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Einstürzende Neubauten

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Einstürzende Neubauten are an experimental group from West Berlin. The name means collapsing new buildings. The first performance was on 1 April 1980 at the Moon Club, with, among others, Blixa Bargeld and N.U. Unruh, who would remain the core of the band. In 1981 the fifteen-year-old Alexander Hacke and the percussionist F.M. Einheit joined, and shortly afterwards the bassist Mark Chung. That line-up lasted almost fifteen years.

Music and breakthrough

The debut album Kollaps (1981) blended raw punk with industrial noise. The band built instruments of their own from scrap metal and played on metal sheets, tools and building materials. On the early records Bargeld screams above a racket of hitting and scraping. The performances were notorious: in 1984 a concert in London was stopped when the band went through the stage with drills and pneumatic drills. With Halber Mensch (1985) the music gained more structure, and Bargeld moved from screaming to poetic singing. Fünf auf der nach oben offenen Richterskala (1987) and Haus der Lüge (1989) were also successful in the United States and Japan.

Influence

From Tabula Rasa (1993) the sound became softer and more electronic. Meanwhile, until 2003, Bargeld also played guitar in Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Einstürzende Neubauten showed that noise and materials from the building site can be music, and thus became one of the most important groups in industrial music.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Yü-Gung (Fütter mein Ego) and try to recognise the sounds: which sound like metal or tools and which like ordinary instruments? Also notice how the rhythm keeps repeating.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Mentioned in other articles

See also

Categories: ArtistsIndustrialNeue Deutsche Welle