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Die Toten Hosen
"As long as Johnny Thunders draws breath, I'll remain a punk. As long as there's something to drink, we'll party on!"
Die Toten Hosen in "Wort zum Sonntag"
During their first German tour in 1982, a critic called die Toten Hosen the “unsuccessful survivors of the first generation of German punk music.” “Toten Hosen” literally means dead pants in German, but it also means “deadbeats,” a name that reflects the early aimlessness of their musical career. After the release of their first full length album in 1983, the guitarist actually temporarily deserted the band to become a Jehovah's Witness, while the others limped along financially. Although they needed part-time jobs to pay the bills, die Toten Hosen were regarded as “Germany's Number One Punk Band” in 1984.
That year, they also gained enough international recognition to do a spot on the BBC in London and appear in the British film Formula One,dashing on and off camera in alternately ridiculous costumes, typical of 1960s boy band style. Die Toten Hosen themselves felt the film was something of a joke, but they needed the money and their single from the film did fairly well in stores. After touring for a while, die Toten Hosen spent six months on the stage of the Civic Theatre in Bonn in 1988, providing the musical accompaniment to the play “A Clockwork Orange.” The theatre experience inspired next tour "Ein kleines Bisschen Horrorshow."
By this time, Toten Hosen fans knew no borders, but the band still didn't have a big name. They weren't playing any of the major venues, but played smaller venues twice and were almost always on tour. It was while they were touring informally in 1990 that their double album or “masterpiece in three parts” became their first major hit. At the end of that year, they finally began to feel a little burnt out and were looking for something new.
Sometimes you need to take one step back to go forward. Once again the Hosen had to look for a new orientation, to reinvent themselves in a cosmos of their own creation. What better way to do it than to concentrate upon the original values and roots of their music, upon the heroes of their youth and the countless songs that provided the soundtrack to each individual Hosen-adolescence. The idea for "Learning English -Lesson One" was born. - Die Toten Hosen Official Website
Learning English - Lesson One (1991) was released internationally and was a turning point in the their career in more than one way. After their Learning English tour, die Toten Hosen took a stand against the neo-Nazism that was running rampant in their country and gave the proceeds of the single "Sascha - ein aufrechter Deutscher" ("Sascha - an upstanding German") donated to a Duesseldorf anti-racism organization. They participated in an anti-racism rally in the Hofgarten in Bonn, with Herbert Groenemeyer and Nina Hagen and their next album “Kauf Mich” (1993) featured the themes of fascism of consumerism, AIDS, reality TV, long-haul tourism, and xenophobia. Die Toten Hosen's activism carried on in 1995, when they staged a protest concert about the atomic waste at Gorleben and produced a sampler "Stop Chirac," aimed at the atomic tests by the French Government.
In 1997, during what was supposed to be the band's dream performance at the Rhein Stadium, tragedy struck. A young Dutch girl was crushed in the crowd and the band was forced, by police, to continue playing in order to avoid both panic and riot amongst their fans. Die Toten Hosen were crushed, stopped touring for several months, and almost stopped playing altogether, but their song “Alles ist Eines” is dedicated to that young fan. Their autobiography, To the Bitter End, includes an epilogue explaining their feelings about the incident. Taking time to reflect has diversified the musical style of die Toten Hosen. Their album Unsterblich (1999) has classical and swing elements to it, along with sounds from the 1960s and that old Toten Hosen carefree punk.
Having come a long way from being the directionless punk band of 1983, die Toten Hosen celebrated their 20th anniversary with a second best-of album Reich und Sexy II, a DVD, and a new book. Although the band now sometimes takes a little time to relax, they still tour widely. The Argintian Rolling Stone Called their 2003 concert in Buenos Aires the concert of the year. Their latest release was a single “Friss oder strib” (2004).
