TTT: German Punk Rock For Anarchy
It is time for another #ThreeTuneTuesday. For those not familiar with it, here's an explanation.
About 96 Weeks ago @ablaze started this incredible movement:
Every Tuesday I'm going to share 3 songs which I like to listen to and I invite your feedback in the comments below. Or why not have a blast of your own Three Tune Tuesday and mention me in the post and I'll come and find the post and hopefully upvote it. It'll be a sweet way for us all to discover new music.
After I learned about Die Ärzte and Die Toten Hosen it did not take long before I also found WIZO. Another German punk rock band that started its journey in 1986 and is still touring today. The first song that captured my attention was "Kopfschuss" (headshot).
While growing up I was taught about Germany's past and told to be glad we are living in a democracy now and how good that is. But no one ever told me that one benefit of living in such a democracy is the ability to openly criticize it.
WIZO did so in many songs, including this one. I was baffled and it opened my eyes to not take things for granted as told by media and the government but to ask questions and try finding other sources.
At one point WIZO was targeted by the government. The lyrics in one song were forbidden to be published. In these lyrics they ask their listeners to do extreme things. Since they were not allowed to sing those lyrics the song was first published without them and entitled "Kein Gerede" (No talking).
But as usual with those things, it found its way into the public and with the invention of the internet is now available.
They are still touring to this day and in 2016 published a new single. In Adagio they are reminiscing about their old times. Listing many faults in the current political structures and declare their dream of anarchy still being alive.
I think the following quote sums this up nicely
If a man is not a communist by the time he is 20, he has no heart. If he is still a communist by the time he is 40, he has no brain.
It is rumored to be said by Winston Churchill in different variations and many sources refute this and attribute it to other people. So I have no idea who actually said it.
But I like it.
Thank you for reading and keep on rocking 🤘
The embedded videos and songs are not mine, nor do I own any rights to them. They are embedded from youtube and serve an illustrative purpose for this article
Great work, I liked their tunes too. Were they pro-communist or anarchist?
Anarchist. Anarchy cannot work of course, I know that now but it was nice to have a "political dream" as a teenager. 😋
And the quote I first learned with "Communism", it mostly inspired me to not judge a person by their political views but rather engage with the ideas and be open to discussion. I think it reminds us on how our views on anything can change with timem knowledge and experience. And what we think to be the right thing today, we might see different tomorrow. So we must not be afraid to change our behavior accordingly.
At the risk of sounding pompous.. I actually know a little bit about Anarchism. Not Anarchy, but Anarchism.
The idea of Anarchism is almost completely, 100% democratic. "Do what the people do." As a simple example (very simple), if one is designing a park and wants to put in paths for people to walk, first let them walk and see where they walk, then put the paths there instead of putting them where people won't walk anyway.
And yeah, I'm a bore at cocktail parties, too.
I actually value such input. Thank you very much.
Ah, but isn't it democracy then? Not the way we're living it now but how it should be lived? And we are back to me dreaming of a better world...
As I understood it, one part of anarchy is for example no police anymore. No "higher authority" and I think that is one big problem. We need problem solvers. Yes, the current state of police power is questionable and worth a complete discussion on its own and not the point here.
But I think we need some form of executive and judicial power, otherwise we will run into the "I am the strong one with a rifle, gimme all your water" problem.
Nah, don't cut yourself short. 😊 I enjoy and like your thoughts.
It's really a tough balance, isn't it? Democracy really works best in smaller environments. So does pure capitalism. And communism. Society itself begins to break apart the larger it becomes.
I could go on for a very long time about this. I won't. I'll save it for the next cocktail party I'm at. 😂
But still tough sometimes. I'm member of our local coworker's council and we are seven all together. Our actions are based on democratic votes and the preceding debates can sometimes become pretty heavy even among only seven people.
And then comes your point. The more people participate, the higher the chance that those who do not get what they want break out of the system and cannot accept the result.
I would never say I have the answer to all these problems that come with the different forms of governing, for sure I don't have to most of them. All I know is: It is not perfect the way it is at the moment.
I love your review on these tunes and they are equally nice tunes.
Weldone friend
Thank you very much. 😊
You are welcome
Yep, that is definitely punk! Don't need to know the language to appreciate the music. Punk rock has always been good for some good societal criticism.
Yes, they are the most radical band I listen(ed) to. Gotta be careful nowadays, my son is only five years old. He understands the words but not the (deeper) meaning. So can only listen to it when he's not home, to be on the save side.
Interesting stuff. My first introduction to real punk music was a band called One Bad Pig. They were pretty different from most the stuff I listened to back in the 90's. That is a pretty cool quote.
Thanks. 😊
Uh, thanks for the tip. Just having a quick listening on youtube. They even covered a Johnny Cash song. Nice.
Yeah, the cover of Man in Black was pretty cool. They were a Christian punk band, so a lot of the lyrics are slanted that way. They had a good sound though. I still have the CD laying around somewhere I think.
Christian Punk? I never thought such a thing possible. Alluring concept, I wonder if it would work in my region...
I don't know. It would be interesting to find out.
That was an interesting read, both the content and the comments. Wizo are completely new to me and they are punk to the bone and are still thrilling the fans based on that recent gig footage 🤘🤘🤘🤘