German Language Musik

[timwilde]

I was surprised and somewhat depressed that while in Germany, most CD's in the music stores were in English. Even the local music scene seemed to be primarily English language music performed by German musicians. To rephrase, these are original works by German artists just singing in English.

Likewise, in the music stores the German language music was all lumped together, so you had Rammstein right next to some folk singing.

My question is, is there some good german language music, be it independant or signed artists that you could recommend that are allong the lines of Oomph, Rammstein, LaFee?

The Electronic musicians such as Beborn Beton, Wolfsheim, And One, etc are good starts but the VAST majority of thier discographies are English language.

[chris4285176]

I was annoyed when I first heard how much English was used. I'm pretty over Rammstein these days and would also like to hear songs sung in German, that isn't Folky.

[timwilde]

I was annoyed when I first heard how much English was used. I'm pretty over Rammstein these days and would also like to hear songs sung in German, that isn't Folky.

Well, here's a short list (as much as I was able to find)

For Metal/Punk

Lafee
Oomph!
Rammstein
Hart am Wind
Eschenbach
Die Toten Hosen
Bohse Onkelz

More Pop-py kinda rock/soft-rock/alternative

Wir Sind Helden
Christina Sturmer
Klee
2raumwohnung
Juli
Fischmob

Hip-hop (warning, probably not the best to listen to for learners)

Sido
Kitty Kat
Aggro Berlin
Samy Deluxe
Freundeskreis
Absolute Beginner

For the Darkwave/Goth/Ebm stuff (most of this will be english but use some German)

Wolfsheim
And One
Beborn Beton
Das Ich

Like I said, it's a fairly short list. This is what I was both able to find and was able to appreciate (the sound was good) . A note about the Hip-Hop warning, Much like English hip-hop words are commonly not pronounced correctly or with the appropriate cadence - it's been warped and twisted to fit the flow of the song. Imagine trying to teach someone English using Snoop Dogg or Eminem - same basic idea applies.

All of the above are available on Amazon I think Amazon.au will have import charges, you can *somewhat* avoid those by ordering from Amazon.de - although shipping is horrible (cost nearly $30 for 3 cd's and a dvd just for shipping) The EBM bands though should have some non-import CD's available with some German tracks.

Hope this helps.

[timwilde]

correction, that was almost 30 Euro, not dollars, for shipping. I spent maybe 25 euro for 2 cds and a DVD and spent roughly 30 euro on shipping them to me (close to $65USD total) It still worked out slightly cheaper than ordering the "imports" as those would have totaled about $75 for the same items from the "local" amazon.com.

[Sprachprofi]

Thank you for the detailed list, timwilde!

I am sure some of our listeners will greatly appreciate it.

Additional bands and singers I can think of:

Rock/Pop
die Ärzte
die Fantastischen Vier
Falco
Rosenstolz
Wir sind Helden
Silbermond
Nena
PUR
Scorpions
Herbert Grönemeyer
die Prinzen
Wise Guys
Pe Werner

Boygroup
Echt
Söhne Mannheims

Soul
Xavier Naidoo

Chanson
Reinhard Mey
Hannes Wader

German Oldies
Dschingis Khan
Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung (EAV)
Einstürzende Neubauten
Karat
Freiheit
Purple Schulz
Trio

Really old stuff
Zarah Leander
Marlene Dietrich
Marianne Rosenberg
Bruce Low

Volksmusik
Heino
Kastelruther Spatzen
Schürzenjäger
(okay I'm not very familiar at all with this genre)

Schlager
Wolfgang Petry
Michael Holm
Matthias Reim
Marius Müller-Westernhagen
Udo Jürgens
Udo Lindenberg

Dark Metal, Dark Wave etc. (recommendations from my brother)
Samsas Traum
ASP
Eisregen
Unheilig
Tanzwut

[Salivia_Baker]

I see some Austrian artists in the list, so I'll add some Austro Pop artists as well:

Reinhard Fendrich
Georg Danzer
Wolfgang Ambros
Actually are all three solo artists but they also get together as the band "Austria 3"

Bluatschink
STS
Ludwig Hirsch
Peter Cornelius

[chris4285176]

Wow, that's quite a list! Thanks.

[Salivia_Baker]

In light of the European Song Contest: Lena

[wunderkind269122]

The bands I listen to include:
Tokio Hotel
Rammstein
Nena
PUR
Die Ärzte
Die Toten Hosen
Die Schäfer
Juli
LaFee
Sportfreunde Stiller
DJ Ötzi
Herbert Grönemeyer
Silbermond
Subway to Sally
Xavier Naidoo
Ella Endlich
Marianne Rosenberg
Jürgen Drews
Rosenstolz
STS
Yvonne Catterfeld
Cassandra Steen
Ich + Ich
Apres Ski
Fettes Brot
Wolfsheim

But I can see that a lot of people have already posted a nice chunk of German-language music already.

[peptastic6579]

And one's newest album Tanzomat is entirely in English but they are supposed to come out with another album. Their ep Zerstorer earlier this year had one new German track. I know their new single is supposed to be performed in German. So for those of you upset they mainly sing in English I don't think they are strictly singing in English forever. After all, their 2004 offering Aggressor is entirely in German. Usually they offer both. I like the mixture of both.

I'm mainly into the darkwave/synth area.
Does de/vision even sing in German? I can't recall any German sung camouflage songs.

On the same token you've got all the electroclash/ebm/synth bands performing live mainly in Germany. IAMX, Covenant, VNV nation, etc. all live in Germany even when they are not German.

I've heard Schiller is not going to continue to release English versions of his material.

[timwilde]

peptastic6579, I'm in the same boat you are. Preferrably I like listening to the Darkwave/Goth/EBM/synth music. A lot (if not all) of the bands you mentioned are on the Metropolis Records label, which is an American label. While they dont discriminate about the language, most of the artists do sing in English.

As for performing mainly in Germany, it's where the fans are. VNV Nation played here in Phoenix, AZ to a crowd of maybe 500 people and was at a small venue. Whereas on videos and stories I see, they play to thousands in German shows. A lot of them also live in Germany. Ronan for example lives and has his studio setup in Germany. Even the South American/Mexican bands that sing primarily in Spanish moved to Germany (Hoccico, Punto Omega).

I think it's about effort and knowlege. Rammstein keeps trying to sing in English, but all of the English tracks I hear from them always sound like they have put in too much effort and doesnt sound quite "right".

I just thought that going to Germany would be like going to Mexico or even just the Mexican Discotecha's in Phoenix or Tucson where virtually everything is in the native language.

Hopefully when I go back next summer with my niece we'll have better luck finding some German music. And hopefully some concerts will be going on while I'm there.