Die Toten Hosen

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Biography

Die Toten Hosen is a Germany|German Punk rock|punk band from Düsseldorf that has been highly successful in Germany since the 1980s.

The band's name literally means "The Dead Pants/Trousers". "Tote Hose" is a German expression meaning "nothing going on" or "boring". Their name can figuratively be translated as "The Dead Beats".

History

The current members of Die Toten Hosen are Andreas Frege|Campino (Andreas Frege), Kuddel (Andreas von Holst), Vom (Stephen Ritchie), Andi (Andreas Meurer) and Breiti (Michael Breitkopf). All members are German except Vom, who comes from England. He replaced Wölli as the drummer in 1999, after Wölli sustained injuries in a car crash. Wölli played from 1985 to 1999 and is still an honorary member of the band. The drummer until 1985 was Trini Trimpop, who became the band's manager when Wölli joined.

1982-1987

Die Toten Hosen formed in 1982 at the Ratinger Hof, a Düsseldorf bar frequented by punk musicians. Its founder members were Campino and Andreas von Holst, both from local punk band ZK, with Andreas Meurer, Michael Breitkopf, Trini Trimpop and Walter November.

At their first concert at the Bremer Schlachthof over Easter 1982 the compère mistakenly introduced them as Die Toten H a sen (The Dead Hares).Bertram Job: Die Toten Hosen erzählen ihre Geschichte. page 70. In the same year they released their first single Wir sind bereit (We Are Ready), later followed by Reisefieber ( wanderlust ).

Guitarist Walter November left the band in November 1983 to join Jehovah's Witnesses . Reich & sexy II – Perlen unter die Säue , JKP5245-089 78-2, Interview mit Walter November. One of the two A sides of the third single was the drinking song Eisgekühlter Bommerlunder (ice-cold Bommerlunder aquavit ), which received considerable radio airplay and increased their fan base. The band released their first album titled Opel -Gang in early 1983 on their own label Totenkopf (death's head).

In July 1983 the band signed to EMI , who financed a video for Eisgekühlter Bommerlunder , directed by Wolfgang Büld. It depicts a chaotic wedding ceremony in a small Bavarian church, with Kurt Raab playing an alcoholic priest and Marianne Sägebrecht playing the bride. After the filming the congregation called for the church to be reconsecrated. German public television refused to screen the video for several years for fear of offending churchgoers.Magazin zur Tour Menschen, Tiere, Sensationen , Universa Medien Verlags GmbH, Dortmund 1992.

At the end of 1983 they released Hip Hop Bommi , a hip-hop version of Eisgekühlter Bommerlunder featuring New York rapper Fab Five Freddy . Bertram Job : Bis zum bitteren Ende … Die Toten Hosen erzählen ihre Geschichte . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 1996, ISBN 3-462-02532-5. page 91.

In 1984, the band played a session on the BBC ’s John Peel|John Peel Show . EMI were displeased with the high travel costs claimed by the band and by Norbert Hähnel publicly parodying their million-selling artist Heino at a Toten Hosen concert. Heino successfully obtained a court order to cease and desist. Die Toten Hosen left EMI and signed to Virgin Records . Their second album Unter Falscher Flagge (under the wrong colours) appeared in 1984. Its original cover featured the skeleton of a dog sitting in front of a gramophone, a caricature of the His Master's Voice artwork used by EMI. Legal action by EMI prompted the album cover to be changed to the skeleton of an eagle. The eagle skeleton became a band logo, along with the Jolly Roger .

In spring 1985 the band toured France for the Goethe-Institut| Goethe Institute and in fall they travelled Hungary and Poland. In late 1985, Trini Trimpop moved from drumming for the band into their management, where he worked until 1992. Jakob Keusen briefly replaced him as the band's drummer before Wolfgang Rohde took over in January 1986. Rohde’s first concert was also the band’s first concert in front of a very large audience. Along with Herbert Grönemeyer , Udo Lindenberg , Marius Müller-Westernhagen , Bap (German band)|BAP , the Rodgau Monotones and many others, they performed at the Anti-WAAhnsinns-Festival in July 1986 to protest the construction of a nuclear waste processing plant in nearby Wackersdorf .

In 1986, they recorded their third album Damenwahl (Ladies' Choice). The Damenwahl tour was sponsored by the northern German condom manufacurer Fromms, who arranged for free samples to be scattered amongst the crowd.Bertram Job: Die Toten Hosen erzählen ihre Geschichte. page 160. In 1987, the band celebrated its first chart success with the record '' Never Mind the Hosen, Here's Die Roten Rosen (Never mind the Trousers – Here’s the Red Roses) using the pseudonym Die Roten Rosen (The Red Roses). The album contains rock versions of German pop songs. The name and cover art of the record are a parody of the LP Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols by the Sex Pistols from 1977.

In late 1987, Die Toten Hosen released their first live album Bis zum bitteren Ende (Till the Bitter End). It charted in the German and Austrian Top 30.

1988 to 1995: Recognition and early success

In 1988, the LP Ein kleines bisschen Horrorschau (A little bit horrorshow) came out, including the song Hier kommt Alex (Here comes Alex). This album is considered the band's commercial breakthrough. Much of the album was written by Die Toten Hosen for Bernd Schadewald’s theater play A Clockwork Orange , adapted from Anthony Burgess’s eponymous book and the film by Stanley Kubrick . For half a year the band played on stage at the Kammerspiele Bad Godesberg theatre in Bonn, alongside Ralf Richter, the play's lead actor. In September of the same year, Die Toten Hosen performed at the Lituanika Festival in Vilnius and Kaunas , Lithuania. They were chosen by the jury as the best band of the event. Metal Hammer , Ausgabe 11/1988, page 122.

Their spring tour in 1989 included a sell-out performance at the huge Westfalenhallen in Dortmund . The band released 3 Akkorde für ein Halleluja (3 Chords for a Hallelujah), a video documentary of their lives. In 1990 the Toten Hosen were invited to attend the New Music Seminar in New York Jürgen Seibold , V.I.P. music: Die Toten Hosen . Paul Zsolnay Verlag , Wien 1992, ISBN 3-552-05005-1. page 56. and performed as support for The Rolling Stones in Cologne. That summer the band travelled to Italy to report on the 1990 FIFA World Cup|FIFA World Cup for various newspapers and radio stations. For this purpose they recorded a rock cover version of the classic Azzurro by Adriano Celentano , accompanied by a video satirising the behaviour of German football fans when abroad. The double album Kreuzzug ins Glück (Crusade to happiness) was released in 1990 and sold over 150,000 copies in its first week.

In 1991 the Toten Hosen released their album Learning English Lesson One , a tribute to the band's musical influences, consisting mainly of cover versions of English punk rock classics. Each track featured at least one member of the original band that had recorded it. Several songs were recorded in Rio de Janeiro with Great Train Robbery (1963)| Great Train Robber Ronald Biggs . The album also marked the beginning of the band's collaboration with T.V. Smith , songwriter and lead singer of The Adverts , that continues to the present day.

The band's 1992 Menschen, Tiere, Sensationen (People, Animals, Sensations) tour included concerts in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Great Britain, Spain, France and a their first ever dates in Argentina,Bertram Job: Bis zum bitteren Ende … Die Toten Hosen erzählen ihre Geschichte . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 1996, ISBN 3-462-02532-5. page 264..
The single Sascha… ein aufrechter Deutscher (Sascha… an upstanding German) was released for Christmas 1992 as a vehement condemnation of right-wing radicalism. The proceeds of this song were donated to an anti-racist charity campaign in Düsseldorf. The right-wing Republikaner party failed in its attempt to have the song banned for defamation and thereby unintentionally contributed to the success of the single. The song grossed half a million Deutsche Mark. Zillo , Ausgabe Mai 1993.

In 1993, the album Kauf MICH! (Buy ME!) was released and reached number one in the German charts. Its songs express opinions on consumerism, advertisement and right-wing extremism. In the summer of 1993 Die Toten Hosen performed as the supporting act for U2 on their Zoo TV tour in Germany, with audiences of over 50,000 people at each concert. The video to the song Kauf MICH! shows footage of these concerts.DVD Reich & sexy II , Kommentare der Band. In the same year, the band released Reich & Sexy (Rich & Sexy), their first best-of album. On the cover the members of the band are naked, portraying pretentious millionaires from the music industry surrounded by nude women. An international version of the best-of album was released in 1994 called Love, Peace & Money . For a period, Die Toten Hosen had three albums in the German charts at the same time.

In 1994 the band was on the road for almost the entire year in Germany and neighbouring countries. In November they gave four concerts in the USA and in Canada as support act for Green Day . Starting in April 1995, the Toten Hosen got their own radio program on Fritz radio in Berlin, called Tausend Takte Tanzmusik ("a thousand beats of dance music"). The show aired every Sunday from 7 to 8 pm for a year.Kai Jessen: Die Toten Hosen – Für immer Punk! Heyne-Verlag|Wilhelm Heyne Verlag , München 1997, ISBN 3-453-12889-3, page 97. At the end of the year the band founded their own record label JKP.

1996 to 2000: JKP - the beginnings with their own label

The first album under their own label was Opium fürs Volk (opium for the people), released in 1996. Its songs deal with faith and religion. The album went platinum, their third record to do so, after Kauf MICH! and Reich und sexy . The single Zehn kleine Jägermeister (ten little master huntsmen /ten little Jägermeister s went to number one of the German-speaking singles charts. The Toten Hosen and Iggy Pop were a supporting act at the Ramones farewell concert in the Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti|River-Plate-Stadion of Buenos Aires in front of 75,000 people. An extended tour followed under the slogan Ewig währt am längsten (Eternity lasts longest) through Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Furthermore, they performed at the Gurtenfestival, the Forestglade Festival, the Berliner Waldbühne and at the Bizarre Festival in Cologne. In May 1996 they headlined the Rock am Ring festival. In the same year the band released their second live album Im Auftrag des Herrn (on the Lord's behalf).

The band has existed for over 20 years, and their songs' focus gradually shifted from funny and nonsensical to serious; the songs from their first gramophone record|LP were mostly about having fun, but by the end of the 1980s they were focusing more on political and social issues such as racism .

The band is reputed to have played for free at private birthday parties or similar events in their early years, providing that the host provided them with unlimited beer and covered all damage caused by the band.

The debut single Wir sind bereit (We are ready) was released in 1982 in music|1982 , and was followed by their first album, Opel-Gang , the next year. In 1988 in music|1988 , Die Toten Hosen released the LP Ein kleines bisschen Horrorschau (A little bit of horrorshow - "horrorshow" is Nadsat for "ok", coming from the Russian language|Russian word ?????? (khorosho (good))) referring to the phrase in A Clockwork Orange ), which featured the song Hier kommt Alex " (referring to the movie A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange based on the A Clockwork Orange|book by Anthony Burgess ); in 1988, Bernd Schadewald produced a German theatre version of the book, in which the band performed as actors and musicians. Hier kommt Alex (Here comes Alex) was later re-recorded in an unplugged version in 2005 incorporating the opening piano phrase of Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven 's Moonlight Sonata .

Their 1000th concert was on 28 June 1997 in the Düsseldorfer Rheinstadium, and was attended by over 60,000 fans. The death of Dutch girl Rieke Lax at the concert prompted the band to release the song Alles ist eins (Everything is one) in her memory.

The 1998 Warped Tour took in New Zealand , Australia , Japan and Hawaii . Campino was twice hospitalised after concerts in Byron Bay and Geelong in Australia.

Die Toten Hosen have collaborated with numerous other musicians (like Bad Religion , AC/DC , U2 , Rolling Stones ); they are also one of the few German punk bands popular outside of Germany, with a large following in South America , Australia and Eastern Europe ).

The band are passionate fans of their local football team, Fortuna Düsseldorf , who they sponsored from 2001 to 2003. When a goal is scored at the club's ground, the Esprit Arena , the chorus of the band's song "Strom" is played. The band released a football-themed song named Bayern (song)|Bayern in 2000 in which they proclaim that they would not join Bayern Munich under any circumstances.

In August, 2006, Campino starred as Mack the Knife in Bertolt Brecht|Brecht's The Threepenny Opera at Berlin's Admiralspalast , a short distance from the theatre where the play premiered in 1928. The director, famous actor Klaus Maria Brandauer , was criticised for the play's unadventurous staging, but Campino was cheered by the audience.

Artist Andreas Gursky produced Tote Hosen , a blown up photograph of the crowd from a Die Toten Hosen concert, depicting youths excitedly cheering for the band, many wearing the red Hosen shirt. It is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art .

Faith No More bassist Billy Gould wore a Toten Hosen tee shirt on the cover of their greatest hits album, This Is It: The Best of Faith No More . Faith No More have covered the Toten Hosen song Hofgarten in live shows.

German rock group Samsas Traum covered Hier kommt Alex with a more gothic sound. Lead singer Alexander Kaschte changes the final lyric to "Hey& #33; Ich bin Alex!" (Hey& #33; I am Alex!) as a wry joke. British punk band UK Subs recorded an English-language cover of the song on their 1993 album Normal Service Resumed . Hier kommt Alex is featured in video games Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Rock Band (video game)|Rock Band (European version). The song was also released as a downloadable track on the American version of Rock Band on 27 May 2008. Die Toten Hosen also have a special edition of SingStar for PlayStation 2, devoted exclusively to the band, featuring 24 tracks and videos from over the decades, which was released in 2007.

MC Frontalot , in collaboration with faux-German electronic musician Kompressor (musician)|KOMPRESSOR on the track Rappers We Crush , rhymes "What did I do to deserve this? /What was my crime? /Was it because I sampled Die Toten Hosen that one time? "

In 2002 and 2005 the band played at Przystanek Woodstock , the biggest open air festival in Europe, which usually has audiences of 400,000 - 500,000 every year.

In 2010, the band played several dates in Central Asia and became the first foreign rock band to perform in the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan since 1991. The band was criticised for accepting 68,000 Euros of German government funding towards this tour. http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2011/11/german-government-caught-funding-dead-pants.html

On Saturday, 2 October 2010, The band played in Amman, Jordan, their first concert in Middle East, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of Berlin Wall.

Musical Style

The band has its roots in punk rock and is onfluenced by hard rock , Heavy metal music|heavy metal , hardcore punk and alternative rock .

Every member of the band taught himself how to play his own instrument. At the beginning of their musical career most of them were still at school. Their first album was recorded in a studio rented by the hour.Booklet zur Neuauflage von Opel-Gang , 2007. The band kept to simple guitar chords and lyrics and they played their music in a dilettante style, which was common for punk rock. Die Toten Hosen were mainly influenced by Punk bands from the 1970s, to whom they paid tribute on most of their albums and at all of their concerts. In addition they occasionally covered the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. The band often plays “Schunkelpunk”, which is a fusion of German Schlager music and punk, like the song Eisgekühlter Bommerlunder , numerous cover versions of German Schlager songs and tracks like Azzuro . They can be seen as pioneers of "Volxmusic", Jürgen Seibold, V.I.P. music: Die Toten Hosen . Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Wien 1992, ISBN 3-552-05005-1. page 24. which combines elements of German folk music with jazz, hip-hop or rock. In some of their songs Die Toten Hosen experiment with strings or wind instruments. A few songs have elements that are lifted from jazz (e.g. Warum werde ich nicht satt ), reggae ( Zehn kleine Jägermeister ) or Yugoslavian gypsy music ( Das Mädchen aus Rottweil ).

For the most part The Toten Hosen have not departed substantially from their original style of music, choosing power chords , strightforward lyrics, simple melodies and anthem-like choruses over long instrumental solos.

Discography

1983: Opel-Gang

1984: Unter falscher Flagge

1986: Damenwahl

1987: '' Never Mind the Hosen, Here's Die Roten Rosen

1988: Ein kleines bisschen Horrorschau

1990: Auf dem Kreuzzug ins Glück

1991: Learning English Lesson 1

1993: Kauf MICH& #33; (album)|Kauf MICH!

1996: Opium fürs Volk

1998: '' Wir warten auf's Christkind...

1999: Unsterblich

2002: Auswärtsspiel

2004: Zurück zum Glück

2008: In aller Stille

2012: Ballast der Republik

Social involvement

Political activities

The band openly support political and social organizations in their music, interviews and by donations, but are not affiliated with any political party. They turned down a request from Germany's SPD (social democratic party) to write a song for their European election campaign in 1994.Bertram Job: Die Toten Hosen erzählen ihre Geschichte , page 182.

Already in 1991, their track Fünf vor Zwölf (it is high time) was published on the sampler Nazis raus (not up for Nazis) and in 2006 they supported the band ZSK's Kein Bock auf Nazis (can't stand Nazis) campaign. In 1992, the band participated in a demonstration against xenophobia in Bonn. They performed together with Herbert Grönemeyer , Nina Hagen and others for nearly 200,000 demonstrators. In 1995 they supported Greenpeace, the campaign Ärzte gegen Atomkrieg (IPPNW: International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War), Aktion Atomteststop (an initiative for a nuclear test ban), the BUND (Friends of the Earth, Germany) and they were featured on the track Tout Pour Sauver L’Amour (Everything to save love) on the Stop Chirac compilation album. Stop Chirac , RCA 74321 32091 2.

In 2002, the band attracted publicity by posing undressed for posters of the animal rights group PETA under the slogan Lieber nackt, als im Pelz (Better naked than in fur). bei sevenload in 2005 they funded 'On the Run', a compilation album to raise funds for Pro Asyl , a human rights organisation, and contributed the song Meine Stadt (my town).Pro Asyl: On the Run , JKP, 2005, 57162.

From 1999 to 2004 their web site had a public discussion forum but this was terminated without explanation.

Ties to Düsseldorf

Over the course of the band's history, Die Toten Hosen have expressed their bonds towards their home town through various actions. In summer 1995 the band staged an ice hockey game called Powerplay des Wahnsinns (Power-play of insanity), playing in a team alongside professional players from Düsseldorfer EG against a team composed of Finnish rock band Leningrad Cowboys and Finnish national ice hockey players. The match took place in the stadium at the Brehmstrasse in Düsseldorf. Their team Knochenbrecher Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Bonebreakers) lost 10:11. In 1996 they slipped into women's clothing, silk stockings and high heels and took part in the Düsseldorf Mardi Gras parade with their own float under the slogan "We bury good taste".

The Toten Hosen are well-known supporters of soccer club Fortuna Düsseldorf. At the end of the eighties they helped the club by donating 200,000 DM towards signing the player Anthony Baffoe.Jürgen Seibold, V.I.P. music: Die Toten Hosen . Paul Zsolnay Verlag , Wien 1992, ISBN 3-552-05005-1. page 69. From 2001 to 2003 they sponsored the club after it had got into major financial difficulties. In 2002 the band signed an advertising contract with the Diebel Brewery, and donated the proceeds to the club's youth side, who wear the band's skull emblem on their shirts.Hollow Skai: Die Toten Hosen . Hannibal, A-Höfen 2007, ISBN 978-3-85445-281-2. page 165. im Horizont (Zeitschrift)|Horizont vom 13. Juni 2001.

Die Toten Hosen have reserved space for 17 persons at Düsseldorf's Südfriedhof cemetery in which they wish to be buried after death.

Copyright Citations

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