Die Ärzte were formed in 1982 by Jan Vetter (alias Farin Urlaub), Dirk Felsenheimer (alias Bela B.) and bassist Hans Runge (alias Sahnie). Bela and Farin had previously played together in the punk band Soilent Grün; after that band broke up they decided to form a band playing fun songs, in contrast to the mostly political bands of the punk scene at that time. While deriving from that punk scene, their early music was heavily influenced by pop and rock and roll, especially The Beatles, whom Farin heard a lot as a child due to his mother playing their records.
In the first two years they mostly played in clubs of their hometown of Berlin. Their first release was a contribution to the sampler "20 schäumende Stimmungshits" (roughly, "20 exuberant mood hits"), which contained a strong alcohol theme. In 1983 they won a rock contest in Berlin; with the prize money they recorded their debut EP "Uns gehts Prima" ("We're doing great"). Finally Columbia Records signed them, and they released their first LP "Debil" in 1984 and the second one ("Im Schatten der Ärzte") a year later.
After the second record they parted ways with Sahnie due to internal problems. On the third record he was replaced by producer Miccey Meuser; later Hagen Liebig, better known as The Incredible Hagen, played bass for them during live performances until their breakup.
In 1987 the German Federal Centre for Media Harmful to Young Persons put the songs Geschwisterliebe ("Sibling Love", a song about incest, from Die Ärzte), Claudia hat 'nen Schäferhund ("Claudia has a German Shepherd", about zoophilia, from "Debil") and Schlaflied ("Lullaby", about a monster coming and eating you after falling asleep, also from "Debil") on the German List of Media Harmful to Young People. This prohibited the band from performing the songs live and, more importantly, promoting the two albums, and shops from openly displaying the records in their shelves. After several trials against shops that still openly sold the records a lot of shops removed Die Ärzte completely from their stock. The result was a drop in record sales and big financial problems for the band. In response they released the compilation "Ab 18" ("Adults Only") with all their songs on the index and some other old and new tasteless songs, and the greatest hits album "Ist das alles?"("Is this everything?" but also can be translated as "Is this the end?"). The album and the new singles were fairly successful, partly because of growing media interest due to the previous censorship.
The following album "Das ist nicht die ganze Wahrheit" ("That is not the whole truth") was even more successful, climbing into the top 10 in the German album charts. They decided to go out on a high note in 1988, breaking up after doing one last tour and recording a live double album that became their first number one in the album charts.
Neither Farin's new band King Køng nor Bela's Depp Jones were really successful, so in 1993 they decided to do a reunion. As bass player they invited Rodrigo Gonzales, who was guitarist in Depp Jones and a friend of Bela. Their comeback single was Schrei nach Liebe ("Cry for Love"), their first ever political song, that they published as a statement against what was perceived as growing racism and right wing extremist violence in Germany at that time.
The album was more diverse than ever, with ballads, punk, rock and traditional German sounds. Both album and single became big hits in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The follow-up "Planet Punk" was also very successful.
In 1996 they wanted to make an EP just about hair, but they wrote too many songs for an EP and made the Album "Le Frisur" ("The Hairdo") instead. It was slightly less successful than its predecessors. Apart from their own tours they also supported Kiss in that year, a dream come true for Bela and Rod.
1998 was perhaps the most successful year of their career, the single "Männer sind Schweine" ("Men are Pigs") being their first Number 1 single in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and the album 13 also being Number 1 in Germany and Switzerland. After a lot of promotion and touring in that year they decided to take a break, deciding also to never play again "Männer sind Schweine" at a concert due to the too great success this song had. They did not like the upcoming unwanted and rather unoriginal remakes by other bands as e.g. "Frauen sind Schweine" ("Women are pigs") and also did not like to see their song played at mass tourist beach parties at places like Mallorca/Spain.
In 2000 they came back with another very successful album, "Runter mit den Spendierhosen, Unsichtbarer!", and two top 10 singles. As the third single from the album they released the 30-second-song "Yoko Ono", which, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is the shortest single ever released - another example of their sense of humour. On their tour in 2001 they sold the limited Album "5, 6, 7, 8 Bullenstaat" consisting of short punk songs that were written and recorded while recording the full length album published a year before, and some cover songs published in 1994 on a tour only EP.
After that they again took a break: Bela did some acting, Farin recorded his first solo album (Endlich Urlaub!). In late 2002 they did an MTV Unplugged in a school auditorium together with the school band. After that they made a new double album Geräusch that was released in 2003. On the next tour a Live DVD was recorded and published one year later.
On 2 November 2007, Die Ärzte released their latest album, Jazz ist anders ("Jazz is nothing like this", literally "Jazz is different").
In August 2011 the band announced that they are working on a new album which is set to be released in 2012 with a tour called "Das Ende ist noch nicht vorbei" ("The end is not over yet") following in the summer 2012.
The official homepage for Die Ärzte is www.bademeister.com
El Cattivo
Die Ärzte Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Er hat vor zwei Tagen ein Kind umgebracht
Jetzt ist El Cattivo auf der Flucht
Vor dem Vater des Kindes, der ihn sucht
Als sich der Halunke am nächsten Morgen sonnt
Entdeckt er den Verfolger am Horizont
Er lauert ihm auf in einem kleinen Wald
Und er lächelt, denn er weiß
Das Böse siegt immer
Ja, so muss ein Cowboy sein
Dreckig, feige und gemein
Heja, ho
Heja, ho
Und er lächelt, denn er weiß
Das Böse siegt immer
Ja, so muss ein Cowboy sein
Dreckig, feige und gemein
Heja, ho
Heja, ho
Am Abend kommt der Bösewicht in eine kleine Stadt
Er überfällt zwei alte Frauen, weil er kein Geld mehr hat
Seine kleine Beute verspielt er im Saloon
Danach bekommt ein Blinder mit ihm zu tun
Nachts schaut er noch einmal beim Freudenhaus vorbei
Und wird dort Zeuge einer Schlägerei
Als einer der Streitenden zu Boden fällt
Da tritt er ihn so doll er kann
Und klaut ihm dann sein ganzes Geld
Und er lächelt, denn er weiß
Das Böse siegt immer
Ja, so muss ein Cowboy sein
Dreckig, feige und gemein
Heja, ho
Heja, ho
The German song El Cattivo by Die Ärzte tells the story of a cowboy, El Cattivo, who has recently killed a child and is now on the run from the child's father. As he rides through the night, he finds the father on his trail and shoots him from behind in a small forest. El Cattivo sees himself as victorious, believing that evil always wins. He fits the description of a traditional western outlaw: dirty, cowardly, and cruel. He continues his wrongdoing by robbing two old women in a small town, spending his loot in a saloon and beating up a blind man later. He ends his night by witnessing a fight outside of a brothel, where he kicks a man on the ground and steals his money, still smirking at the thought of his evil deeds.
Line by Line Meaning
El Cattivo reitet einsam durch die Nacht
El Cattivo, a notorious outlaw, rides alone through the night
Er hat vor zwei Tagen ein Kind umgebracht
He killed a child two days ago and is on the run from the child's father
Jetzt ist El Cattivo auf der Flucht
El Cattivo is now on the run
Vor dem Vater des Kindes, der ihn sucht
He is being hunted by the child's father
Als sich der Halunke am nächsten Morgen sonnt
The next morning, the outlaw is basking in the sun
Entdeckt er den Verfolger am Horizont
He sees the pursuer on the horizon
Er lauert ihm auf in einem kleinen Wald
He ambushes the pursuer in a small forest
Und er schießt ihn nieder, peng, peng aus dem Hinterhalt
He shoots him down from behind, 'peng, peng'
Und er lächelt, denn er weiß
He's pleased because he knows
Das Böse siegt immer
Evil always prevails
Ja, so muss ein Cowboy sein
Yes, this is how a cowboy must be
Dreckig, feige und gemein
Dirty, cowardly, and mean
Heja, ho
Hey-ho
Am Abend kommt der Bösewicht in eine kleine Stadt
Later in the day, the outlaw arrives in a small town
Er überfällt zwei alte Frauen, weil er kein Geld mehr hat
He robs two old women because he's broke
Seine kleine Beute verspielt er im Saloon
He gambles away his meager loot in the saloon
Danach bekommt ein Blinder mit ihm zu tun
Afterward, he deals with a blind man
Nachts schaut er noch einmal beim Freudenhaus vorbei
Later that night, he stops by a brothel again
Und wird dort Zeuge einer Schlägerei
There, he witnesses a fight
Als einer der Streitenden zu Boden fällt
When one of the brawlers falls to the ground
Da tritt er ihn so doll er kann
He kicks him as hard as he can
Und klaut ihm dann sein ganzes Geld
Then he steals all his money
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: JAN VETTER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
My Youtube Channel
Der Song und die Gitarren sind so absolut GEIL! Wünschte Ärzte würden sowas öfters rausbringen! Absolut geiler Song
Kugelbahn Pro
Das haben sie im Jahr 1984 rausgebracht! 😅
GozerTheGozarian
Damals waren sie öfter so Rockabilly-mäßig unterwegs, reinhören lohnt sich!
Benjo
"die gitarre war noch warm" gefällt dir wahrscheinlich
juuzou suzuya
So nice ❤️❤️❤️
Gertold
Eines ihrer lieder die mir meine kindliche unschuld raubten. hehe
Friedrich püschel
meine mama hat mir das album mit 9 jahren geschenkt :) zwar war es da schon 2002 aber ich bin trotzdem ein großer fan :D
S. T.
VIELEN LIEBEN DANK...FRIEDEN und FREIHEIT...
OberstBlack Joe
Warum sind sie nicht in Spotify ? :O :,(
Musik von Früher
OberstBlack Joe Das frag ich mich auch...