The Foreign Correspondent - Stories About German Rock Music # 1

Dirk from over at Sexy Loser wrote a very good post about German bands that he watched live, that might not known outside Germany. So I take this post to start a new series about German bands from the past until nowadays. I don't have a final criterion for selecting the bands I will write about. Not only bands singing in German language but  also bands who did it in English language or only instrumentals. So be ready to be surprised what's coming up, listen and maybe give a comment.

I will start with a band that formed in 1979 in Düsseldorf and Wuppertal when the ideas of punk and New Wave arrived from Great Britain in Germany. The main idea was that everybody is able to form and practice a band - following the three-chord rule: do it yourself. Most members played together in a local band from Düsseldorf called Mittagspause. They sounded a little bit of monotone but what's made them famous was their singer Peter Hein. Nobody else had this emotional voice in bands that raised up in the late 1970s/early 18980s.

Fehlfarben origin sound was very influenced by ska music - but they get rid of it after signing a contract with EMI. From this on they were outlawed of the local scene and they were called the betrayer of the punk movement. Their first record was released in  1980 called 'Monarchie und Alltag' (monarchy and all day life) and a monster of album. This was the first successful record from a German band singing in their native language. Although most of the songs were very punk-styled they got big success with their single 'Es geht voran' even it was untypical for their sound, because the song based on a Chic-like funky riff.

All of the songs were written by the band exept 'Militürk' - a cover version of a song by Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft (DAF). This is another story to be told along the series. Over the years this record ist still worth to listen again and a lot of songs like 'Paul ist tot', 'Grauschleier', 'Das sind Geschichten' und 'Das war vor Jahren' are still one of my favorites in German music. Saw them once life in a small, sweaty and full smoked club in Stuttgart and it was amazing what power they had.

After the release lead singer Peter Hein left the band to look out for a regular job with a steady income. The band released two more regular records in which the changed their punky roots to some kind of funky tunes but also with German lyrics. The band had a few revivals over the years with changing personal and is still on tour.

Fehlfarben - Militürk
Fehlfarben - Ein Jahr (Es geht voran)
Fehlfarben - Paul ist tot
Fehlfarben - Grauschleier