Back in the great days of rock and roll, the world locked onto this art form, many bands and artists set goals and objectives of making it in America. You see, to make it it big in those days, an act HAD to conquer the American market to reach superstar status. And to do that, it was imperative that non-English speaking bands had to learn to sing their songs in English.
One guy from Germany never really cared to make it big in America because he had become a household name in his own country. Therefore he never really cared to sing in English, or any other language beside his native tongue. Because of this idiosyncratic path that he chose for his career, he did lose out on some big time exposure and as a result, a lot of potential fans were deprived of an excellent rock and roll talent.
If you like rock and roll like I do, you have to give this guy a listen. He's great. I know Z from Golly Geez knows him. And with the advent of the internet, those who once missed out can discover him now.
This is Udo Lindenberg and his band called Das Panikorchester.
This first one is a real rock the house tune. This title translates to Boogie Woogie Girl.
Udo has been around for years, but he kept up with the times as they changed. Here is a lip-synched 1983 video that was big when MTV was getting cranked up in the States, when they actually played music videos instead of ignorant crap.
Who would have thought that an old Glenn Miller tune could be tweaked to a famous train in Germany and publicly satirized the corrupt East German leader Erich Honeker?
I have cut back on the number of videos per music post, of late. But this guy needs to have more than just two songs, if for no other reason than I couldn't decide which songs to post.
Here's closing it out with a couple rock and roll beauties:
This classic was the only song I ever heard him sing in English. It's the real deal:
Enjoy.
7 comments:
ya think he's just a LITTLE loaded there at the end..? WHATEVER, he is FANTASTIC.
I have to admit I've only heard his name in Germany, here and there, and never heard his music.
I am really impressed because so much German Rock sounds a little 'bubble gum'...they don't OWN IT and this guy OWNS the stuff he's singing...
Johnny B Goode is one of my all time favorites, kind of 'sacrosanct', and, in my band, my solo verse was "His mother told him someday you can be a man.." and I always have to sing it with whatever band I hear... my head was bobbin' through all these videos and that's my "is it good?" barometer. This is GOOD.
Johnny B Goode could have gone a TAD faster but I think that's a function of the WORDS...singing it in English. WITH American backup girl singers, bless 'em...(I wish I WAS UP THERE, OH BROTHER, DO I!)
"Boogie Woogie Madchen!" hilarious! And WELL DONE! The Train was fantastic too...this guy's got a Hamburg personality.
At the end of the last video, when he talks quite a while, he says something about saying a musician's name "like a prayer"...I like that kind of appreciation for other musicians.
And, I have to add that the leather pants worked for me more than they did back in the day! Maybe I"m turning into a dirty old lady? naaaa At least they weren't TRADITIONAL lederhosen, nicht wahr?
am sending this homage to my German stepkids...I know they'll be proud..
Vielen Dank, mein freund...!
I did, thanks.
S/F
Hey, LA! I said "HAMBURG PERSONALITY" and my Munich Stepson just emailed me back (after seeing your videos) that he IS a Hamburg Institution and lives at the HOTEL ATLANTIC fhsds, where Mr. Z and I spent part of our honeymoon ...We stayed there another couple of times, too, and I don't remember which time, but I saw this guy in the bar, I distinctly remember Mr. Z telling me "That's a rock star who's a German institution and he lives here now"...I didn't remember the name, but it's him......I remember the guy was wearing a cream suit and a black hat....So, there you go! COOL.
My big music-fan stepson said he's never been his cup of tea so I'm reconsidering my affection for Alex :-)
Mustang. you 'did'.
enjoy?
xxx
Hi Z,
I figured that if you didn't know this guy, it would at very least intrigue you. I remember the first time I was in Germany, we were hanging around the Mannheim area and ended up in Donauworth. Some of us were doing the exchange soldier, goodwill stuff with the West German Army, the Bundeswehr. It was a lot of fun, we spent a lot of slow mornings after late nights with our counterparts.
Some of the guys went to see a outdoor rock festival and Udo was the headliner. He was packing stadiums up, way back then.
I tell you though, it is freaky that you would remember him from that hotel. he does carry a certain edge and swagger to him that comes with being an institution.
Anyway, I am glad you enjoyed it.
//I did, thanks.
S/F//
You are welcome sir. Glad you liked it.
But I think you are starting to freak Z out a little. I think this is where she expects you to call me a communist heathen music lover or something like that.
And then there is this minor matter with the unit's solvency. Seems there has been a problem with the inventory of the unit's TO&E. But I am sure we'll discuss this more in depth at Monday morning formation.
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