Generally there are two ways people got into hardcore: either through metal or through punk. And if you got into hardcore through punk in Germany in the 80s or in the 90s, like me, chances are pretty high that you listened to and fell in love with Die Ärzte at one point. Their early records pre-break up were usually pretty silly in hindsight, but after their reunion in the early 90s, they also had more serious songs. Die Bestie in Menschengestalt was released in 1993 and was their first LP after the reunion. One of the reasons why the band decided to get back together again was the political situation in the early 90s after the German reunification, which included a rise in right-wing ideology/neo-nazism and burning homes for refugees and asylum seekers. Those years are affectionately called the “baseball bat years“, so you can imagine what it was like. 30 years gone by and we’re back to that. As a consequence, many songs were a lot more serious and one of their biggest hits until today, Schrei nach Liebe, was also included on this album. It‘s such a major bummer that this album could have been released just this year and many lyrical topics would still be fitting.
I knew Schrei nach Liebe because it got a lot of airplay on MTV back then, but I didn‘t listen to the full album until much later. My real entry point for the self-proclaimed best band in the world was their next record.
Anyway, all of their records from the 90s were extremely hard to get for a very long time and if they became available, you had to pay at least an arm and a couple of toes to afford one. So I‘m really glad the band decided to repress that part of their catalogue.
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