Die anderen Bands (, "the other bands") is a term combining alternative music bands of 1980s GDR (
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
). They shared a more or less open criticism of their country's political system, and a high degree of creativity which was lacking from the more established music scene of East Germany. Many members of these bands played significant parts during the time of political change ''
Wende'' in 1989. The bands came from a broad range of musical genres, especially
Punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
,
Blues,
Wave
In physics, mathematics, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from equilibrium) of one or more quantities. Waves can be periodic, in which case those quantities oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium (re ...
,
Indie
Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Gaming
*Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies
*Indie game, any game (board ...
and
Electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...
.
Radio DJ Lutz Schramm introduced the other bands to a wider audience in his show Parocktikum on East Germany's youth radio station DT 64 (now Sputnik/MDR). In 1988 the East German record label
AMIGA released a sampler called "Kleeblatt Nr. 23 - Die anderen Bands". A year later another sampler was released, named after the radio show their music was first aired in: "Parocktikum". Having been limited to self-produced records and (sometimes illegal) gigs, both the radio show and the samplers offered a great opportunity for alternative bands to promote their material. The old system prevented free performances, only bands with an "
Einstufung" (rating) were able to have an official approved gig. From 1990 on several samplers with alternative bands from the former GDR were released. Most of the bands are now defunct, but some like Dekadance, Freygang and Herbst in Peking still exist. Other musicians have found fame in new bands such as
Rammstein
Rammstein (, "ramming stone") is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band formed in Berlin in 1994. The band's lineup—consisting of lead vocalist Till Lindemann, lead guitarist Richard Kruspe, rhythm guitarist Paul Landers, bassist Oliver Riedel, ...
, whose band members have formerly been in
Feeling B
Feeling B was a punk rock band founded in East Berlin in 1983. They started out firmly grounded in the underground punk scene. Over time, Feeling B's popularity grew greatly, and climaxed around the end of the German Democratic Republic.
Fron ...
and
First Arsch
Bands
*
Dekadance
''Dekadance'' is the title of two different collections of remixes by Australian rock band INXS: a 1983 four-track 12" and cassette EP released in the United States of songs from ''Shabooh Shoobah''; and a 1985 seven-track cassette released ...
*
Dritte Wahl
*
Feeling B
Feeling B was a punk rock band founded in East Berlin in 1983. They started out firmly grounded in the underground punk scene. Over time, Feeling B's popularity grew greatly, and climaxed around the end of the German Democratic Republic.
Fron ...
*
First Arsch
*
Herbst in Peking
*
Die Skeptiker
Die Skeptiker (English: The Skeptics) is a German punk band, founded in 1986 in East Berlin.
Die Skeptiker were part of the so-called Die anderen Bands (''the other bands'' in accordance to the mainstream bands in East Germany) which played poli ...
Sources
* Ronald Galenza, Heinz Havemeister (eds.): ''„Wir wollen immer artig sein…“ Punk, New Wave, Hiphop und Independent-Szene in der DDR von 1980 bis 1990''. (2nd revised and expanded edition, including a virtually complete discography of all recordings of alternative DDR bands on state and independent labels) Schwarzkopf und Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2005
*Alexander Pehlemann, Ronald Galenza (eds.): ''Spannung. Leistung. Widerstand. Magnetbanduntergrund. DDR 1979–1990''. Verbrecher Verlag, Berlin 2006
*Mirko M. Hall, Seth Howes, Cyrus M. Shahan: ''Beyond No Future: Cultures of German Punk''. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2016
*Juliane Fürst, Josie McLellan: ''Dropping out of Socialism: The Creation of Alternative Spheres in the Soviet Bloc''. Rowman & Littlefield, 2016
External links
:''(mostly in German)''
* http://www.die-anderen-bands.de
* http://podcast.parocktikum.de
* https://web.archive.org/web/20070604023056/http://www.generationpunk.de/
* https://web.archive.org/web/20070328211016/http://www.aggeige.de/ (AG Geige)
* http://www.dekadance.de (Dekadance)
* http://www.die-art.de (Die Art)
* http://www.freygangband.de (Freygang)
* http://archiv.digitalcraft.org/is-berlin/isb/_awolter/HIP/STERN.html (Herbst in Peking)
* http://www.kirsche-co.de/ (Kirsche & Co.)
* http://www.muellstation.de/ (Müllstation)
* http://www.sandow.de/ (Sandow)
* http://www.dieskeptiker.com/ (Die Skeptiker)
* http://happystraps.de (Happy Straps)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Die Anderen Bands
German styles of music