''Die Reklamation'' (German: ''The Complaint'') is the debut studio album by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

band

Wir sind Helden Wir sind Helden (, German for "We are heroes") was a German pop rock band that was established in 2000 in Hamburg and based in Berlin. The band was composed of lead singer and guitarist Judith Holofernes, drummer , bassist and keyboardist/guita ...

, released on 7 July 2003 by Labels, a subsidiary of

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

. It sold over 800,000 copies in Germany and reached four times

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

. The album follows lead singer Judith Holofernes' limited self-produced solo album ''Kamikazefliege'', which had already included two tracks from this album: “Aurélie” and “Außer dir”.

Critical reception

The album was a success with the critics. laut.de gave it five out of five points calling it “the perfect soundtrack for an urban summer”. They describe the lyrics as “awesome and damn clever” and Judith Holofernes as “one of the most intelligent and funniest women of our time.” kulturnews.de also praised the lyrics and the originality of the album, calling Wir sind Helden worthy successors of

Neue Deutsche Welle Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW, , "New German Wave") is a genre of West German rock music originally derived from post-punk and new wave music with electronic influences. The term was first coined by Dutch radio DJ Frits Ritmeester on the popular na ...

acts like

Nena Gabriele Susanne Kerner (born 24 March 1960), better known by her stage name Nena, is a German singer who rose to international fame in 1983 as the lead vocalist of the band Nena (band), Nena with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". I ...

Commercial performance

The album peaked at #2 on the German album chart, at #3 in Austria and at #38 in Switzerland. More than 800,000 copies of the album were sold in Germany alone and was awarded triple platinum. The album remains one of the most successful German albums ever (#19 based on chart position). It managed to stay in the

German Albums Chart The GfK Entertainment charts are the official charts for music, home video, and video games in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on be ...

for a total of 94 weeks, making it the album, that stayed the longest time on that chart in their career Four

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

were released off the album: “

Guten Tag “Guten Tag” is a 2002 song by German band Wir sind Helden. It was first released on an EP of the same title in 2002 and one year later as the first single of their debut album ''Die Reklamation''. It was composed by Jean-Michel Tourette, Ju ...

”, “Müssen nur wollen”, “Aurélie” and “Denkmal”. In 2004, a new version of the album with a red cover called “Die rote Reklamation” (“The Red Complaint”) was released. This limited tour edition included the official video clips of all four singles and two short movies about the band.

Awards

Wir sind Helden were awarded three

ECHO award Echo Music Prize (stylised as ECHO, ) was an accolade by the , an association of recording companies of Germany to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The first ECHO Awards ceremony was held in 1992, and was set up to honor ...

s in 2004 related to their debut album making them the most successful act of that year. :de:Echo (Musikpreis) *Best Marketing (to EMI) *Best national video clip (for “Müssen nur wollen”) *Best national newcomer (Radio award)

Track listing

All tracks written by Wir Sind Helden.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

''Die Reklamation'' lyrics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reklamation, Die 2003 debut albums Wir sind Helden albums 2000s German-language albums European Border Breakers Award–winning albums