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Nena - Germany's Hottest Pop Phenomenon
Hagen (inter-info) - On March 24, 1960, a girl with the name of Gabriele Nena Kerner is born in the Westphalian town of Hagen. Twenty-four years later, she has achieved something of which countless others only dream: in the guise of pop sensation "Nena", she has reached the top spot on the English and American 1984 pop music charts with her hit single "99 Luftballons" ("99 Red Balloons"). Around the world, her records are selling like hotcakes, in the millions.
Nena's meteoric rise to fame begins precisely on August 17, 1982 in Germany. On this particular day, the 22-year-old singer makes her first appearance on a prominent German TV show: "Musikladen". With cheerful vitality, she bounces and dances across the stage while warbling "Nur geträumt" ("Only Dreamt"). Even before the song is over, the charming, pretty lass has captured the listeners'
hearts. The unheard of happens: on the following day the hit single sells more than 40,000 copies! At the start of 1983, the first LP appears. The album skyrockets directly to the fifth spot on the German Hit Parade, takes the top spot one week later and is awarded a Gold LP two weeks after that. A mere two months later, the album goes Platinum as 500,000 copies have been sold.
The next superhit is the aforementioned "99 Luftballons", a song which spins a tale about an inadvertently unleashed atomic war. With this hit, Nena achieves worldwide recognition. She has become a bona fide German export Pop star. "Germany's hottest pop phenomenon" extols the American music trade journal Rolling Stone, just as "99 Luftballons" hovers at the top of the Billboard
Charts.
In 1987, Nena splits away from her band in order to continue her career as a soloist. The first single after the split up appears in the autumn of 1989, during the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The hit single has the rather relevant title "Wunder geschehen" ("Wondrous Happening") and already because of such, is aired extraordinarily often by the radio stations. It works its way into the German Hit Parade right away without even trying.
In the interim, Nena herself has become a mother four times over and she has produced primarily children's songs.
In 2002 she has published a new album with remixes of her superhits.
Rammstein - Germany's Top Music Export
The band Rammstein is Germany's most successful Rock music export at the moment. As the most well-known German-speaking band outside of the German-speaking Europe, the band leads the foreign hit parade of the German Music Export Office. Outside of Germany more than six million CDs of the group were sold.
The six musicians from East Germany celebrate worldwide success. At present the largest demand for Hard Rock 'made in Germany' exists in North America, Australia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.
In the USA alone, over a million CDs were sold. Rammstein was distinguished with a gold disc for the second album "Sehnsucht" in 1998 in the USA and in 1999 nominated for a Grammy. Insider sees the reason of the popularity in the film "Lost Highway"; cult director David Lynch put some songs of the Germans on the soundtrack. In addition the song "Du Hast" often ran on the radio channel K-Rock as well as on MTV. Also numerous USA tours by the group have contributed in addition.
The foreign hit parade of the German Music Export Office, a department of the Internationale Medienhilfe (IMH), depend on the degree of recognition abroad, the availability of CDs in foreign record shops as well as how frequently the music is played on foreign radio stations.
The most successful German-speaking bands abroad after Rammstein are Nena and Die Toten Hosen. In fourth place Blümchen, followed by Kraftwerk and Einstürzende Neubauten.
The Scorpions - World-Famous German Rock Legend
Hanover (inter-info) - The Scorpions‘ success story began with a telephone call. In late 1970, the group’s founder, German guitarist Rudolf Schenker, was looking for a new front man. So he called singer Klaus Meine, who had made a name for himself in the Hanover arts scene. With his new recruit, Schenker resolved to try and break into the international music business. The scorpions - at first generally ridiculed as "Kraut Rockers" - were undaunted, and they went on to sweeping success in one music market after the other. In the 1970s, it was Europe and Japan, followed by the US in the 1980s. They made worldwide hits such as "Blackout", "Rock you Like A Hurricane", "Still Loving You" and, of course, the 1989 song "Wind of Change". This world-famous rock anthem provided the soundtrack for the decline of communism and the fall of the Berlin wall.
Kraftwerk - The Fathers of Techno
Düsseldorf (inter-info) - It could easily be argued that Kraftwerk was one of the most influential and important bands to record in the last quarter of the 20th Century. By combining avant-garde electronic sounds with a rock-oriented feel, Kraftwerk's masterminds Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, along with their "Kraut Rock" cohorts, pioneered the use of Moog synthesizers and drum machines in popular music, directly influencing or creating genres like techno, dance and industrial.
The idea for Kraftwerk began in the late 1960s when Hütter and Schneider met while studying at the Düsseldorf Conservatory. The two students recorded their first work together in Organisation, which released a 1970 album, Tone Float, then disbanded. Hütter and Schneider formed Kraftwerk (German for "Powerstation") shortly thereafter, and began experimenting in their homemade studio, eventually named KlingKlang. Building their own rhythm machines, the duo recorded their debut album, Kraftwerk 1, in 1971 with programmer Andreas Hohman and drummer Klaus Dinger. The band's history almost ended when Hütter left the group shortly after the album's release, but he rejoined before recording Kraftwerk 2 in 1972. The album, which featured no live drummer, further experimented in the realm of the electronic, making a name for Kraftwerk inside the music industry, but failing to translate well to the public. A similar fate befell 1973's Ralf and Florian although the band had cut away much of the fat of their music, leaving behind the minimal, bare-boned structure that would become their trademark.
Kraftwerk's big breakthrough came in 1974 with the release of Autobahn. Released in both Europe and America, the album was highly successful, spawning the worldwide hit single "Autobahn." The work displayed the perfect combination of electronics and rock music that would influence countless other musicians.
Kraftwerk continued to evolve into the electronic realm, releasing Radio-Aktivität (1975) and Trans-Europa Express (1976), albums that focused on global communication through new technologies. In addition, the group began to withdraw from the public, frequently replacing their own images with those of mannequins or robots. The change was well documented by Die Mensch Maschine (1978), after which Kraftwerk disappeared for several years.
With the Information Age beginning to take hold, they returned in 1981 with Computerwelt, an ode to the microchip. Electric Cafe was released in 1986 before the group disappeared again, apparently for good. Kraftwerk did release a greatest hits album, The Mix, in 1991 and finally resurfaced publicly in 1998 with a 10-city international tour.
Stephan Remmler and his band TRIO
New York ("The Week in Germany") - The early 1980s were the heydey of the Neue Deutsche Welle, or New German Wave, which swept across Europe and in some cases - such as with Nena - into North America. Another German pop music act which has achieved global cult status is Trio, best-known for the catchy minimalistic tune "Da Da Da". Featuring amusing "lovelorn" lyrics in both German and English, it has served in recent years as a soundtrack for Volkswagen and Pepsi Cola commercials in the United States and Latin America.
In recognition of his work as a singer and songwriter for Trio and as a solo artist, the German music industry and cultural establishment has now finally honored pop legend Stephan Remmler. The German Rock and Pop Music Association, the German Pop Foundation and the German Music Export Office have jointly awarded him the Internationaler Musikpreis 2006 (International Music Prize 2006). The prize is THE international award for German-language rock and pop music. Trio perfected a playful, dadaistic style - an effect that is not unintentional. Remmler's music is different, which has helped it travel. Born in Germany's former industrial heartland, the western Ruhr region, he now lives on Lanzarote, part of Spain's Canary Islands.
Remmler's career began in 1980, when he founded Trio. Initially the band performed in small clubs in northern Germany. Enter Klaus Voormann, a former bass player for John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band. He recognized Trio's potential and became their producer. Their big international breakthrough came in 1982 with the hit "Da Da Da", which spent 20 weeks at the top of the German charts and was sold as a single in 30 countries. The song achieve gold status in Mexico and Belgium, hit platinum in Brazil and double platinum in Canada. And the album featuring the single was sold in some 20 countries, including the United States, South Africa, China and Brazil. Trio was also the first German band to appear on the hit BBC program "Top of the Pops". At the height of their fame in 1982 and '83, their success opened doors for other German bands.
MIA from Berlin
Since their first tracks »Factory City« and »Alles Neu« were released from their remarkable debut album »Hieb und Stichfest« in 2001/2002, MIA continously gathered popularity as Germanys Enfant terrible of popmusic. The Band backed their status by playing at various sub- and popcultural events, Berlin Techno scene-clubs and festivals like Love Parade, Melt and Sonne Mond Sterne. On the other hand MIA's popularity soared and they proved to be a reputable liveact by performing at
Rock am Ring and Grand Prix d’Eurovision de la Chanson. With the release of their second album »Stille Post« their shows in Austria and Switzerland were strongly desired and completely sold out, additional shows in Belgium, Luxembourg and Czech Republic were added to the itinerary. To round it off MIA toured Poland, Russia, Korea and Japan. Shortly after the release of their 3rd album »Zirkus« in 2006 which entered the German charts at no. 2, they were awarded their first golden record for the Album »Stille Post« followed by second gold for »Zirkus« but less than a year later.
MIA's popularity in Germany reached its temporary peak with the track »Tanz der Moleküle«. This song was again acclaimed
as a sub- and popcultural hit across Germany. The following tour in 2006/2007 was seen and heard by almost 250 000 people and helped to establish the band MIA as one of the most reputable german liveacts with an exceptional live performance
that once more proved their prominent standing in the German music scene. Tying up to their previous success MIA continued to play the global stages and performed in China, Argentina and Chile.
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