lobo|title=Michael Yearns to Rock|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Entertainment-Music/Michael-yearns-to-rock/articleshow/6053473.cms | work=The Times of India|date=16 June 2010| access-date= 2 October 2010}}</ref> The band travelled to South Africa in January 1998, playing sell-out concerts in [[Johannesburg]] and [[Pretoria]], consequently taking ''Nothing to Lose'' to the top of the charts in South Africa.<ref name="Thaimajor"/>

Soon after, the band's members took a break to spend time with their families and to develop projects on their own or in collaboration with other performers. They also decided to re-brand the band under the simpler name of MLTR.<ref>Allan Lykke Poulsen, "Nu hedder vi MLTR", ''[[Ekstra Bladet]]'', 20 May 1999</ref> During the break, Richter wrote some new songs for the band, one of which is "Strange Foreign Beauty" that was later added to the 1999 greatest hits album ''[[MLTR (album)|Greatest Hits – Strange Foreign Beauty]]''. In a process undertaken by MLTR for the first time, the song was made by compiling the best details from recordings of ideas made individually by the four members. This album included their previous hits, either remixed or refined in some way by notable international producers such as [[Chris Lord-Alge]] (for "Someday", "Something You Should Know" etc.), Cutfather & Joe (for "Sleeping Child") and the Swedish producer [[Per Magnusson]] (for the MLTR top hit "The Actor'").<ref>{{cite news|title=Michael Learns to Rock MLTR|url=http://www.discogs.com/Michael-Learns-To-Rock-MLTR/release/1229284|work=[[discogs.com]] |access-date= 2 October 2010}}</ref><ref>"Michael Learns To Rock udsender den 19. maj et »Greatest Hits«-album", [[Berlingske Tidende]], 7 May 1999</ref> This greatest hits album went to the top of the Danish sales charts (the second MLTR album after their first album to do so), as well in [[Sweden]] and [[Portugal]], and logged sales of nearly a million copies.<ref name="Thaimajor"/>