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
Saufen
Die Ärzte Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Wir sind regelrechte Alkoholvernichtungsmaschin'
Wir saufen bis zum Umfall'n, alle machen mit
Und wenn wir dann besoffen sind, dann sing' wir unser Lied
Komm, wir gröhlen noch ein bißchen, denn ich bin schon wieder voll
Komm, wir singen übers Saufen, über Bier und Alkohol
Von dem ständigen Gebrülle kriegt man einen Riesendurst
Nüchternheit ist blöd, nüchtern sein tut mir nichts bring',
denn im nüchternen Zuuuuustand, da kann man nicht gut sing'
Besoffenheit is' super und schlägt Nüchternheit um Läng'
Und hol's der Teufel, schon is' wieder Zeit für den Refrain!
Komm, wir gröhlen noch ein bißchen, denn ich bin schon wieder voll
Komm, wir singen übers Saufen, über Bier und Alkohol
Von dem ständigen Gebrülle kriegt man einen Riesendurst
Wenn wir dann was gesoffen haben, geht das Gröhlen wieder los
Komm, wir gröhlen noch ein bißchen, denn ich bin schon wieder voll
Komm, wir singen übers Saufen, über Bier und Alkohol
Von dem ständigen Gebrülle kriegt man einen Riesendurst
Wenn wir dann was gesoffen haben, geht das...
Gröhlen noch ein bißchen, denn ich bin schon wieder voll
Komm, wir singen übers Saufen, über Bier und Alkohol
Von dem ständigen Gebrülle kriegt man einen Riesendurst
Wenn wir dann was gesoffen haben, geht das...
Gröhlen noch ein bißchen, denn ich bin schon wieder voll
Komm, wir singen übers Saufen, über Bier und Alkohol...
The Die Ärzte's song Saufen is a rock anthem to drinking and partying. The lyrics are about a group of guy friends who call themselves a "duftes Team" (cool team) and pride themselves in being alcohol consumption machines. They drink until they can't stand up anymore and then sing songs about drinking and partying. The lyrics urge us to join in and sing along, and they express the belief that being drunk is much more fun than being sober.
The first verse introduces the group of friends and their drinking habits. They celebrate their ability to consume alcohol in large quantities and invite others to join in. The second verse focuses on the joy of singing and shouting when drunk, and how it creates a thirst for more alcohol. The chorus repeats the invitation to join in the drinking and partying, while also recognizing the cycle of drunkenness and singing that it creates.
The song expresses the cultural belief in Germany, and many other parts of the world, that drinking and partying are essential to having fun and being social. It also acknowledges the downside of heavy drinking, such as the physical effects and the fact that it can lead to addiction. Despite this, the song embraces the idea that being drunk is a lot of fun.
Line by Line Meaning
Ich und meine Kumpels, wir sind ein duftes Team
Me and my buddies, we are a great team
Wir sind regelrechte Alkoholvernichtungsmaschin'
We are true alcohol destruction machines
Wir saufen bis zum Umfall'n, alle machen mit
We drink until we pass out, everyone joins in
Und wenn wir dann besoffen sind, dann sing' wir unser Lied
And when we are drunk, we sing our song
Komm, wir gröhlen noch ein bißchen, denn ich bin schon wieder voll
Come on, let's sing a little louder, because I am already drunk again
Komm, wir singen übers Saufen, über Bier und Alkohol
Come on, let's sing about drinking, about beer and alcohol
Von dem ständigen Gebrülle kriegt man einen Riesendurst
Constant yelling makes you very thirsty
Wenn wir dann was gesoffen haben, geht das Gröhlen wieder los
When we have drunk something, the singing starts again
Nüchternheit ist blöd, nüchtern sein tut mir nichts bring'
Sobriety is stupid, being sober doesn't do anything for me
denn im nüchternen Zuuuuustand, da kann man nicht gut sing'
Because in a sober state, you can't sing well
Besoffenheit is' super und schlägt Nüchternheit um Läng'
Being drunk is great and beats sobriety by far
Und hol's der Teufel, schon is' wieder Zeit für den Refrain!
And damn it all, it's already time for the chorus again!
Wenn wir dann was gesoffen haben, geht das...
When we have drunk something, it starts again...
Gröhlen noch ein bißchen, denn ich bin schon wieder voll
Let's sing a little louder, because I am already drunk again
Komm, wir singen übers Saufen, über Bier und Alkohol...
Come on, let's sing about drinking, about beer and alcohol...
Contributed by Julia B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
pokitsch
Uralt meine Jugend herrlich mal wieder zu hören !!! Alles noch auf Maxis vorhanden !!!
Marry Lu
Ich liebe das Lied das ist das beste was es gibt gerade in der schweren Zeit höre ich es rauf und runter einfach nur noch mega hammer geil ich liebe es macht weiter so Jungs
Miguel Neves
Just an english comment from a Brazilian guy hearing german's song: even though I take a lot of time to find decent translations, Die Ärzte is worth the time ahahah
Wim
😂
GeileBratwurst
Das Lied erinnert mich an meine Jugend :)
Analritter
Same
Albdruck
Ich krieg mich jedes mal nicht mehr ein, wenn ab 1:18 im Hintergrund mitgegurgelt wird :'DD
69luca_
Farin
Eric Chulchul
Kann Ich gut verstehen klingt ja auch lustig 😁 und das obwohl das Lied etwas glorifiziert das eigentlich nicht gesund ist weil es der Leber Schadet
( den Alkoholkonsum)
Jason Kent
The German language is great because they have a word for drunken singing, and no word for sobriety.