Column no.4 - Punk in Germany, Vol.3, Old Fashion No. 5, July 2012 （日本語版は下へスクロールして）

The 3rd part of the "Punk in Germany" series... This time I am talking about a time period I actually actively took part in - so no Wikipedia!
And you also get a little pic of me from times long gone, playing tough guy while eating cake on Mum's couch...

日本語版はまだ見つけてない。あとでアップします！

First of all I have some bad (or good maybe...) news for all of you: I have to leave Japan due to my job and go to Germany for about two years. But I will definitely be back here. The food is way too good and the girls are way to pretty to leave for good! And anyway: I will keep on writing for Old Fashion as long as someone wants to read it…

However, you don’t want to hear about me you want to know what was going on in that wonderland of Sauerkraut and Bratwurst in the 80s don’t you!? 

Ok, since I went on about Punkrock in Germany for two columns now, you all might think it’s time for me to talk about something interesting… you’d wish! Here we go, Punkrock history lesson no. 3:

Last time I wrote about so-called Deutschpunk, which translated means nothing more than “German Punk” but has become a label for a certain kind on Punkrock: fast, aggressive with straight-forward lyrics. 

However, it’s a fine line from “straight-forward” to plain dumb… and unfortunately that’s what “Deutschpunk” as a label stands for nowadays. There have always been rather stupid bands like “Cotzbrocken” or “OHL” but there’s a steep decline to the likes of “Popperklopper”, “Atemnot” or “Doedelhaie”. Please avoid those at all costs! Although it’s not that bad if you don’t understand German to be fair… 

So while Punk in Germany went into decline and bands either were very political but too stupid to think their message through or wanted to be funny but failed miserably like WIZO, Frohlix or Die Hannen Alks, a new thing came up: Hardcore - a welcome change for everyone who was fed up with what had become of Punkrock. 

Let me tell you a little about live shows in Germany first: contrary to Japan, smaller live shows don’t take place in Live Houses, like in Japan, but often in so-called “Jugendhäusern” (Youth Centers) or “Autonomen Zentren” (Autonomous Centers). Jugendhäuser are official meeting places for youths where they can organize their own events, while Autonome Zentren are often found in former Squats, sometimes illegal, sometimes half-legal, mostly formerly illegal and now with agreement contracts. So live shows are often non-commercial events and the people working at places like that don’t earn money and just do it out of enthusiasm. 

Nowadays it has changed a little but in the 80s, live shows, especially Punk shows, were very affordable. 

While the idea behind it was honorable, it had one disadvantage: people took it for granted. So it was a common thing in the 80s and 90s for people working the entrance to have long discussions with Punks who didn’t want to pay the whole entry fee because they thought it was too expensive. 

I should also mention that a lot of Punks in Europe actually lived and live on the street and therefore have a constant money problem. However, it often were exactly the same people who owned two dogs and came with a plastic bag full of beer just to complain about 5 Mark (~250 Yen) entry fee. 

So that’s how it looked like in live venues in the 80s in Germany: a bunch of stinky, dog accompanied drunks who took the word "Punk" a little too literally. 

The Punks who still had their head straight and their stature upright became fewer and fewer. Naturally, many kids didn’t want to identify with a bunch of bums but still wanted their music fast and loud and so suddenly kids wearing lumberjack shirts and bandanas turned up, often carrying skateboards and new bands like “Skeezicks” or “Disaster Area” played the soundtrack to their halfpipe tricks. 

However, while their American role models like the Angry Samoans, Bad Religion, Suicidal Tendencies still had a Punk background, many of the German kids didn’t really understand that. It was one thing to try to distance yourself from the type I described above, but something completely different to denounce everything that calls itself “Punk”. To do so is to deny the roots of Hardcore.

I come from a small town in the South of Germany and I remember well how you would always see the same people at shows but there were the Punks and the Hardcore kids and they didn’t really mingle… it wasn’t really fighting but there was always animosity and the one thing that made it even worse was Straight Edge. Nothing worse than an 18 year old Hardcore kid who thinks he knows it all and feels superior simply owned to the fact that he doesn’t drink. I always hated dogmatisms and that’s what it was and it fell on fertile ground in Germany: generally speaking, Germans have a tendency to impose their views and convictions onto others… One word that covers it might be “smug”…

That's one thing I like about the Japanese by the way: they don’t have to tell you every time they think they’re right and you’re talking bullshit… However, especially with foreigners they should probably do so more often…

But back to topic: so you had those hardcore kids and the punks, but while you still found Punks at Hardcore shows, few Hardcore kids showed up at classic Punk shows. Reasons for that are various: apart from the elitist thinking I talked about above, it was probably also because Hardcore was more accessible. You didn’t have to wear a leather jacket and a Mohawk. Not that that would be a rule but at a Punkrock show you would have certainly stuck out in completely regular clothes. So Hardcore attracted quite many, rather “normal” kids, who might have played in a band or organized shows but apart from that did everything the way their parents intended them to do. 

Nothing wrong about that but it’s just plain boring and, to me, Punk also means to experience the other side and be stupid instead of reasonable from time to time. Or most of the time…

That’s why, despite the fact that I liked some of the music, especially the early West Coast stuff (Adolescents, DI, Agent Orange, Circle Jerks…), I never connected with the Hardcore scene. Too boring and too much thinking things through…

However, there was another hardcore scene that really was a home to kawatteru* people. Guys who thought Punk had become too soft and too fucked up and wanted their music and style tough and still liked their beer. Those people still had a Punk background, often covered in Tattoos and all muscled up and still hung out with “real” Punks but also despised the bums. The most important band for that scene in the South was probably “Growing Movement”. Their singer Loll was notorious for his live performance and getting into fights constantly.

So it wasn’t all middle class kids who didn’t dare to dress crazy but thought they were better than everybody else but also Punks who missed a certain “toughness” in Punk.

Bands worth checking out would be:

OK, since Hardcore isn’t really my cup of tea anyway, I feel that I kind of went astray from my originally intended mission of telling Japan about decent German Punkrock, so I will just leave out the piece on New Wave I had postponed until now and go back to introducing bands that I like. Next time I will take you back to the 80s and introduce one of the rare German Mod bands to you!

Japanese for “weird”, literally: not normal