the development of popular music in germany from 1960-1980
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The Development of Popular Music in Germany from 1960-1980
Dimitrios Mylis
After the Second World War, popular music in Germany changed the root of music
history and assisted on the creation of new music genres. The end of the war resulted in a
divided two-part Germany, East and West. Popular music developed in interesting ways in both
sides of Germany; the different political ideologies of the two sides though, let popular music to
develop in different ways. The Eastern side attempted to keep the tradition and the classical
culture of Germany, while on the other side of the wall popular music was becoming influenced
by the United States and Britain (Scaruffi, 2002, chapter: The classics, paragraph 1,2 ). Prior to
1960, musical genres such as jazz, classical and hippies were the main styles of music culture in
Germany. Schlager was the most important characteristic of popular music in all of Germany
but particularly in the East; it became more famous in the middle of 1960 and 1970. In 1960s,
the Avant-garde minimalist music was influenced by US artists, thus creating a kind of
psychedelic music (Baker, German Popular Music). In the early 1970s, a new music genre,
called Krautrock or Komische music, changed the music history of Germany and led to new
music genres from the late 1970s and early 1980s (Cope, 1965, p64)
In the 1960s, Germany was not a part of the worlds rock music, but the appearance of
psychedelic music changed the German music scene. By the end of the 1960s, the American and
British culture, as well as the hippie movement had moved rock towards psychedelia, heavy
metal and progressive rock with social and political lyrics. In 1968, the German student
movement, which was inspired by France and Italy, caused a movement towards collective
awareness. These factors led to the first German rock festival in 1968 in Essen, which the
British Press named it Krautrock. The British rock bands used the American rock style in order
to create music for a different type of audience. On the other hand, most German bands instead
of playing rock music, played psychedelic in an attempt to show the relationship between the
already known psychedelic music in combination with the German electronic music. In the
meantime, there was a parallel Krautrock, known as Kosmische music that took its name from
Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser, a record producer and author. The main characteristic of Kosmische music
was the recording of keyboard based electronic instrumental music with an emphasis on static
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drones (Scaruffi, 2002, A brief summary). In 1970, Popol Vuh became the first band who used
the electronic synthesizer to create music, and a year later many bands followed like Tangerine
Dream and Faust, who were inspired by U.S West Coast rock and psychedelic music. Tangerine
Dreams music was a mixture of literature, paintings, early forms of multimedia, and Faust
received critical acclaim for its innovative approach and established a devoted fan base. Also,
important bands of the first period of Krautrock, which should not be forgotten, were The Amon
Duul with their 68s folk and chaotic jamming, Guru Guru and their strange mix of psych and
bluesy jamming. Furthermore, producers Conny Plank, Dieter Dierks and Rollf Ulrich Kaiser
played a great role in the development of Krautrock (Blache, An introduction to Krautrock,). In
1973, Rolf founded his own label Die Komische Kuriere and few months later Richard
Branson founded The Virgin label, which was largely responsible for the public success of
Tagnerine Dream, Can and Faust. Virgin signed the Faust tapes due to the success of Fausts
So Far album (Blache, An introduction to Krautrock).
The development of the popular music took a similar route in both parts of Germany,
despite the opposing political systems. Even though American and British influences were being
accepted by the youth, this was not the case for all citizens. In West Germany, some people
admired the American technology, but others believed that American culture was inferior to the
German one (Encyclopedia of Popular Music, p187-192). In East Germany, the government
believed that if American culture leaked into the east, it could possibly wear down their
communist government. By the early 1970s, the rock music of West Germany influenced the
East side and assisted in the creation of the East German rock music, known as Ostrock. On this
side of the wall, music was more classical and traditional and often the lyrics were more poetic
with indirect double-meanings, philosophical challenges and most of the time they were in
German. This style of music was known as Schlager and typical tracks were ballads with a
simple catchy melody or light pop tunes. Amongst a number of bands, Karat and The Puhdys
represented Shlager the most on the East side of Germany (Renft, 2006, Bad boy). Karat was
founded in 1974 in Berlin and they gained a strong audience in West Germany when they
published their album Der blaue Planet (The Blue Planet) in 1982, which became one of the
year's top sellers (Baker, German Popular Music). The Puhdys was a veteran band from the East
side and it was the first band who was allowed to tour in West Germany. Due to the communist
political regime of the eastern side, a lot of music bands like Renft, were censored for the content
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of their lyrics, and many of these were banned and dissolved (Shingler, Rocking the Wall).
Moreover, some of the most important music bands of the 1970s were Amon Duul and Amon
Duul ll, Kraftwerk, Neu, Ash Ra Tempel and they had a great career outside of Germany.
In the second half of the 1970s, many popular Krautrock bands lost the support of the
public because of the birth of a new generation of the German rock music, known as new
German wave (Neue Deutsche Welle) (Nathaus K, n.d, Pop music promotion). This genre was
influenced by British punk and developed a German version of punk, known to as the new
German dance music. This was the first unique German music and Krautrock was highly
influential on the development of punk. The lyrics were humorous and in German because it had
already been a characteristic of the East German rock music. Nina Hagen from East Germany,
Falco from Austria and Joachim Witt, were successful internationally in this genre. However,
this new genre was quickly dismissed by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in the East
side as subversive and a dangerous phenomenon (Shingler, Rocking the Wall). According to
Patricia Simpson in Britain and the United States punk was seen as a response to unemployment,
to middle-class lifestyles, ethics, and privilege, and to cultural boredom (Simpson, 2000, pp.
129-140). Moreover, Punk was mostly an underground movement. Music bands were doing live
performances in their own garages and they were recording their songs themselves (Shingler,
Rocking the Wall). On the other side of the wall, Udo Lindenberg, who was born in West
Germany, was representing Germany most of the time, but it was time for a change (Udo
Lindenberg). Bands such Lake and Karthago, who were representing German Hard Rock music,
gained global recognition with material in English. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the
provocative spirit of British punk transformed into an industrial sound, by a music band in West
Berlin, known as Einsturzende Neubauten. The new sound became a trend and was spread all
over the world and German pioneers of electronic music such as Karlheinz Stockhausen have
had an international influence on Avant-garde and contemporary music. Finally, in the late 1970s
and early 1980s, a band named Scorpions, was the prime movers of Heavy Metal genre, despite
that the band was created in late 1960s, which is characterized by emphatic rhythms, loud
distorted guitars, vigorous vocals and dense bass-and-drum sound (Encyclopedia of Popular
Music, p187-192).
Taking everything under consideration, the history of German music changed radically
when German bands tried to mix their music culture with influences from the U.S. and Britain.
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Combined with the German movement and the first rock German festival in Essen in 1968,
resulting in the creation of a new genre, called Krautrock or Komische music. Despite that
Germany was broken in two parts, managed to develop popular music equally well in East and
West side. The use of electronic synthesizer to create music is a term for the world music history
because German electronic music gained global influence and had main role on the foundation of
many music bands and genres (Nathaus, n.d, Pop music promotion). Germany developed its own
music style and achieved to keep its tradition through Schlager (Siegmund, 1972, Schlager in
Deutschland). The German influence in Europe was really evident in 1970s, because of
Krautrock. In England, Brian Eno worked with German musicians of Harmonia and Cluster
bands, and achieved to reach his music into an aquatic ambient style. In France, Richard Pinhas
from Heldon music band, explored electronics, molecular machines in a hypnotic repetitive
mood. In France, Tangerine band published tracks that had similarities with German bands that
were associated with acoustic music. Moreover, in their album Cottonwoodhill (1971), they
made a connection between psychedelic space rock and schizo-bluesy improvisations, which fit
with the most German Krautrock bands. The mix between contemporary music, psychedelic rock,
folk, jazz, avant-garde and experimentation can be described as the classic German sound. After
a decade, young music bands and labels from all over the world brought Krautrock back to life
by composing music with glorious old music heroes and by propelling tribute music bands of
this period (Blache, Introduction to Krautrock).
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Baker D, (n.d). German Popular Music, Powerpoint. Retrieved from Topic 13 German Popular
Music
http://moodle.port.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=258§ion=13
Blache P, (n.d). An Introduction to Krautrock. Retrieved from Denis Reeve Baker, Topic 13
German Popular Music Krautrock
http://moodle.port.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=258§ion=13
Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World (2005), vol7, Western Europe:
Germany, p187-192
Cope J, (1995). Krautrocksampler: One Head's Guide to the Great Kosmische Musik - 1968
Onwards. Yatesbury: Head Heritage. p. 64
Lindenberg U. (n.d), Retrieved from
http://www.udo-lindenberg.de/biografie.52416.htm
Nathaus K., (n.d), Pop music promotion in West Germany and the decline of the Schlager genre,
19451964, p15. Retrieved from Denis Reeve Baker, Topic 13 German Popular Music Schlanger
http://moodle.port.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=258§ion=13
Renft K., (2006), 'Bad boy of East German rock'n'roll'
Scaruffi P., (2002), A history of rock and dance (1951-2008), chapter: The classics
(roughly 1966-1969), 8 Komische Music 1969-72, paragraph 1&2.
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Scaruffi P, (2002). A brief summary of German rock music
http://www.scaruffi.com/history/german.html
Shingler J., (n.d). , Rocking the Wall: East German Rock and Pop in the 1970s and 1980s
http://thevieweast.wordpress.com/2011/07/15/rocking-the-wall-east-german-rock-and-pop-in-
the-1970s-and-1980s/
Siegmund H, ed. (1972). Schlager in Deutschland: Beitrge zur Analyse der Popularmusik und
des Musikmarktes. Breitkopf & Hrtel. N.B.: Includes a bibliog. dictionary of German musicians
on pp. 177235
Simpson P, (2000) Germany and Its Discontents: Die Skeptikers Punk Corrective, The Journal
of Popular Culture, pp. 129140)
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