The kinda interesting German Gen X Punk / Indie Rock band scene of the early 90s (Have you missed this one?)

Hello Friends,
here is a new text by me. Sources: I was around at that time, so it's from my memory, and tons of hours spent on watching and collecting media (and listening! :-) Oh yeah and I am a bit of a "low life music journalist" that writes for magazines since a few decades ;-)

Note: No ai has been used in writing this text!

If you just want to check the bands and skip the text, you can scroll down directly to the music.

And now, let's go on:

Germany always had very interesting underground music cultures which are largely unknown to the rest of the world - and to most of the Germans themselves!

Post-war Germany was a kind of black hole or void, when it came to music, or culture, or a lot of other things. Especially the youth felt this way.
From the 50s on, German mainstream music or TV lacked any form of innovation. It was stuck in endless repetition of "Schlager"-kitsch, or worse.

For aspiring musicians, there were two options, basically.
Bands like Kraftwerk said they drew from the pre-war German era, as nothing was going on after the war anyway. Same could be said about the "Neue Deutsche Welle" in early 80s, with bands like Trio and their hit song "Da Da Da" (The "Dada" art movement began in German speaking countries at the start of the 20th century).
But I guess you had to be 'aristocrats' (like Kraftwerk) or art school intellectuals (like Trio) to even have access to this rich pre-war German cultural capital. It was the pre-internet era after all, so even *knowing* about these things could be hard.

So for the more common people based youth, there was an option that seemed to be more appetizing:

Looking at subcultures in other, "more advanced" countries, and maybe even pulling some of that back - to the homeland?
Besides UK and, at smaller parts, diverse countries like France or Russia even, the big thing here was - America, USA, the yankee nation.
"American" culture was big in the 20th century anyway (who, in the world, did not know Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Marylin Monroe, etc?)

But the youth was of course more interested in the sub culture. First rock and roll, then the hippie stuff, even disco stuff (which led rise to such things as the "Munich sound"). But as we get to the 90s... it was the punk, alt rock, indie, crossover, grunge and alt metal sound that crossed over the atlantic to good ol' germany.

So, to cut it short, a lot of German bands in these genres were around in the early 90s.
And beyond that date, too, but I am looking at this 90 era here, right now (let's talk about the rest at a later date).

Before I list some bands, I want to state a few things that I think that are noteworthy:

Germany, at this point was a kind of "clean", "ordered" and somewhat authoritarian state. It was also - somewhat - rich and had a welfare system.
But it also had a lot of poverty and social misery at the same time.

So even if there was a rugged and rough street punk band, it could be the case that its members were actually sheltered university type people. but they were still tough.

Second, there was a kind of language (and culture) clash. Some bands really tried to rid themselves of anything German and "made-pretend" to be as american as possible (not mainstream american, mind you, but "punk america") and thus had all the lyrics in english too, etc.
And other bands sang in German language, and even tied themselves to German boomer culture in some ways too (like covering old and dreaded "Schlager"-kitsch songs).

And often, all of this got mixed up.

I said there was a fair amount of money around in Germany. So, while some bands decided to stay underground, others got picked up by the big labels - and studios.
Which meant *professional* album and song production.

Some of the punk / hardcore rock songs with the best production values that I know, from the 90s, are actually from German bands!

And last but not least, these bands, and maybe the whole German Gen X youth, were "lost battalions", or stuck between two worlds.

They desired "American" underground culture, but they never got there, so "their" scenes (over the pond) rarely knew they even existed.
But neither were they understood within their homeland, within Germany, as they belonged to another world. To a never world.

They sailed off to a promised land that they saw in the media and images, then somehow got lost while traversing the Atlantic.

But maybe this can be said about the global gen x culture in the 1990s as well, generally, applying to everyone who felt young and "different" back then.

But hey hey, let's not drown this text on a downer note.
Some bands achieved "fame", and some were happy with being local heroes.
Some are forgotten, and some are still remembered fondly (or are still touring and releasing albums).

And here are some of them:

Swoons

Female-fronted pop-punk band that lingered in the underground, and popped up here and then.

Listening suggestions:

My Grandpa Is Joey Ramone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9t4gfzWEzU
Kamikaze Sushi Girl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAverU-qyRU

Wizo

They got signed to Fat Wreck Chords (NOFX label) for one album. Then noted that the American kids likely confused them with Weezer. "Because of the band name", you know.

Überflüssig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vgJuqghEnk
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW7D7VHVa3U

Die Toten Hosen

Notes: best known german "punk" band. and still famous.
the single release Carnival in Rio featured famous British train robber "Ronnie" Biggs on vocals.

Nichts bleibt für die Ewigkeit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V7-nrZaDNU
Carnival in Rio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttm3BIryhFw

The Lost Lyrics

Notes: The singer later became a school teacher. And still played and toured with his punk band.

The Lost Lyrics - Sweet dreams of yesterday https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2LR3SjuHck

The Lost Lyrics - Skibbereen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krQmXOsjf8c

The Bates

Punk band with mediocre chart success. Formed by a jazz drummer, punk singer, and a guitarist who was a student of theology. and then left the "love drugs and rock n roll" live to become a legit priest. I wrote more about them here:

Billie Jean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Zn4EGG_78

I'm Still Waiting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLf-wlz_gF4

Throw That Beat In The Garbagecan!

The original German indie darlings! Made the front covers, then disappeared. They took their name from a B-52s song.

Cool https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukbETJTvGmo
Thanks For Knockin' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pdVA7rVdgI

Die Ärzte

Best known german punk band (together with die toten hosen). Still kicking it today.

Schunder Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IviYsUdUj6w
Dauerwelle vs. Minipli https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpwa1nLiHkE

The Notwist

Interesting band from Bavaria.

Johnny & Mary (Robert Palmer cover) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gifFhyMmXk
No Love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FePWiMcXKAE

Atari Teenage Riot

On the fringe of everything I said above, because they were "outside of anything".
But, technically, they were around in the 90s, and somehow belong here, too.

Speed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plAr3adKbyc
Kids are United https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbsDJyFrW0c

Die Goldenen Zitronen

Also on the fringe, as they sort of belong to the earlier Generation of... 80s underground bands. And maybe not so keen on "american music".
But they were around, and listened to by those in the scene.

Das bißchen Totschlag https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01Hxq-PFOlc
80 Millionen Hooligans https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VTPttz2oD0

Tocotronic

Some upper class kids from the merchant city of Hamburg, Germany try to sound like Pavement or Mudhoney. Did they succeed? Their songs are still great, nonetheless.

Die Welt kann mich nicht mehr verstehen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKD-T-IHBl8
Wir sind hier nicht in Seattle, Dirk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVub2aQjJvw

If you have anything to add, or more bands to add, please let me know!

Producer's Diary - Writing a full-length "adult-themed" Hardcore Techno album

The original, 90s Techno / Trance / Rave releases and tracks were strangely devoid of intimacy - I wrote about that elsewhere.
It took the "nasty" minds of the Hardcore and Gabber producers to finally "talk about s.ex" in that era and style of music.
So there were more or less funny, and more or less "highly offensive" tracks being made, that became cult classic, filled the dancefloors, and would make parents and priests scream in terror.
It was all in good fun, though! (check here for these classics).

I feel this tendency withered over the years, and definitely shrunk in size.
But with the early Hardcore revival, it's time to have a revival of this "nasty Gabber" tradition, too!

So I decided to write an album in that style.
In the end it became a kind of "techno opera", a conceptual album, with common threads tying all the tracks together.

Almost like a prog rock album of the 70s! But with Techno and Gabber this time.

so let's talk about the tracks, baby:

1. Prologue 00:13

Just a short shock-mock intro.

2. Gabber S*x (Extended edit) 04:37

Oldschool Hardcore, 1993 / 1994 style. Straight beats running from start to finish.

4. More Cushion for the Pushin (Fast mix) 03:17

This is more acid / techno style actually, but fast enough for hardcore.

5. *ee Fantasy 04:24

Based on a "funny" incident at a rock star concert. Oldschool Hardcore all the way, almost 1991 / 1992 style if it was not so fast.
Bleeps, Klaxons, Acid / Detroit like filters...

6. *ee Fantasy (Expanded) 03:06

Here the basic track of part 1 completely breaks down and erupts into chaos.

7. Plus Size Angel (Fast mix) 03:17

Similar to track 4 - more like "acid hardcore"

8. Intermission 00:03

Just a very short skit.

9. S*x Beat 02:42

I subvert the Hardcore idea a bit, as the straight beat breaks down, and changes into a non-techno, almost tribal (or industrial) drumming - still with 909s though. The percussion feels (intentionally) "out of sync", but it never actually slips away.

10. S*x Beat (Climax) 04:09

like above - but in total overdrive.

11. F**k the P*rn Industry (Vocal Short Cut) 05:00

Once again a "different" kind of Oldschool - slow acid / techno. Almost like an 80s acid feel. If it was not for the distorted 909. I guess this is the track that is the most easy on the dancefloor.

12. Klos*x (Part 1) 04:44

Now things are just fast and frantic. Speedcore overdrive.

13. Klos*x (Part 2) 04:06

Beyond the speed threshold.

14. Epilogue 02:26

A words-only skit again, that ties the entire album together, and more or less loops back to the idea s expressed since track one.

15. (Bonus Track) Gabber *ex (Original mix) 03:33

A shorter, more straight-to-the-point edit of track two.


You can check production videos to these tracks here: (will add later)

I also wrote a "explanatory" text to the album, which tries to create a kind of mythological / media narrative to the entire thing. You can read it here:

Hope you enjoy the album! Stay tuned for more producer's diary entries.

Oh, and lest we forget: you can also check the album here:

https://gabbaretrecords.bandcamp.com/album/gbbr103-low-entropy-hardcore-sex-volume-2

Germany's favorite Bubblegum Goth Punk band: Looking back at The Bates

Hello Friends,

Here is a new text I wrote. This time it is about a lesser known band, that I think is still interesting.

Note: No AI was used in writing this text.

I think it was music journalist Simon Reynolds who once claimed that when the Punk wave hit the world in the 1970s and the earliest 80s, West Germany was third place, just behind UK and the US, when it came to production and quality of (post) punk music.

But just like in the US, the mainstream appeal of punk fizzled out quite quickly as the 80s went into full effect. Bands, fans, spiked boys and girls went and continued in the underground.

In Germany this gave rise to a genre called Deutschpunk which is a sorta weird mix of US and UK hardcore punk influences, German lyrics, and almost "Kitsch Schlager" type of melodies.

Lyrics of choice are usually about getting drunk, profanities, and either fighting the police or running from it.

But in the 90s there was also another punk band - The Bates.

• Listening Suggestion #1: The Bates - Love is Dead https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuO4oNlYfuc

They were a quite weird crew, formed in a sheltered and cozy German smalltown setting.

Including the charismatic lead singer "Zimbl", a Jazz musician as the drummer (Klube), Armin, a student of theology at the guitar (who left the band for good to become a legit priest) and a few punk guitarists who replaced him. Slayer and Speedmetal-fan "Pogo", the "chubby" Reb (who was asked by his fans to strip down to his speedos at concerts) and Dully.

They started really really underground, playing youth clubs, end-of-school-parties and other minor or DIY venues.

The kids loved them, though, they got signed to a major, went through the ceiling...

• Listening Suggestion #2: The Bates - Billie Jean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84MrYCzxuV8

Then the stars aligned in just the right way:

They did a "punk" cover of Billie Jean, the label sent them off to Hollywood to create a "Psycho" lookalike music video in black and white.

Right when the Punk Revival was at its height in the US with bands like Green Day and The Offspring.

There was a startup German Music TV station which was destined to "take" market shares from MTV's German division.

And they did so by focusing on more "local" bands than MTV (in the days of the infant internet, *distance* still mattered a lot more than it does today).

I'm on a tangent here, but I can imagine this was the reason why the major + TV tried to "push" a domestic Punk band to the teens who listened to the Punk bands from over the pond.

Maybe it also helped that they casted a model to do the shower scene - and showed a little bit more skin than in the original movie.

Either way, the video went into heavy rotation, was played half a dozen times a day and - boom - The Bates were the next big thing. Out of a sudden.

• Listening Suggestion #3: The Bates - Hello (Shakespears Sister cover) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM0RGc_rQZ0

Ever since that day the music elite slagged The Bates off as yet another teen punk band - who only got "famous" because of a cover song - "they can't even write songs on their own!".

Teens and even parts of the hc punks stayed true to the band, and they might not even object to the label.

The Bates once described their genre as "Bubblegum Trash".

Bubblegum as in: 60s Pop influences, Lesley Gore, The Ronettes, Shangri-Las, ...

And Trash as in: punk rock in your face you bastards!

If I listen back to the band with the "music knowledge" I have nowadays, I'd insist there are also other major influences:

Goth, Deathrock, even a bit of Psychobilly. Quite audible in songs like "Psycho Junior", "Lisa", and "Norman".

And yes, that they based the Band on a Psycho / Norman Bates theme adds to the Horrorpunk feel, in my opinion.

Plus they were inspired by The Chameleons, a UK indie rock band. References to them are sprawled across their discography.

This strange-but-alluring clash of styles should show you that The Bates was really not just-another-pop-punk-band.

There is something very deep, enigmatic hidden behind this surface.

I am telling you.

I guess this was largely based on the effort of their charismatic singer "Zimbl". And the talent they had for making outstanding melodies.

For me, personally, it was only after I stumbled upon later bands such as The Raveonettes or Dum Dum Girls that I spotted a well-done approach like this again - smashing 60s bubblegum harmonies into distorted guitars.

• Listening Suggestion #4: The Bates - Out Of The Blue (Neil Young Cover) (Live) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0cb0WHYJQY

According to all parties involved, the pressure they experienced after their sudden rise to stardom crushed the band.

International tours, excess of parties, alcohol, substance abuse and addiction... all this took its toll.

The band splintered, broke up. There were new and solo projects, but nothing as big anymore.

Zimbl died, much too soon, at the age of 41, and this was the end of it.

The legacy of the band is largely forgotten, even in Germany.

Unfairly so, because they had a lot going for them.

But they *still* have their fans from the old days - and the music keeps getting regular re-releases, too.

• Listening Suggestion #5: The Bates @ MTV's Most Wanted https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra5zdpG32xA

Burt Reynolds and Liza Minnelli in Rent-a-Cop (1987) - outdoing Tarantino in the first 10 minutes

Hello Friends,
A few weeks ago, I re-watched Rent-A-Cop. It was better than I remembered, so I decided to review it.

Warning, this review contains extensive spoilers of the movie, as well as of "Reservoir Dogs" towards the end.
Note: No AI was used in writing this text.

Rent-a-cop is a cop thriller / crime movie from the late 80s. Reviews were rather lukewarm. Critics lamented the movie would try to be too much of everything, and thus would be "neither here nor there". And, indeed, it feels like an accumulation of the 70s and 80s favorite tropes. Cop movie, buddy movie, fish-out-of-water, the odd couple...
The coupling is maybe not so square at all. Burt plays an aging, hardened, streetwise, tough talking cop who got kicked out of his job, while Liza is an aging, hardened, streetwise, shit-talking sex worker on the run.
Both actors were at a bit of a career slump and, indeed, aging at this point, so I could imagine there is something biographical about the way they played these roles.

Personally, I feel the movie sits a bit "in between time". It is a 70s / 80s movie through and through *yet* there are also some modern elements.
For example, There are (very brief) references to fetish sex and LGBTQIA+ themes that felt "ahead of time" for a traditional cop flick of the 80s (at least this side of Miami Vice).
The world of computers has already intruded the world of law and crime; both gangsters, cops, drug lords, and madams are very interested in desktop computers, diskettes, and database software.

And then there is Dancer, the main villain. I think he's one of the best villains in any crime movie ever.
Homicidal, maniac, complete psycho. Nihilist, hellbent, just in it for kicks and chaos. Nearly shoots himself in the head on a dare.

Apart from working as a killer, he is a professional dancer and loves to pick up people at night clubs (and a few scenes make you wonder how straight he is about this...)

Most people will remember the movie for one scene, right at the beginning.
There is an extensive build-up to the scene, we see hotel rooms, gangsters preparing a drug deal, cops gathering to bust this specific drug deal, we learn that there are undercover agents at work too, everything feels tense, uncertain...
So the deal takes place, and the operation takes place, too, and just in this moment, dancer bursts in through the door, tosses a "flashbang", blinds everyone, even the police snipers, kills everyone in the chaos, all of this in a matter of mere seconds.

It leaves quite the impression.

We later learn that the drug deal was overseen by a local kingpin; and word reached his organization that something might run afoul, and there might be a traitor involved in the deal. So the kingpin calls up dancer and orders a hit on *everyone* involved - the cops, the undercover agents and *all of his own, loyal men*. A wholesale massacre - just to be sure about everything.

I recently re-watched Reservoir Dogs, which also is a crime movie, but from the 90s, from the next generation.
Of course, "dogs" is the better movie, it's more modern, it's genius, it's groundbreaking. It was praised for its off-level screening of violence. It paints quite a bleak and nihilist world, that's for sure.

The topic is a failed crime operation too, and there is a lot of blood shed in the result. There is a traitor involved as well, and there is a lot of lamenting, pondering, panic, just to be certain who the traitor is, and not to kill the "wrong" guy by making an unwise decision.

But come to think of it... the world depicted in "rent-a-cop" is even one inch more bleak, cynical, and brutal, than in Tarantino's.
There is no "honor amongst thieves", no care - the fate of friends and foes is decided on a whim, without concern, and then everyone is gone.

Now to get away from Tarantino.
"Rent-a-cop" indeed feels like a lukewarm affair, an old-fashioned cop and buddy movie; but it has a few good moments, and these good moments actually feel brilliant and, in a sense, very modern.
It left me with the impression that maybe the time was not right for this content yet, and it would have fared better if it had been done in the 90s. And I wonder how some of the more interesting content would have worked out if these pieces had been getting more extensive treatment.