Aufklärerische Tendenzen in den Texten der Toten Hosen - Eine deutsche Band nimmt Stellung zur Ausländerdiskriminierung und zum Rechtsextremismus
Abstract
Enlightening Tendencies in the Lyrics of the "Toten Hosen" - A German Band comments on discrimination against foreigners and on Right Wing Radicalism
Today, the "Toten Hosen" are one of the most popular bands in Germany.
Founded in 1982, they started as a quiet tip of German Punk lovers. In their
lyrics, they early began to deal with the growing hatred against foreigners.
The first song of that special genre was "Ülüsü",
which told of the conflict of a (german) boy who was in love with a girl
without knowing her name - after hearing it, he gave up the relationship.
Later, the band arranged the message more and more unmistakable to define
their point of view, for example in the song "Fünf vor Zwölf" and in the
statement that it is high time to take a clear position to the topic "hatred
against foreigners".
In 1993, a new aspect was that they clearly denounce
right wing radicalism with the song "Sascha ... ein aufrechter Deutscher",
which is analyzed more closely. The song contains several aspects that are
connected to a budding right wing radicalism, such as unemployment,
foreigners, Jews, assaults against those who seek asylum etc. The lyrics
express the foolishness of the protagonist, his criminal deeds as an active
terrorist and that someone else did the same mistakes 50 years ago - but
Sascha has not learnt anything from that (history) at all.
Obviously the song caused some reaction, because
many broadcasting stations consider the lyrics to be misleading, and the
Republican Party wanted the song to be banned.
The music itself offers clues for interpretation:
Why did the band choose not to play their usual punk / rock style? Why did
they prefer "foolish german folkmusic stuff" for the arrangement? The
analysis shows that the musical elements of the song are cleverly combined
with the message of the lyrics and that the band was aware of the effect it
would have.
This song is only one climax in the discussion on
right wing radicalism. The subject - as other songs of the "Toten Hosen" and
the social situation show - is far from being settled and done, so the song
and its meaning is not and cannot be obsolete, at least as long as these
problems will last.
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