Songs About Chocolate & Girls Part 74
I was thinking last night…
….About how I used to obtain new music as a Gen Xer in the 90s. Now look, I know a lot of younger people think the 90s were this great alternative rock mecca and everywhere you looked there was a new band being advertised to you. All your friends looked great in flannel. Your parents were completely fine with buying expensive Doc Martens. Your folks were also fine in letting you go to the worst parts of the city to see bands. Hell, even the local bookstores were packed with magazines, many of them from far off lands overseas, telling you who the next big thing were going to be.
This wasn’t like this for me. I always felt like I had to dig for new music. I had very few friends into the bands I liked. I always see that meme of something like “people that introduce you to new music are the greatest people and you should sacrifice a baby in honor of the friend’s older sister that introduced you to Hole.” Or some such nonsense. A) I was the new music person and people in my high school and people couldn’t give a flying fuck. B) everyone thinks they are the older sister. We all want to be up on the coolest bands, even now where any artist can be found if you are willing to look. Then we all want to expose our friends to it; the whole hipster adage of “I liked them before…” is something to be made fun of of but it shouldn’t alway be aimed at other people.
I don’t even know what I’m rambling about here. I’m cold and cranky. I need to go take out a lot of garbage because of this unending move. Maybe I’m just trying to come to terms with I am not as cool as I think am and people don’t care that I review (albeit extremely briefly) bands I’m likely noone has heard or at haven’t thought about in a real long time.
A special note before I get to this week’s records, I know that “die” means “the” in German. However, I am also a dumb America and I didn’t put all these German “die” bands in with the “The’s” or in sorted them into their letter in the American alphabet. Example Die Ärzte should be in the “A”s and not the “D”s. Got it? Well I hope you do and I hope you like German punk because there are a lot of “Die” bands.
Bands covered: Die Ärzte, Die Ex-Perten, and Die Kassierer.
There are 11 reviews this time.
Die Ärzte Die Bestie In Menschengestalt
Die Ärzte formed in Berlin in 1982 and Die Bestie is their fifth album. The version I listened to was over an hour long and travelled down many roads from pop to punk to electro to a six-minute-long polka outro. Everything is sung in German. (Metronome, 1993) Spotify
Die Ärzte Das Beste Von Kurz Nach Früher Bis Jetze
Two discs worth of remixes, singles and live songs. (Columbia, 1994) Spotify
Die Ärzte Planet Punk
Another album that clocks in at almost an hour. The band would be okay if they just played their decent alt-punk but for some reason they feel that it’s okay to break into disco, salsa, and 80’s pop. (Metronome, 1995) Spotify
Die Ärzte Le Fisur
Only 45 mintues and the band is starting to be more cohesive with strong melodic punk songs and only a couple of alt-rock snoozers. (Metronome, 1996) Spotify
Die Ärzte 13
Almost an hour long but the pop-punk shines and there are only a few alt-rock slip ups. (Hot Action Records, 1998) Spotify
Die Ärzte Satanische Pferde
This is a fanclub only release of some live recordings from 1994 to 1998 from six different shows all over Germany. The last track is a melody of American pop songs. (Hot Action Records, 1999) YouTube
Die Ärzte Wir Wollen Nur Deine Seele
Another live recording of two shows. The CD is over two and ½ hours long. That’s too much, you’re not the fucking Dead. Who wants this? (Hot Action Records/Motor Music, 1999) Spotify
Die Ex-Perten Jede Menge Kohle
Melodic anthemic punk not unlike Still Little Finger but completely sung in German (Amöbenklang, 1997) YouTube
Die Kassierer Habe Brille
Formed in 1985 in Bochum, Germany Die Kassierer play a goofy brand of melodic punk that tosses in some genres including polka and techno (Teenage Rebel Records, 1996) Spotify
Die Kassierer Taubenvergiften
More of the same but too many goofy songs on this one, thankfully it is short. (Teenage Rebel Records, 1997) Spotify
Die Kassierer Musik Für Beide Ohren
Another batch of goofball songs but I think “Zu Voll Zum Verkehr” is cover the Dead Kennedys song, “Too Drunk to Fuck” but the lyrics are changed and translated to “too drunk to drive”. (Teenage Rebel Records, 1999) Spotify
Until next time,
