Die Toten Hosen
Ein Kleines Bisschen Horrorschau

THE REVIEW

"Ein kleines bisschen Horrorschau" is one of the most important works of German rock - and I would say - even European. The album begins with a Beethovenian introduction (from the Ninth Symphony) and immediately after starts the rock ballad "Hier kommt Alex": "In einer Welt in der man nur noch lebt / damit man täglich roboten geht..."

Welcome to the horrorshow of 'A Clockwork Orange' in a Teutonic version!

The year was 1988. Die Toten Hosen were participating in a theatrical production based on the famous novel by Anthony Burgess. It was then that they began to write a sort of soundtrack for 'Clockwork Orange'. It is also their punk-rock-style comment on the events happening - and still happening - in Germany. The result is a brilliant concept album, obviously most appreciable by those who know the German language. The second track, "1000 gute Gründe" ("A Thousand Good Reasons"), talks about the phenomenon of nationalism; the seventh, "Mehr davon" ("More!"), deals with drug addiction (in this specific case represented by classical music with which Alex "gorges himself" before committing his acts of violence)... But the musical virtues of this product go beyond the lyrics, the sense of which, at least in general terms, could be understood by anyone with the help of a good dictionary.

The band of frontman Campino (from Düsseldorf) differs from their longtime friends-rivals Die Ärzte (Berliners) in their clearer critical stance against abuses and injustices in Western democracies and in their more explicit rejection of any form of totalitarianism. Until 'Never Mind the Hosen', their message was filled with irony and nonsense. With 'Ein kleines bisschen Horrorschau' the band takes a big leap, abandoning the path of Deutschpunk from merry meetings around a bonfire ("Eisgekühlter Bommerlunder") to touch on more painful and thus more realistically social themes, which would be revisited in the albums 'Kauf MICH!' ("Buy ME!"), 'Opium fürs Volk' ("Opium for the People"), etc.

The production of the album is perfect; the symbiosis of rock and classical (the latter present in the interludes from Beethoven's Ninth) and the quality of all the tracks demonstrate that Die Toten Hosen are not content to play "the usual three chords," but are musicians in every sense. In the story of the adventures of Alex, a young rebel who is ultimately converted to a "orderly" life, reflects the fundamentally submissive attitude of an entire generation.

'Ein kleines bisschen Horrorschau' was the band's first big commercial success and the springboard that launched them definitively abroad.