Die Ärzte
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Die Ärzte | ||
|---|---|---|
| Image:Arzte.jpg |
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| Background information | ||
| Origin |  Germany |
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| Genre(s) | Rock, Punk Rock, Pop Punk | |
| Years active | 1982–1988, 1993–present | |
| Label(s) | Vielklang Musikproduktion, CBS (Columbia Records), Hot Action Records / Universal | |
| Website | The band's official website | |
| Members | ||
| Farin Urlaub Bela B. Rodrigo Gonzalez |
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| Former members | ||
| Hans Runge (Sahnie) Hagen Liebing (The Incredible Hagen) |
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Die Ärzte (also spelled die ärzte; German for "the physicians" or "the doctors") are a German Rock/Punk Rock band from Berlin. They call themselves "die beste Band der Welt" ("the best band in the world"). Along with the Düsseldorf outfit Die Toten Hosen, Die Ärzte are among the best-known German Punk Rock bands.
The band consists of guitarist Farin Urlaub, drummer Bela B. and bass player Rodrigo González. All of them write and sing, however Farin writes the most.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Band foundation and early years
Die Ärzte were formed in 1982 by Jan Vetter (alias Farin Urlaub, a pun on the expression "Fahr in Urlaub", meaning "Go on holiday"), Dirk Felsenheimer (alias Bela B.) and bassist Hans Runge (alias Sahnie). Bela and Farin had previously played together in a band "Soilent Grün" ("Soilent Green" after the movie); after that band broke up they decided to form another band to play fun songs, in contrast to the mostly political bands of the punk scene at that time. While coming from that punk scene, their early music was heavily influenced by Pop and Rock'n'Roll, especially The Beatles, whom Farin heard a lot as a child from his mother playing their records. Another influence is thought to be the Comedian Harmonists; however, the band denies any known connection to their music.
In the first two years they mostly played in clubs in their hometown, Berlin. Their first release was a contribution to the sampler "20 überschäumende Stimmungshits" (roughly, "20 exuberant mood hits"), featuring a strong alcohol theme (a translation of their song lyrics "you drink whiskey, he drinks beer, I like milk", is an example of their sense of humor). In 1983 they won a rock contest in Berlin and with the prize money they recorded their debut EP "Uns gehts Prima" ("We're doing great"). Finally Columbia Records signed them, and they released their first LP "Debil" in 1984 then their second "Im Schatten der Ärzte" ("In the shade of Die Ärzte") a year later.
[edit] Problems with censorship, growing success and breakup
After the second album they parted ways with Sahnie due to internal problems. He was replaced by producer Miccey Meuser on the third album. Later the Incredible Hagen played bass for them until their breakup, although he never became an official member of the band. The third album was also the first time that Farin used distorted guitar sounds on most of the album, moving the band's sound a bit towards Rock.
In 1987 the German Federal Centre for Media Harmful to Young Persons put the songs Geschwisterliebe ("Sibling Love", a song about incest, from the eponymous album "Die Ärzte"), Claudia hat 'nen Schäferhund ("Claudia has a German shepherd", about zoophilia, from "Debil") and Schlaflied ("Lullaby", about a monster coming and eating you after falling asleep, also from "Debil") on the German List of Media Harmful to Young People. This prohibited the band performing the songs live or promoting the two albums and, more importantly, from shops from openly displaying their records on their shelves. After several trials against shops that still openly sold the records, a lot of shops removed Die Ärzte completely from their stock. The result was a drop in record sales and big financial problems for the band. In response they released the compilation "Ab 18" ("Adults Only") containing all their songs (despite being listed on the Index) with some other old and new tasteless songs, and the greatest hits album "Ist Das Alles?" ("Is that everything?"). The album and the new singles were fairly successful, partly because of growing media interest due to the previous censorship.
The following album "Das ist nicht die ganze Wahrheit" ("That is not the whole truth") was even more successful, climbing into the top 10 of the German album charts. They decided to go out on a high note and split up after doing one last tour and releasing a live triple album, "Nach Uns Die Sintflut", later released as a double CD, that became their first number one in the album charts.
[edit] Reunion
Neither Farin's new band King Køng nor Bela's Depp Jones were really successful, so in 1993 they decided to reform. They invited Rodrigo Gonzales, who was guitarist in Depp Jones and a friend of Bela, to play bass guitar. Their comeback single, and their first ever political song, was Schrei nach Liebe ("Scream for Love"). It was recorded as a statement against the perceived growth in racism and right wing extremist violence in Germany at that time. The translation of the song's refrain is "Your violence is just a silent scream for love / Your combat boots are craving for tenderness / You never learnt to express yourself / And your parents never had time for you / Oh oh oh asshole". It can be considered as a response to people who make simple judgements about racism. The album was more varied than previous releases, with ballads, punk, Rock and traditional German sounds. Both the album and single became big hits in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Their follow-up "Planet Punk" was also very successful.
In 1996 they wanted to make an EP just about hair, however, they wrote too many songs for an EP and it soon became their next album, "Le Frisur" ("Le Hairdo"). It was not as successful as its predecessors. Also during this year, as well as touring in their own right, they also supported Kiss - a dream come true for Bela and Rod.
1998 was perhaps the most successful year of their career to date. The single "Männer sind Schweine" ("Men are Pigs") became their first number 1 single in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, with the album "13" also being number 1 in Germany and Switzerland. After a lot of promotion and touring that year, they decided to take a break and also to never again play "Männer sind Schweine" during concerts; due in part to its huge chart success, which in turn attracted unwanted and unimaginative remakes, e.g. "Frauen sind Schweine" ("Women are pigs").
[edit] Recent years
In 2000 they came back with another very successful album, "Runter mit den Spendierhosen, Unsichtbarer!", and two top 10 singles. For the third single from the album they released the 30-second-song "Yoko Ono", which, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is the shortest single ever released - another example of their sense of humour. During their tour in 2001 they sold the limited edition album "5, 6, 7, 8 Bullenstaat" consisting of short punk songs that were written and recorded with the previous years full length album published a year before, and with some cover songs that were published in 1994 (another tour only EP).
After that they again took a break: Bela did some acting and Farin recorded his first solo album Endlich Urlaub! ("Finally Urlaub!" or "Finally Holiday!"). In late 2002 they did an MTV Unplugged session in a school auditorium with the schools band. The following year they released a new two CD album Geräusch ("Noise"). Then during the 2004 tour a live DVD was recorded and published the following year.
Whilst the band was on another break, Farin released another solo album Am Ende der Sonne ("At the end of the sun"). In 2005 a new version of the album "Debil" was released under the name "Devil" containing the original track listings plus some B-sides and previously unreleased bonus material.
[edit] Band name
The band chose the name "Die Ärzte" because, to their knowledge, no other band in Germany or anywhere used the letter "Ä", and when they went into a store they missed this letter. They did not seek any affiliation with medical issues whatsoever - a fact that was all too often forgotten by journalists and bootleg manufacturers, who included wordplays and allusions to hospitals, medicine, surgery etc. in article headers and record titles. On their 2003 album Geräusch (Noise), they spell their name with three dots over the a in ärzte, a sort of "triaeresis" mark that does not correspond to any real language construct — a play on the heavy metal umlaut. This can be represented in Unicode: die ä̇rzte. Note that "Die Ärzte", with two dots, is correct German orthography and not related to the heavy metal umlaut.
[edit] International success
The band has been immensely popular in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, while also enjoying some success in other Northern European countries. Much of the band's popularity can be attributed to their humorous lyrics, which are lost on non-German speakers. Die Ärzte are virtually unknown outside of Europe, aside from descendants of German nationals abroad.
The band considered releasing an album in English in the mid-90s, but they felt that they would lose part of their identity and they dropped the idea. In 2002 they did a short tour in Japan and released a compilation of their last albums there, and in 2004 they did a short tour in South America, but did not have as much impact as Die Toten Hosen.
Despite being considered controversial in Germany, Ärzte songs have been used in German classes in high schools and universities outside of Germany as a teaching aid to teach German as a foreign language.
[edit] Trivia
- The band has a very clear and strict anti-fascist attitude.
- Die Ärzte has released the greatest number of albums (24 albums) of any German rock band
- Rod (the bassist) was born in Chile.
- "Ein überdimensionales Meerschwein frisst die Erde auf - Die nackte Wahrheit" (A colossal guinea pig is eating the earth - the naked truth) is the title for the biography from "Die Ärzte"
- Gwendoline from the song "Sweet sweet Gwendoline" (a song dealing with bondage) is the mascot of the band.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Full length studio albums
- Debil (Moronic) (1984)
- Im Schatten der Ärzte (In the shadow of Die Ärzte) (1985)
- Die Ärzte (1986)
- Das ist nicht die ganze Wahrheit... (That is not the whole truth) (1988)
- Die Bestie in Menschengestalt (The beast in human form) (1993)
- Planet Punk (1995)
- Le Frisur (The hairdo) (1996)
- 13 (1998)
- Runter mit den Spendierhosen, Unsichtbarer! (Stop being so generous, invisible one! [lit. "Down with the generosity trousers, invisible one!"]) (2000)
- Geräusch (Noise) (2003)
[edit] Other albums
- Zu schön, um wahr zu sein! (Too good to be true!) (1st EP, 1983)
- Uns geht's prima... (We're doing great...) (12" EP, 1984)
- Ist das alles? (Is that all?) (1987, compilation album)
- Ab 18 (Over 18) (1987, compilation album of "indexed" songs)
- Nach uns die Sintflut (Devil may care – lit. After us the Great Flood) (1988, live album)
- Die Ärzte früher! (Die Ärzte earlier! – compilation of early material) (1989)
- Das Beste von kurz nach früher bis jetze (The best from shortly after earlier until nowe– a play on the title of the "Die Ärzte früher" album) (1994, compilation album)
- 1, 2, 3, 4 - Bullenstaat! (1, 2, 3, 4 - Cop state) (7" EP only, 1995)
- Wir wollen nur deine Seele (We only want your soul) (1999, live album)
- Satanische Pferde (Satanic horses, a pun on The Satanic Verses, Die Satanischen Verse in German) (2000, live album only available to fanclub members)
- 5, 6, 7, 8 - Bullenstaat! (5, 6, 7, 8 - Cop state!) (2001, only available at concerts, to fanclub members and as digital download here)
- Männer haben kein Gehirn (Men have no brain) (2001, only available as digital download here)
- die ärzte (2001, compilation album released in Japan)
- Rock'n'Roll Realschule (Rock'n'Roll highschool) (2002, MTV Unplugged)
- Devil, re-release of "Debil" (2005)
- Bäst of, singles & b-sides from 1993-2005 (2006)
[edit] Singles
(year of release and best position in German singles charts in brackets)
- "Paul" (1984)
- "Zu spät" (Too late) (1985)
- Original Ärztesoundtrack zum Film Richy Guitar (1985)
- "Wegen Dir" (Because of you) (1985)
- "Du willst mich küssen" (You want to kiss me) (1986)
- "Für immer" (Forever) (1986)
- "Ist das alles?" (Is that all?) (1986)
- "Gehn wie ein Ägypter" (Walking like an Egyptian) (1987, 44)
- "2000 Mädchen" (2000 girls) (1987)
- "Radio brennt" (Radio burns) (1988, 50)
- "Ich ess' Blumen" (I eat flowers) (1988)
- "Westerland" (town on island Sylt in northern Germany) (1988, 34)
- "Zu Spät... (Hit Summer Mix '88)" (1988, 25)
- "Der Ritt auf dem Schmetterling" (The ride on the butterfly) (1988; was included with the album Nach uns die Sintflut)
- "Teenager Liebe" (Teenager love) (1989)
- "Bitte bitte" (Please please) (1989, 18)
- "Schrei nach Liebe" (Cry for love) (1993, 9)
- "Mach die Augen zu" (Shut your eyes) (1993, 31)
- "Friedenspanzer" (Peace tank) (1994, 32)
- "Quark" (Rubbish, lit.: curd cheese) (1994, 37)
- "Ein Song namens Schunder" (A song called Pulp, lit. A song called Schunder) (1995, 4)
- "Hurra" (Hooray) (1995, 25)
- "3-Tage-Bart" (Designer Stubble, lit. 3-days-beard) (1996, 30)
- "Mein Baby war beim Frisör" (My baby was at the salon, cover version of Ramones "The_KKK_Took_My_Baby_Away") (1996, 43)
- "Rockgiganten vs. Strassenköter" (Giants of rock vs. street dogs) (Split-EP w/ Terrorgruppe, 1996)
- "Männer sind Schweine" (Men are pigs) (1998, 1)
- "Goldenes Handwerk" (Golden craft) (1999, 36)
- "1/2 Lovesong" (1999, 28)
- "Rebell" (Rebel) (1999, 42)
- "Die Schönen und das Biest - Elke live" (The beauties and the beast) (1999, 28)
- "Wie es geht" (How's it going) (2000, 5)
- "Manchmal haben Frauen..." (Sometimes women have...) (2000, 4)
- "Yoko Ono" (2000, 46)
- "Rock'n'Roll Übermensch" (Rock'n'Roll overman) (2001, 50)
- "Komm zurück"/"Die Banane" (Come back/The banana) (MTV Unplugged) (2002, 34)
- "Unrockbar" (Unrockable) (2003, 1)
- "Dinge von denen" (Their things) (2003, 14)
- "Nichts in der Welt" (Nothing in the world) (2004, 13)
- "Deine Schuld" (Your fault) (2004, 15)
- "Die klügsten Männer der Welt" (The wisest men in the world) (2005, 23)
[edit] References and further reading
- Karg, Markus; BelaFarinRod (2001). Die Ärzte. Ein überdimensionales Meerschwein frisst die Erde auf (in German). Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf. ISBN 3896023691. English translation of the title: "A Colossal Guinea Pig Devours the World".
- Liebing, Hagen (2003). The Incredible Hagen: Meine Jahre mit 'Die Ärzte' (in German). Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf. ISBN 3896024264. English translation of the title: "My Years with 'Die Ärzte'".
