Originally signed to Chris Parry's Fiction Records, the band released Disco Rigido in the late 1980s (distributed in the United States by Atlantic Records), which featured "Welcome To America", "Land of the Free" and "I've Got To Make Sense". Though the album falls solidly into the EBM genre, it contains hints of the experimentation and genre-bending that later recordings would feature (e.g. "Y Tagata en Situ").
A second album, Big Electric Metal Bass Face, built on the foundation laid with Disco Rigido and upped the ante with excursions into funk (listen to "Funkopolis" as well as the live take of "Coming Down"). Contributors to the band at the time included Chris Vrenna and James Woolley, who both served time in Nine Inch Nails during the mid-Nineties.
Marcus and Christie then teamed up with Jane Jensen to form Oxygiene 23, and released an album ("Blue") on Fifth Column Records.
Engine, a 1995 release on WaxTrax!, was a huge jump forward and found critical acclaim for its decimation of genre boundaries. Die Warzau could no longer be simply pigeonholed into the "industrial" category, as their music became more organic, rounder on the edges yet still retaining their trademark knack for insistent rhythm and pure, unrefined electronic noise. "Liberated" and "All Good Girls" became trademark songs for the group. Fellow WaxTrax! act Sister Machine Gun "inherited" an unused song from this period ("Hole In the Ground"), which they included on their Burn album.
Die Warzau as a group then went on hiatus for a number of years, with Marcus and Christie working on other projects--Jim Marcus founded the pure funk group Everplastic while Van Christie worked on Eco-Hed.
By 2005, though, the duo had reconvened and released Convenience (on their Chicago-based Pulseblack Records). A continuation of the path they started on with Engine, songs like "Radiation Babies", "Kleen" and "Linoleum" further blur any genre lines and leave something truly original. More output is expected from the group in 2006, including a collaboration with funk pioneer George Clinton.
Heroin A.D.
Die Warzau Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Connoisseur of despair
I got no proof that I been there
So I pick me up the telephone
Cancel the contract...
Girl next to me... I've lost my way again
America... Don't you know I want you?
Don't you know I need you?
The fix is alright
So I take in a movie all feeling inside me already gone
Do we always give it a name
It's a game we always play
The lyrics of Die Warzau's song Heroin A.D. revolve around the singer's drug addiction and the various emotions and experiences that come with it. The opening lines of "Needles in my skin, curiously I'm invulnerable" suggest the singer's sense of detachment from the pain associated with drug use, as they've become desensitized to it. They refer to themselves as a "connoisseur of despair," highlighting the self-destructive nature of their addiction.
The singer then talks about how they have "no proof" of their drug use, indicating a sense of shame or secrecy around it. They contemplate cancelling their "contract" - perhaps a reference to a drug dealer or supplier - but ultimately decide against it. The line "Girl next to me... I've lost my way again" further emphasizes the singer's feelings of isolation and disorientation.
The chorus, which includes the lines "America... Don't you know I want you? Don't you know I need you? The fix is alright," suggests that the singer's addiction is not just a personal struggle but also a societal problem. The final lines of the song, "Do we always give it a name / It's a game we always play," point to the larger cultural and political issues surrounding drug addiction.
Line by Line Meaning
Needles in my skin, curiously I'm invulnerable I'm livin' some
I'm injecting heroin into my veins and feeling invincible, as if nothing can harm me. It's become a way of life for me.
Connoisseur of despair
I've become an expert at feeling hopeless and experiencing the depths of despair- it's all I know and I've learned to revel in it.
I got no proof that I been there
There's no tangible evidence that I've been to this dark place, yet I feel like I'm stuck in a cycle that I can't break free from.
So I pick me up the telephone Cancel the contract...
I make the conscious decision to try and end my relationship with heroin, but it's not so simple- addiction is a contract that's not easily broken.
Girl next to me... I've lost my way again
Even though I have a companion sitting beside me, I feel lost and helpless without my heroin fix- it's like a compass that always points me in the 'right' direction, even though it's a destructive one.
Shout! America... Don't you know I want you? Don't you know I need you?
I'm reaching out to my country, pleading for help and understanding. Heroin has taken over my life and I feel like it's my only salvation in this broken world.
The fix is alright
Despite the dangers and destruction that heroin brings to my life, the 'fix' of getting high feels like the only thing that makes everything okay- even though it's only temporary.
So I take in a movie all feeling inside me already gone
I try to distract myself from the overwhelming emotions and emptiness by watching a movie, but it's no use- the numbness that heroin brings has already taken over me.
Do we always give it a name
Is addiction just a label that we put on something that's bigger than us? Does it matter what we call it when we're struggling to break free from its hold?
It's a game we always play
In the end, addiction feels like a game- one that's rigged against us and impossible to win. Yet we keep playing, hoping that maybe this time, we'll come out on top.
Contributed by Carter A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.