Heino - Because We Need Him Now More Than Ever

[Bluesnik]

Found a good definition of Schlager in the liners to a krautrock and early German electronica compilation I posted here some days ago. After stressing that the bands of that current were after a redefinition of German pop music he says "Hence the coincidental groups in cities like Hamburg and Berlin, Düsseldorf and Cologne, all extremely diverse, from Kraftwerk to Can to Faust, yet all likeminded in their urge to begin again from scratch, to create new West German forms unspotted by the dreadful past, antithetical to the banal, head-in-the-sands kitsch of schlager, the German popular music to drink and forget to."

Edited May 24, 2021 by Bluesnik
link included

[Guy Berger]

On 5/19/2021 at 2:49 AM, Niko said:

that said, it's nice that you have those fond memories of when you were young - but Heino is not "cool" and never was... the music is what it is ... plus: the music would have to be pretty amazing to compensate for things like regular tours through Apartheid South Africa in the 80s...

Wait - what?

[Dub Modal]

32 minutes ago, Guy Berger said:

Wait - what?

Sure. And that's not all: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/24/heino-german-singer-far-right-comeback

[JSngry]

needed now more than ever, eh?

[Guy Berger]

1 hour ago, Dub Modal said:

Sure. And that's not all: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/24/heino-german-singer-far-right-comeback

the first post in this thread should probably have been “German pop singer thinks Nazis are not so bad”

[Brad]

25 minutes ago, Guy Berger said:

the first post in this thread should probably have been “German pop singer thinks Nazis are not so bad”

And we need him less than ever. 

[Dan Gould]

On 5/19/2021 at 0:41 PM, JSngry said:

Those covers put me in mind of a science experiment to combine Elton John with Nana Mouskouri, and that kinda makes me wish that science would find something else to do with its time.

I think you need to work in Sprockets here.

[felser]

Looks like he took his inspiration from this horrid 1963 Joe Meek protege.  This tribute to Eddie Cochran somehow went top 10 in the UK in the Liverpool Sound era.

 

Edited May 24, 2021 by felser

[Teasing the Korean]

4 hours ago, Bluesnik said:

Found a good definition of Schlager in the liners to a krautrock and early German electronica compilation I posted here some days ago. After stressing that the bands of that current were after a redefinition of German pop music he says "Hence the coincidental groups in cities like Hamburg and Berlin, Düsseldorf and Cologne, all extremely diverse, from Kraftwerk to Can to Faust, yet all likeminded in their urge to begin again from scratch, to create new West German forms unspotted by the dreadful past, antithetical to the banal, head-in-the-sands kitsch of schlager, the German popular music to drink and forget to."

That is very interesting.  I have often wondered how and why Germany in the postwar period fully embraced that Octoberfest oompah sound.

It is also interesting how few compelling German pop stars existed during that period, at least from the standpoint of someone in the US.  I have accumulated all kinds of postwar pop vocals from France, Italy, Spain, etc., but what was Germany producing?  Hildegard Knef is the only singer from that period with whom I am really familiar.  There is also Karel Gott, whose version of the Stones' "Paint It Black" must be experienced to be believed.

On the German volume of Get Easy, most of the singers are relatively unknown (in the US).  Obviously, several of Germany's instrumental artists  became relatively well-known.  These would include MPS artists, and others such as James Last, Horst Jankowski, Berry Lipman, and of the course Thee Great Peter Thomas, whose Chariots of the Gods soundtrack would easily make my top 100 film score list.

Edited May 24, 2021 by Teasing the Korean

[rostasi]

The phrase "vomiting agent of several generations" is one I'll remember for a long time.

[JSngry]

4 hours ago, Dan Gould said:

I think you need to work in Sprockets here.

Sprockets was in on the joke, of course 

Maybe this guy should have moved to Brazil or where the rest of them moved?

[Guy Berger]

Interesting article: Myth of the clean Wehrmacht

Edited May 25, 2021 by Guy Berger

[Brad]

7 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

That is very interesting.  I have often wondered how and why Germany in the postwar period fully embraced that Octoberfest oompah sound.

It is also interesting how few compelling German pop stars existed during that period, at least from the standpoint of someone in the US.  I have accumulated all kinds of postwar pop vocals from France, Italy, Spain, etc., but what was Germany producing?  Hildegard Knef is the only singer from that period with whom I am really familiar.  There is also Karel Gott, whose version of the Stones' "Paint It Black" must be experienced to be believed.

On the German volume of Get Easy, most of the singers are relatively unknown (in the US).  Obviously, several of Germany's instrumental artists  became relatively well-known.  These would include MPS artists, and others such as James Last, Horst Jankowski, Berry Lipman, and of the course Thee Great Peter Thomas, whose Chariots of the Gods soundtrack would easily make my top 100 film score list.

Karel Gott’s version reminds me of something I would have seen in a Eurovision concert when I lived in Spain.  

1 hour ago, Guy Berger said:

Interesting article: Myth of the clean Wehrmacht

That myth was debunked a long time ago. There are many books on the topic but Wolfram Wette’s The Wehrmacht: History, Myth, Reality is particularly good. 

[Guy Berger]

55 minutes ago, Brad said:

That myth was debunked a long time ago. There are many books on the topic but Wolfram Wette’s The Wehrmacht: History, Myth, Reality is particularly good. 

Yup.  But to paraphrase, this thread needs the reminder now more than ever.

[Niko]

I guess Germany between 1945 and 1968 was very much about working hard, getting the economy back together, not thinking too hard about what had just happened and listening to music like Heino's. (Just like 1968 in Germany was very much about starting a conversation about what had happened in those years...) There is very little German music from those years that I enjoy listening to, besides some classical, jazz and maybe instrumental pop... Afterwards, starting with Can or so, I have many softspots for local pop music, even some carnival stuff... but before the late sixties... I do have a somewhat positive view of Udo Jürgens I guess...

Now regarding Heino and politics, there are some things I have wondered about for a long time... For instance, that recent scandal when he quoted Hitler by saying that despite his own advanced age he was still "hard as steel and quick as a greyhound" healthwise... which is a somewhat bizarre statement to make even if you ignore the origin of the phrase...  Did he really want to quote Hitler? Or is this just the way someone talks who's spent decades hanging out with people who never stopped to say things like this. My general impression is that early in his career, he was a mainstream artist with a mainstream audience... And then, starting with the advent of the Beatles, he only retained a somewhat older, more conservative part of that audience, which drifted further to the political right as they all got older... To the point, that by about 1980 Heino apparently did think that all three verses of the national anthem might be taught in school again or that it was normal to sing the Schlesierlied about how some day we'd all meet again in our village in what is now Southern Poland... My feeling is that, depressing as it is, those views were acceptable in the most right wing 5% of the German political mainstream around 1980... What is also clear is that at least from the time of those South African tours on, listening to Heino was considered not only as bad taste but also as politically not acceptable by a fairly broad majority.... And the fanbase he still had after those events was far from balanced politically...

 

Edited May 25, 2021 by Niko

[Rabshakeh]

This really is a thread of many twists, turns and surprises.

[David Ayers]

Glad to see Campino keeping up the pressure in 2013

 

https://kurier.at/kultur/heino-attackiert-die-toten-hosen/3.402.981

[JSngry]

I'm glad we don't have anything like that in America!

[Teasing the Korean]

Referenced earlier, so as a good an excuse as any to post it.

This blows away the original:

 

[David Ayers]

 

I’m liking his current logo - gone a bit DTH himself...

[Dub Modal]

5 hours ago, Niko said:

Now regarding Heino and politics, there are some things I have wondered about for a long time... For instance, that recent scandal when he quoted Hitler by saying that despite his own advanced age he was still "hard as steel and quick as a greyhound" healthwise... which is a somewhat bizarre statement to make even if you ignore the origin of the phrase...  Did he really want to quote Hitler? Or is this just the way someone talks who's spent decades hanging out with people who never stopped to say things like this. My general impression is that early in his career, he was a mainstream artist with a mainstream audience... And then, starting with the advent of the Beatles, he only retained a somewhat older, more conservative part of that audience, which drifted further to the political right as they all got older... To the point, that by about 1980 Heino apparently did think that all three verses of the national anthem might be taught in school again or that it was normal to sing the Schlesierlied about how some day we'd all meet again in our village in what is now Southern Poland... My feeling is that, depressing as it is, those views were acceptable in the most right wing 5% of the German political mainstream around 1980... What is also clear is that at least from the time of those South African tours on, listening to Heino was considered not only as bad taste but also as politically not acceptable by a fairly broad majority.... And the fanbase he still had after those events was far from balanced politically...

From an outsider looking in, the rolled 'r's and "oops!" quotes from taboo sources appear to be dog whistles to those in the know and who support him. The support he gets from bands like Rammstein, etc. are also possible dog whistles in terms of what those bands stand for. 

[David Ayers]

I...

[JSngry]

Yeah...not what I need now more than ever...

[Rabshakeh]

33 minutes ago, Dub Modal said:

From an outsider looking in, the rolled 'r's and "oops!" quotes from taboo sources appear to be dog whistles to those in the know and who support him. The support he gets from bands like Rammstein, etc. are also possible dog whistles in terms of what those bands stand for. 

I had a (possibly mistaken) belief that Rammstein were outspokenly liberal.

[Teasing the Korean]