German Pop Music

German Pop Music – Sample Response
What are the arguments for and against singing pop songs in German? Find out about individual
bands’ views and make up your own mind by analysing German pop lyrics.
Below are a few ideas on how you could approach these questions. They are not meant to be
definitive.
In the following I shall give a rough overview of the history of popular music in West Germany.
This overview is not meant to be comprehensive, and it will suffer from omissions and
generalisations. However the intention is to place the Response to the Activity in a broader
context.
Brief historical overview
In most dictionary entries for “pop music” one will find references to its beginnings in the mid 50s
and to musicians like Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, and The Beatles. After the second world
war, people in West Germany regarded Great Britain and the US as their liberators and as a
consequence, Anglo-American culture ruled. The same bands that were successful there were
also successful in Germany. It is from this time then that pop music became associated with
English lyrics. Of course there were songs in German, but these tended to be much more
conservative and appealed to an older audience, rather than to adolescents who could not get
enough of English and American music. Many musicians felt that the English language was
more compatible with rock and pop music. This view remained uncontested for some time,
although some notable bands originating in the 60’s, such as Can and Kraftwerk enjoyed an
international stature in rock circles, and, in the case of Kraftwerk, sang in German.
In the 80s
During the 1980s, Germany experienced a short-lived pop phenomenon known as Die Neue
Deutsche Welle. Part of this were acts like Nena, Trio and Falco. Although some bands had
started using German lyrics to express their political ideas (Ton, Steine, Scherben for example),
most members of this wave remained mainstream and mostly commercial. Many of the lyrics
created then were either very simple, nonsensical or else dealt with typical pop clichés like love,
romance, and fun.
The 90s
From the 1990s on, and possibly related to events in contemporary history (German unification
in 1989) more bands started singing in German and the acceptance of this approach became
widespread. Singing in German had now become the norm rather than the exception.
Examples, individual bands
Element of Crime
The band called Element of Crime will serve as the first example as they started singing in
English and then switched to German and have been very successful in Germany ever since.
Their first albums (1986 – 1990) are all in English. When playing live they experimented with
singing in German. Their singer and songwriter Sven Regener, who later was to publish three
successful novels, had always been interested in writing expressive and original lyrics. On the
band’s website http://www.element-of-crime.de/ the band members express their surprise at
finding how well singing in German complemented their musical style. They had also
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experimented with a few songs from the “Threepenny Opera” (composed by Kurt Weil in 1928).
Since 1991 they have released 8 further records with German lyrics. Their music is often
described as melancholic, romantic and in the style of the ‘chanson’. Their instruments include
trumpets, accordions and violins as well as the more usual guitar, bass and percussion. Their
lyrics are often poetic and deal with a wide variety of topics.
In an interview
(http://www.laut.de/vorlaut/feature/01497/index.htm) band members discuss such issues.
However, their international success has been limited and is nothing like that of the next two
examples, Rammstein and Tokio Hotel.
Rammstein
Rammstein (founded in 1989) sing almost exclusively in German. Till Lindemann’s very deep
voice, his very guttural pronunciation of German words, combined with the band’s minimalist
lyrics often using expressions like ‘Volk’, ‘Hass’, ‘Benzin’, and ‘Feuer frei’ have resulted in many
critics accusing the band of intentionally evoking Neo-Nazi associations to attract media
attention. In an interview, a band member stated: “German language suits heavy metal music.
French might be the language of love, but German is the language of anger" (see: "Sunday
Herald Sun, Melbourne, Australia", Sunday Herald-Sun. Retrieved on 24 October 2006).
Perhaps it is because of this association that Rammstein have been hugely successful
internationally. Controversy sells, and other taboo topics hinted at in their lyrics include incest,
sado-masochism and cannibalism. Flirting with fascist associations also influences the way the
band members style themselves. They often dress in a militaristic style and sport very short,
army style haircuts. Many German pop fans are uneasy about the use of the German language
as exemplified by Rammstein, leading to a discussion about the dangers of propagating
nationalism via pop culture. The Band members themselves however, have always refuted
allegations that they employ fascist imagery for commercial reasons as ‘silly’:
“The German media sometimes gets carried away with such things. There was even
one critic who said that the way Till rolls his 'r's' when he sings is supposed to mimic the
way that Hitler used to speak! How silly can they get. We've never written a political
song in our life, and we probably never will. It's just reverse discrimination because we
are German. Kraftwerk had the same thing happen to them twenty years ago. If we
were Spanish or Dutch, there would be no problem." (http://herzeleid.com/en/faq/band)
Although this is an interesting point (that German singing bands might find themselves subject to
greater media scrutiny than others) I think that it is quite obvious from the band’s own selfpresentation that they welcome allegations like this because it can only help their publicity.
Tokio Hotel
Tokio Hotel (founded in 2001) have found international fame, selling not just in Germany but in
other European countries as well as the US and Japan. In 2008 they won the MTV music
awards as best newcomer. Their music can be described as a mixture of catchy pop melodies,
and the kind of guitar riffs otherwise heard from bands like Metallica – one of their main musical
influences. Most of their lyrics contain a good deal of angst – a German word often applied to
describe teenage anxiety. They are not a manufactured boy band but write most of their own
songs and lyrics. Interestingly for the purpose of this exercise, their international success does
not rely on using German (as in the case of Rammstein) but on releasing English versions of
their songs for the international market. According to their own website their lyrics are profound,
free of clichés and able to express the views and feelings of their generation. What Tokio Hotel
sing about seem to be universally felt issues like isolation, despair, fear but also friendship, trust
and love – pretty much topics pop music has dealt with from its very beginning! ‘Durch den
Monsun’, for example, uses ideas like running away together to a place ‘beyond the world’, and
the song ‘1000 oceans’ sets the scene of a cold, empty earth where the singer has to run ‘1000
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oceans wide’ to be together: “we’ll find a little place for you and me.” When comparing German
and English versions of their songs, the translations seem to be quite accurate. Maybe this is
because most of their lyrics use ideas and expressions that have been very familiar to listeners
of pop music. Also, the look of the band, including the singer’s androgynous appearance seems
to have spawned a whole generation of fans.
Cologne based band Erdmöbel appear to illustrate an alternative point of view – namely that pop
lyrics do not always have to be profound for the song to be successful – with their tongue in
cheek album “No 1 Hits”, where they play German versions of international hits such as Kylie
Minogue’s ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’: http://vimeo.com/789974. Hearing well-known hits
performed in German makes the songs more accessible to a German speaking audience but
possibly also reveals the songs’ rather simplistic ideas and topics. However, Erdmöbel do not
have a huge following, their appeal is to an indie audience only.
Singing in German
Having looked at a few individual bands as examples I would now like to list arguments in favour
of and against singing pop songs in German. This will be in the form of bullet points – you may
wish to develop some of the arguments further.
pro arguments
• accessibility: both songwriter and audience will understand what the song is about!
• authenticity: this may result in lyrics which express ideas more realistically
• transparency: clichés will become more obvious – and are avoided
• complexity: writers can use pop music to sing about complex issues
• identification: the audience will develop a higher degree of identification with the band
• humour: puns and funny rhymes can be developed
• political statement: singing in German need not be the domain of Neo-Nazis only
contra arguments
• international appeal: only German speakers will be interested
• commercial success: it is more difficult to sell records with German lyrics
• phonology: German sounds harsh, German does not scan
• tradition: English is the international language of pop culture
• accessibility: English is understood by most German teenagers
• image: Germany’s image could be seen as ‘uncool’
Top 5
Finally, and as a purely subjective suggestion, here is a list of five songs in German including
very short comments in German. Have a look!
Helge Schneider: Käsebrot
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=4tw8yPfxLWs&feature=related
Helge Schneider macht schon lange Musik (er ist eigentlich ein sehr guter Musiker!) und macht
auch schon lange Blödeleien. Das Lied Käsebrot ist natürlich nicht wirklich Popmusik sondern
wie ein Sketch von einem Komiker. Die Komik ist die von einem 5-Jährigen. Ich finde seine
Lieder sehr lustig.
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Peter Licht: Heiterkeit
Dieses Video finde ich auch lustig. Man bekommt sofort Lust, selber so einen Film zu machen!
Peter Licht kombiniert einfache Melodien mit interessanten Texten. Oft funktionieren die Reime
eigentlich nicht. Er singt auch politische Lieder wie “Das Lied vom Kapitalismus”, zum Beispiel.
Die Kombination von simplen Melodien und manchmal politischen Teten finde ich interessant.
Kraftwerk: Trans Europa Express
Dieses Stück ist aus dem Jahre 1977! Kraftwerks Musik hatte und hat einen enormen Einfluss
auf sehr viele Pop Bands seit den 80er Jahren. Viele britische Bands beziehen sich explizit auf
Kraftwerk. Viele ihrer Synthesizer Sequenzen hört man auch heute noch in Popmusik. Dieses
Video ist hypnotisch, so wie auch der Rhythmus das Stücks.
Tocotronic: Seattle
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=XifJsTm6XIs&feature=related
Als Tocotronic 1995 anfingen, die sogenannte Hamburger Schule der Pop Musik zu definieren,
sahen sie aus wie die typischen Anti-Popstars: Anoraks, billige T-Shirts, alte Jeans, usw. In
diesem Video kann man das gut sehen. Sie machen nach wie vor kräftig Musik mit guten
deutschen Texten.
Die Fantastischen Vier: Buenos Dias Messias
Ein Beispiel für einen potentiell kontroversen Titel. Diese Band gibt es seit 1989 und sie sind
noch immer sehr erfolgreich. Deutsche Hip Hop Musik? Die Reime funktionieren alle sehr gut!
In diesem Video simuliert die Band Terroranschläge, statt Waffen tragen sie Kameras und
‘überfallen’ Talkshows. So wollten sie gegen die Verblödung in den Medien protestieren, mit
ihrem Slogan: “Kein Applaus für Scheiße!” Die Band selber nennt das, was sie machen:
“Deutscher Sprechgesang”.
Your own list will be different, of course.
In case you want to keep in touch with German music, you can try this podcast:
http://www.goethe.de/kue/mus/prj/zue/enindex.htm and you can find some more links on this
page: http://www.ukgermanconnection.org/cms/?location_id=138
Enjoy!
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