Die Toten Hosen

Die Toten Hosen is a German punk band from Düsseldorf. They are one of very few German-language acts who have enjoyed decades-long mass appeal in Germany; Die Ärzte and Herbert Grönemeyer are pretty much the only other contenders in this respect.

The members of Die Toten Hosen ("The Dead Pants" in English; "tote Hose" is a German expression meaning "nothing going on") are Campino (Andreas Frege), Kuddel (Andreas von Holst), Vom (Vom Ritchie), Andi (Andreas Meurer) and Breiti (Michael Breitkopf). Vom replaced Wölli as the drummer in 1999 (Wölli's untimely departure from the band was due to injuries caused by a car accident), who himself had replaced Trini in 1985 and is still an honorary member of the band; Trini became the band's manager.

The band has existed for over 20 years, and their songs' focus gradually shifted from funny and nonsensical to serious; the songs from their first LP were mostly about having fun, but by the end of the 1980s they were focussing more on political and social issues such as racism.

The debut single "Wir sind bereit" ("We are ready") was released in 1982, and was followed by their first album, "Opel-Gang", the next year. In 1988, Die Toten Hosen released the LP "Ein kleines bisschen Horrorschau". It refers to the movie A Clockwork Orange based on the book by Anthony Burgess and also the in the punkscene famous movie A Clockwork Orange. in 1993, Frank Castorf produced a german theater version of the book, in which die Toten Hosen performed as actors and musicians.

Their 1000st concert was on 28th June 1997 in the "Düsseldorfer Rheinstadium" with more than 60000 fans. But a dutch girl died in the crowd. After various talks with security and police, they decided to paly soft songs until the end not to panic the crow. Later they produced the song "Alles ist Eins" in memorian for the dutch girl.

Die Toten Hosen have collaborated with numerous other musicians (like Bad Religion, AC/DC, U2, Rolling Stones); they are also one of the few German punk bands popular outside of Germany (esp. in South America, Australia, eastern Europe) other notable bands being Die Ärzte and WIZO.

As longtime fans of the their local soccer team Fortuna Düsseldorf they have been sponsoring the club from 2001 to 2003.

References

Artist Andreas Gursky sold a famous work called "Tote Hosen", a blown up photograph of the crowd from a Die Toten Hosen concert. It features a crowd of German youths, many wearing the red Hosen shirt, excitedly cheering for the band. It is currently on display in the Photography wing of the Museum of Modern Art.

Discography

• Opel-Gang - 1983
• Unter falscher Flagge ("under false colours") - 1984
• The Battle of the Bands - 1985
• Damenwahl ("Ladies' choice") - 1986
• Never mind the Hosen, Here's die Roten Rosen ("Never mind the Hosen, here's the red roses") - 1987
• Bis zum bitteren Ende ("until the bitter end") - live - 1987
• Ein kleines bisschen Horrorschau ("a little bit of horrorshow") - 1988
• Auf dem Kreuzzug ins Glück ("on the crusade to happiness") - 1990
• Learning English, Lesson One - 1991
• Kauf mich! ("buy me") - 1993
• Reich & Sexy ("rich and sexy") - 1993
• Love, Peace & Money - 1994
• Musik war ihr Hobby ("music was their hobby") - 1995
• Opium fürs Volk ("opium for the people") - 1996
• Im Auftrag des Herrn ("on a mission from god") - live - 1996
• Wir warten auf's Christkind (Die Roten Rosen) ("We're waiting for the christ child (the red roses)") - 1998
• Crash Landing - 1999
• Unsterblich ("Immortal") - 1999
• Auswärtsspiel ("away game") - 2002
• Reich & Sexy II - Die fetten Jahre ("rich and sexy II - the fat years") - 2002
• Zurück zum Glück ("back to joy") - 2004

External links

• Official Website (http://www.dietotenhosen.de/)
• www.d-t-h.prv.pl - Unofficial Website (http://www.d-t-h.prv.pl)de:Die Toten Hosen

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