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
Sprüche
Die Ärzte Lyrics
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Farin: Wir sind die Ärzte
Bela: Aus Berlin, aus Berliin
Farin: Und dann war da noch dieser dicke Mensch. Ungefragt kam er zum Ärzte-Konzert in Bonn, stellte sich in die erste Reihe und verjagte durch seine natürliche Schwammigkeit alle anderen Leute die dort stehen wollten. Neben ihm stand seine Geliebte Hannelore. Und als wir ihn da so stehen sahen, und er kaute eine Brezel, da dachten wir: "OK! Jetzt bist du dran Helmut". Und dann haben wir, ganz, ganz feige hinter seinem Rücken ein ganz gemeines Lied geschrieben, und haben es ihm geschickt, anonym natürlich. Er hat den Brief gekriegt und hat gedacht: "Ich kenn' kein 'Anonym'", und hat ihn gar nicht erst gelesen.
Bela: Das ist ein Lied, das prangert soziale Missstände an, in der ganzen Welt. Südafrika, dem Libanon und so weiter. Das Lied heißt "Tittenmaus".
Bela: OK! OK! Mir fällt gerade keine Ansage ein, darum sage ich OK!
Farin: Im Anfang schuf Gott Himmel und Erde. Bisschen später dann schuf er dann euch. Und dann als er richtig gut drauf war, da schuf er uns. Wir sind halt die Besten.
Bela: Aber zwischendurch fällt immer wieder so ein bisschen Abfall ab. Zum Beispiel in Bochum Herbert Grönemeyer.
Farin: Oder einer der schlechtesten Menschen die je die Oberfläche unseres Planeten verschmutzt haben, durch ihre bloße Anwesenheit...
Bela: Ist, Farin Urlaub.
Farin: Aber das ist trotzdem ein sehr romatisches Lied. Weil wir haben ein Herz für Missgeburten und ähnliches. Ich meine sonst hätten wir Bela ja nicht in die Band genommen. Uaah!
Bela: Eine Hymne die unserer Plattenfirma schlaflose Nächte bereitet hat. Ein Lied...
Farin: Ein Lied dass die Bundesprüfstelle...
Bela: Zu ihrem Lieblingslied erkoren hat.
Farin: Ein Lied, für dass meine Mutter mich zuhause rausgeworfen hat. Dafür ist meine Schwester bei mir eingezogen.
In this dialogue between Bela and Farin, they discuss various topics including their history as a band and the creation of some of their songs. They start by introducing themselves and their origin as a band from Berlin before discussing a fat man who showed up uninvited to one of their concerts in Bonn. This man, who they call Helmut, pushed everyone else out of the first row due to his size, with his girlfriend Hannelore by his side, eating a pretzel. The duo then reveals that they wrote a mean song about Helmut but sent it anonymously, and he never read it.
Next, Bela introduces a song called "Tittenmaus", which he claims highlights social issues in countries such as South Africa and Lebanon. However, the name of the song is quite vulgar and objectifying towards women, which could be interpreted ironically since the song is denouncing social issues. Farin then makes a joke about the creation of humanity before calling out Herbert Grönemeyer and himself as "waste" that fell off in the process. Bela responds by calling it a "romantic" song, highlighting their affinity towards "misfits" such as themselves.
Line by Line Meaning
Hallo!
Greetings!
Wir sind die Ärzte
We are the doctors
Aus Berlin, aus Berliin
From Berlin, from Berliin
Und dann war da noch dieser dicke Mensch. Ungefragt kam er zum Ärzte-Konzert in Bonn, stellte sich in die erste Reihe und verjagte durch seine natürliche Schwammigkeit alle anderen Leute die dort stehen wollten. Neben ihm stand seine Geliebte Hannelore. Und als wir ihn da so stehen sahen, und er kaute eine Brezel, da dachten wir: "OK! Jetzt bist du dran Helmut". Und dann haben wir, ganz, ganz feige hinter seinem Rücken ein ganz gemeines Lied geschrieben, und haben es ihm geschickt, anonym natürlich. Er hat den Brief gekriegt und hat gedacht: "Ich kenn' kein 'Anonym'", und hat ihn gar nicht erst gelesen.
And then there was this fat person. Uninvited, he came to an Ärzte concert in Bonn, stood in the front row, and with his natural sponginess drove away everyone who wanted to stand there. His lover Hannelore stood beside him. And when we saw him standing there, munching on a pretzel, we thought, 'Okay! It's your turn, Helmut.' And then we wrote a very mean song behind his back and sent it to him anonymously. He received the letter and thought, 'I don't know anyone named 'Anonymous',' and didn't read it.
Das ist ein Lied, das prangert soziale Missstände an, in der ganzen Welt. Südafrika, dem Libanon und so weiter. Das Lied heißt "Tittenmaus".
This is a song that denounces social grievances all around the world. South Africa, Lebanon, and so on. The song is called 'Tittenmaus.'
OK! OK! Mir fällt gerade keine Ansage ein, darum sage ich OK!
Okay! Okay! I can't think of anything to announce, so I'll just say okay!
Im Anfang schuf Gott Himmel und Erde. Bisschen später dann schuf er dann euch. Und dann als er richtig gut drauf war, da schuf er uns. Wir sind halt die Besten.
In the beginning, God created heaven and earth. A little while later, he created all of you. And then, when he was in a really good mood, he created us. We are simply the best.
Aber zwischendurch fällt immer wieder so ein bisschen Abfall ab. Zum Beispiel in Bochum Herbert Grönemeyer.
But sometimes, a little bit of trash falls off in between. For example, Herbert Grönemeyer in Bochum.
Oder einer der schlechtesten Menschen die je die Oberfläche unseres Planeten verschmutzt haben, durch ihre bloße Anwesenheit...
Or one of the worst people ever to pollute the surface of our planet, just by being there...
Ist, Farin Urlaub.
It's Farin Urlaub.
Aber das ist trotzdem ein sehr romatisches Lied. Weil wir haben ein Herz für Missgeburten und ähnliches. Ich meine sonst hätten wir Bela ja nicht in die Band genommen. Uaah!
But it's still a very romantic song because we have a heart for freaks and such. I mean, otherwise, we wouldn't have let Bela join the band. Uaah!
Eine Hymne die unserer Plattenfirma schlaflose Nächte bereitet hat. Ein Lied...
A hymn that has given our record company sleepless nights. A song...
Ein Lied dass die Bundesprüfstelle...
A song that the Federal Review Board...
Zu ihrem Lieblingslied erkoren hat.
...has chosen as their favorite.
Ein Lied, für dass meine Mutter mich zuhause rausgeworfen hat. Dafür ist meine Schwester bei mir eingezogen.
A song that got me kicked out of my mother's house. But in return, my sister moved in with me.
Contributed by Julian B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Amber3298
Bela: Wir haben ein Lied eingeprobt!" Farin bekommt den Lachflash des Jahres...😂😂
Sie sind einfach großartig! Es gibt nur einen Gott: BelaFarinRod! ❤🎶❤🎶❤🎶
Silberlord85
Die Ärzte - die Besten der Bester der Allerbesten... Und noch ein bisschen besser...
Die Besten in Menschengestalt...
Jim Floyd
Die Ärzte und das liebe Vieh
Ramon Rüttimann
Mit Audacity - Track einlesen und die linke oder rechte Spur hinter die andere schieben ;)
das pupertistenteam
Wie hast du die beiden Tracks getrennt?
tete henkes
kleines Trinkspiel... bei jedem "FICKEN" einen kurzen :-D
Luka
+tete henkes Garantierte Alkoholvergiftung, Exitus spätestens ab 21:47 :D
WalouZockt
Selbst wenn man es mit Wasser spielen würde würde man draufgehen...
arbor sum
es ist 6:26 Uhr...
VampirVampy
20:57