Grobschnitt
Encyclopedia
Grobschnitt was a West German
rock band
which existed between 1970 and 1989. Their style evolved as time passed, beginning with psychedelic rock
in the early 1970s before transitioning into symphonic progressive rock
, NDW
and finally pop rock
in the mid-1980s. Grobschnitt, unlike other bands, utilized humor in their music in the form of unexpected noises and silly lyrics and concepts.
As was common with many German bands of the time, Grobschnitt sang in English until the early 1980s, despite touring exclusively in West Germany. The band accrued a loyal fan base through its live performances which included pyrotechnics
and German comedic sketches
. Highlight performances include Solar Music, an extended mostly-instrumental
piece which lasted up to an hour. Grobschnitt were also known for their stamina on stage, frequently performing shows in excess of two hours.
.
Originally an eight-piece band, Grobschnitt released their self-titled album on Brain Records
in 1972
before paring down into their standard five-piece unit. Their first record is stylistically very different from the symphonic sound that became their hallmark.
Ballermann, released in 1974, featured new classically-trained keyboardist Mist (Volker Kahrs). Released as a double-album, Ballermann featured humor and silly songs which followed from their entertaining live shows. The second record contains the first released version of "Solar Music", an extended instrumental suite with origins in a piece by The Crew in the late 1960s. "Solar Music" would see frequent performances throughout the band's career as well as being released in two more versions during the band's existence.
By 1975, Wolfgang "Popo" Jäger joined Grobschnitt as a bassist and the group released Jumbo. Jumbo fully realized the symphonic style the band had developed, featuring lush keyboard usage. 1977 saw the release of Rockpommel's Land after a German lyric release of Jumbo in 1976. Rockpommel's Land would prove to be Grobschnitt's first commercial success, despite the waning appeal of progressive rock.
Solar Music Live, released in 1978, consists of a longer version of the "Solar Music" suite first revealed on Ballermann. Solar Music Live was a commercial success.
By 1979 Grobschnitt moved towards shorter song-oriented releases. Merry-Go-Round would be Grobschnitt's last release in the 1970s. Its songs made humorous digs at the disco music trend, commercialism and America.
. The subsequent Illegal tour was highly successful.
Keyboardist Mist left Grobschnitt before the 1982 recording of Razzia, a NDW-influenced album. Toni Moff Mollo, a friend of Eroc and long-time performer in live shows, was promoted to full member. Grobschnitt's single from Razzia, "Wir wollen leben" ("We Want to Live"), remains a minor footnote in NDW history and proved to be the band's last success.
Eroc left Grobschnitt by June 1983, leaving Lupo as band leader. In 1984 Grobschnitt released Kinder und Narren, sporting a distinctly 80s sound with the help of the DX7
synthesizer. Grobschnitt, having abandoned "Solar Music" for several years released a new live version in 1985, Sonnentanz. Fantasten followed in 1987.
After Eroc's departure members of Grobschnitt became more transient, many of whom came from the NDW band Extrabreit
. Eventually, with the release of Last Party Live in 1989 Grobschnitt disbanded.
All releases in West Germany / Germany, with the following additions:
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
rock band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
which existed between 1970 and 1989. Their style evolved as time passed, beginning with psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
in the early 1970s before transitioning into symphonic progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
, NDW
Neue Deutsche Welle
Neue Deutsche Welle is a genre of German music originally derived from punk rock and New Wave music...
and finally pop rock
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
in the mid-1980s. Grobschnitt, unlike other bands, utilized humor in their music in the form of unexpected noises and silly lyrics and concepts.
As was common with many German bands of the time, Grobschnitt sang in English until the early 1980s, despite touring exclusively in West Germany. The band accrued a loyal fan base through its live performances which included pyrotechnics
Pyrotechnics
Pyrotechnics is the science of using materials capable of undergoing self-contained and self-sustained exothermic chemical reactions for the production of heat, light, gas, smoke and/or sound...
and German comedic sketches
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
. Highlight performances include Solar Music, an extended mostly-instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
piece which lasted up to an hour. Grobschnitt were also known for their stamina on stage, frequently performing shows in excess of two hours.
1970s
Grobschnitt formed in 1970 from the ashes of The Crew, a psychedelic rock band led by drummer Eroc (Joachim Ehrig). Their new name meant "rough cut", in reference to the style of tobaccoTobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
.
Originally an eight-piece band, Grobschnitt released their self-titled album on Brain Records
Brain Records
Brain was a Hamburg-based record label prominent in the 1970s releasing several important Krautrock records by bands such as Neu!, Cluster and Guru Guru...
in 1972
1972 in music
-Events:*January 17 – Highway 51 South in Memphis, Tennessee is renamed "Elvis Presley Boulevard"*January 20 – The début of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon at The Dome, Brighton, is halted by technical difficulties,...
before paring down into their standard five-piece unit. Their first record is stylistically very different from the symphonic sound that became their hallmark.
Ballermann, released in 1974, featured new classically-trained keyboardist Mist (Volker Kahrs). Released as a double-album, Ballermann featured humor and silly songs which followed from their entertaining live shows. The second record contains the first released version of "Solar Music", an extended instrumental suite with origins in a piece by The Crew in the late 1960s. "Solar Music" would see frequent performances throughout the band's career as well as being released in two more versions during the band's existence.
By 1975, Wolfgang "Popo" Jäger joined Grobschnitt as a bassist and the group released Jumbo. Jumbo fully realized the symphonic style the band had developed, featuring lush keyboard usage. 1977 saw the release of Rockpommel's Land after a German lyric release of Jumbo in 1976. Rockpommel's Land would prove to be Grobschnitt's first commercial success, despite the waning appeal of progressive rock.
Solar Music Live, released in 1978, consists of a longer version of the "Solar Music" suite first revealed on Ballermann. Solar Music Live was a commercial success.
By 1979 Grobschnitt moved towards shorter song-oriented releases. Merry-Go-Round would be Grobschnitt's last release in the 1970s. Its songs made humorous digs at the disco music trend, commercialism and America.
1980s
Grobschnitt released another live album, Volle Molle, in 1980, documenting the recent Merry-Go-Round tour. Popo was soon replaced by Milla Kapolke, before recording the Illegal album in 19811981 in music
See also:* Timeline of musical eventsThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1981.-January–April:*January 10 – A revival of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance opens at Broadway's Uris Theatre, starring Linda Ronstadt and Rex Smith.*January 24 –...
. The subsequent Illegal tour was highly successful.
Keyboardist Mist left Grobschnitt before the 1982 recording of Razzia, a NDW-influenced album. Toni Moff Mollo, a friend of Eroc and long-time performer in live shows, was promoted to full member. Grobschnitt's single from Razzia, "Wir wollen leben" ("We Want to Live"), remains a minor footnote in NDW history and proved to be the band's last success.
Eroc left Grobschnitt by June 1983, leaving Lupo as band leader. In 1984 Grobschnitt released Kinder und Narren, sporting a distinctly 80s sound with the help of the DX7
Yamaha DX7
The Yamaha DX7 is an FM Digital Synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1986. It was the first commercially successful digital synthesizer. Its distinctive sound can be heard on many recordings, especially Pop music from the 1980s...
synthesizer. Grobschnitt, having abandoned "Solar Music" for several years released a new live version in 1985, Sonnentanz. Fantasten followed in 1987.
After Eroc's departure members of Grobschnitt became more transient, many of whom came from the NDW band Extrabreit
Extrabreit
Extrabreit is a German band established in Hagen, Germany in 1978. The band was one of the most successful exponents of the Neue Deutsche Welle movement of the 1980s.-History:...
. Eventually, with the release of Last Party Live in 1989 Grobschnitt disbanded.
Next Party
Interest in Grobschnitt led to a partial band reunion from May 2007 with Wildschwein, Milla Kapolke and Toni Moff Mollo. Their repertoire consists of classic Grobschnitt songs throughout their career. Dubbed "Next Party", they performed several concerts in 2007 and 2008. Hopes of a full reunion were dashed with the death of Wolfgang Jäger on May 3, 2007. In 2008, Grobschnitt, after 17 years of "silence", released their CD: Grobschnitt Live 2008.Deaths
Former band member Mist (Volker Kahrs) died on July 20, 2008 at age 57. Circumstances were unknown or not released to the public.Personnel
- Eroc (Joachim Ehrig)
- Lupo (Gerd Otto Kühn) – literally, "wolf"
- Mist (Volker Kahrs) – "feces"
- Willi Wildschwein (Stefan Danielak) – "wild boar"
- Popo (Wolfgang Jäger) – "bum", "bottom"
- Toni Moff Mollo (Rainer Loskand)
- Milla Kapolke
Main releases
- Grobschnitt (1972)
- Ballermann (1974)
- Jumbo (1975)
- Jumbo (mit deutschen Texten) (1976)
- Rockpommel's Land (1977)
- Solar Music Live (1978)
- Merry-Go-Round (1979)
- Volle Molle (1980)
- Illegal (1981)
- Razzia (1982)
- Kinder und Narren (1984)
- Sonnentanz (1985)
- Fantasten (1987)
- Last Party Live (1990)
- Grobschnitt Live 2008 (2008)
All releases in West Germany / Germany, with the following additions:
- Rockpommel's Land (Canada, Bomb Records, 1978?)
Singles
- Sonnenflug / Der Clown (1976) ("Sun Flight" / "The Clown")
- Merry-Go-Round / Coke-Train (1978)
- Joker / Waldeslied (1980) ("Song of the Wood")
- Silent Movie / Raintime (1981)
- Wir wollen leben / Wir wollen sterben (1982) ("We Want to Live" / "We Want to Die")
- Wie der Wind / Geradeaus (1984) ("Like the Wind" / "Straight ahead")
- Fantasten (1987)
- Unser Himmel (1987) ("Our Heaven")
Archival releases
- Die Grobschnitt Story 1 (1994)
- Die Grobschnitt Story 2 (1998)
- Die Grobschnitt Story 3: The History of Solar Music Vol. 1 (2001)
- Die Grobschnitt Story 3: The History of Solar Music Vol. 2 (2002)
- Die Grobschnitt Story 3: The History of Solar Music Vol. 3 (2002)
- Die Grobschnitt Story 3: The History of Solar Music Vol. 4 (2003)
- Die Grobschnitt Story 4: Illegal Tour 1981 Complete (2003)
- Die Grobschnitt Story 3: The History of Solar Music Vol. 5 (2004)
- Die Grobschnitt Story 5 (2004)
- Die Grobschnitt Story 6: Rockpommel's Land And Elsewhere... (2006)
Silver Mint Series
"Silver Mint Series" is a set of full concert recordings remastered and released by Eroc. Each multiple-CD concert is being released one CD at a time, three every six months until 2009. Confirmed concert releases are:- HagenHagenHagen is the 39th-largest city in Germany, located in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the eastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the rivers Lenne, Volme and Ennepe meet the river Ruhr...
1971 - Plochingen 1976
- BielefeldBielefeldBielefeld is an independent city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 323,000, it is also the most populous city in the Regierungsbezirk Detmold...
1977 - EmdenEmdenEmden is a city and seaport in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia; in 2006, the city had a total population of 51,692.-History:...
1979 - WeselWeselWesel is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel district.-Division of the town:Suburbs of Wesel include Lackhausen, Obrighoven, Ginderich, Feldmark,Fusternberg, Büderich, Flüren and Blumenkamp.-History:...
1979 - DonaueschingenDonaueschingenDonaueschingen is a German town in the Black Forest in the southwest of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg in the Schwarzwald-Baar Kreis. It stands near the confluence of the two sources of the river Danube ....
1981 - OsnabrückOsnabrückOsnabrück is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, some 80 km NNE of Dortmund, 45 km NE of Münster, and some 100 km due west of Hanover. It lies in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest...
1981 - DüsseldorfDüsseldorfDüsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
1983