Laibach are best known for their cover versions of pop songs which have been rerendered in such a way as to reveal formerly hidden or unnoticed messages, often commenting on political totalitarianism or rock stardom’s own forms of dictatorship. This was done most successfully on Opus Dei, especially on their cover of One Vision. Named Geburt Einer Nation after D. W. Griffith’s classic film The Birth of a Nation, Queen’s lyrics are sung in German to a strident military beat. All of a sudden lines like “one flesh, one blood, one true religion” start sounding suspiciously familiar...
However the bulk of Laibach’s output is their own work. Their own early experiments with totalitarian ambiguity led to their being outlawed in then-Communist Yugoslavia; their name was made illegal so the band resorted to using their black-cross emblem on posters instead. To this day their work deals with similar ideas but frequently Laibach reference their own legendary status and tongue-in-cheekily play with the kinds of in-jokes a band accrues in over 25 years of work.
Laibach’s musical style has varied a lot over the years. They began as avant-garde industrial musicians, producing what could best be described as ambient noise but soon discovered the joys of the martial rhythm. Having produced a couple of albums of heavy martial industrial music, they began to expand sonically. Following the collapse of Yugoslavia their difficult but rewarding album Kapital included hip-hop influences among many others and NATO borrowed from techno while keeping the bombastic atmosphere. The next offering Jesus Christ Superstars came after quite a hiatus and it may have shocked a lot of people with its balls-out metal guitar riffs. The 2003 album WAT returns to a more electronic sound; working with techno producer umek has produced a slightly odd album of electro beats.
Volk was released on October 20, 2006, preceded by the single Anglia. The album contains 14 songs composed and produced together with Silence, inspired by national anthems.
2008 Laibach released new album, titled Kunst der Fuge. This album is the laibachian interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach's work The Art of Fugue (Die Kunst der Fuge). The majority of the material has been created already in 2006 and premierly performed the same year on June the 1st at Bachfest festival in Leipzig.
VOLKSWAGNER is the title of a musical project which was realized in collaboration between Laibach and the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra (2009). Laibach also cooperated with the composer and conductor Izidor Leitinger on this project, and it was decided that together they would compose a work which will in a specific manner interpret some of Wagner's better known musical motifs and combine them into a unified symphonic electronic suite.
From a formal point of view, the collaborating artists have decided to seek in Wagner the rudiments of modernism, which first through Mahler, Bruckner, and Debussy, and subsequently through Schöenberg, Berg, and Webern, developed into the core of the jazz music of the sonic experimentalists, such as Miles Davis and Sun Ra, and to upgrade them with the ambient electronic spectrum that has been developing over the last three decades. In addition, the suite will address the history of the 20th century – modernism crossbred with pop art.
4.4. 2012 a movie titeled Iron Sky was released. Laibach in collaboration with Ben Watkins as a co-writer and producer of the score provided soundtrack for Moon Nazi Invasion in Iron Sky.
Official Laibach website: www.laibach.org
Achtung
Laibach Lyrics
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BEIDE SEITEN
I'm OSTEN
UND do I'm WESTEN
ACHTUNG!
BEIDE SEITEN
I'm NORDEN
UND do I'm SUDEN
UND RECHTE IST NIEMALS RECHT
DER KRIEG IST NOCH NICHT FREICHEIT
UND FRIEDEN IST FUR RUHE SCHLECHT
DIE SPRACHE IST OHNE INHALT
GESETZ - NUR EIN PAPIER
DAS WAHRE IST NICHT IMMER WAHRHEIT
ABER WIR SIND WIRKLICH HIER
ACHTUNG BEIDE SEITEN
ACHTUNG BEIDE POLE
DAS WAHRE IST NICHT IMMER WAHRHEIT
ABER WIR SIND IMMER HIER
GLUCK AUF, BEIDE SEITEN
PASST AUF, BEIDE POLE
ACHTUNG, BEIDE SEITEN
ACHTUNG, BEIDE POLE
DIE MAUER IST KEINE GRENZE
UND GRENZE IST KEIN ABGRUND
DIE NAEHE IST JETZT DIE FERNE
UND NICHTIGKEIT IST ABSOLUT
DIE WAHRHEIT IST FUR DIE LUGNER
UND FREIHEIT - DIE SKLAVEREI
DAS GELD IST FUR DIE ARMEN
UND ES IST LUGE REICH ZU SEIN
ACHTUNG BEIDE SEITEN
ACHTUNG BEIDE POLE
DAS GELD IST FUR DIE ARMEN
NUR WIR SIND IMMER FREI
ACHTUNG!
BEIDE SEITEN
I'm OSTEN
UND do I'm WESTEN
ACHTUNG!
BEIDE SEITEN
I'm NORDEN
UND do I'm SUDEN
DIE ZEIT - ES IST KEIN GELD
QUADRAT IST NIEMALS KREIS
DAS KAPITAL IST IMMER WERTLOS
UN LEBEN HAT KEINEN PREIS
DENKEN IST NICHT IMMER WISSEN
UND WISSEN IST KEINE WEISHEIT
SCHLAFEN IST NOCH NICHT DAS STERBEN
ABER TOD IST IMMER BEREIT
ACHTUNG BEIDE SEITEN
ACHTUNG BEIDE POLE
SCHLAFEN IST NOCH NICHT DAS STERBEN
ABER LAIBACH IST IMMER BEREIT
Laibach's song Achtung! seems to be a commentary on the state of the world and its various hypocrisies. The lyrics warn us to pay attention to both sides, in the East and the West, in the North and the South. The left is not always left and the right is never right. War is not freedom and peace is not good for rest. The language is meaningless, law is just a piece of paper, the truth is not always truth, but we are truly here. The song highlights the fact that we live in a world where things are not always what they seem, where truths can be manipulated, and people can be slaves to ideologies that they oppose or cannot understand.
Moreover, the song suggests that there is a reckoning coming. The wall is not a boundary, and boundaries are not chasms. Proximity is now distance, and nothingness is absolute. Truth is for liars, freedom is slavery, and money is for the poor. We are always free, but we are also always on alert because, in the end, Laibach is always ready. The song reminds us to be vigilant, to think critically, and to be prepared for whatever comes our way.
Line by Line Meaning
ACHTUNG!
Attention!
BEIDE SEITEN I'm OSTEN UND do I'm WESTEN
Both sides in the East and also in the West
ACHTUNG! BEIDE SEITEN I'm NORDEN UND do I'm SUDEN
Attention! Both sides in the North and also in the South
DER LINKE IST NICHT ZUR LINKEN UND RECHTE IST NIEMALS RECHT
The left is not always left and the right is never truly right
DER KRIEG IST NOCH NICHT FREICHEIT UND FRIEDEN IST FUR RUHE SCHLECHT
War is not freedom and peace is not always good for calmness
DIE SPRACHE IST OHNE INHALT GESETZ - NUR EIN PAPIER
Language has no meaning, law is just a piece of paper
DAS WAHRE IST NICHT IMMER WAHRHEIT ABER WIR SIND WIRKLICH HIER
What is true is not always the truth, but we are really here
ACHTUNG BEIDE SEITEN
Attention, both sides
ACHTUNG BEIDE POLE
Attention, both poles
DAS GELD IST FUR DIE ARMEN
Money is for the poor
UND ES IST LUGE REICH ZU SEIN
And it is a lie to be rich
NUR WIR SIND IMMER FREI
Only we are always free
DIE MAUER IST KEINE GRENZE UND GRENZE IST KEIN ABGRUND
The wall is not a border and the border is not an abyss
DIE NAEHE IST JETZT DIE FERNE UND NICHTIGKEIT IST ABSOLUT
Closeness is now faraway and insignificance is absolute
DIE WAHRHEIT IST FUR DIE LUGNER UND FREIHEIT - DIE SKLAVEREI
The truth is for the liars and freedom is slavery
ACHTUNG!
Attention!
DIE ZEIT - ES IST KEIN GELD
Time is not money
QUADRAT IST NIEMALS KREIS
A square is never a circle
DAS KAPITAL IST IMMER WERTLOS UN LEBEN HAT KEINEN PREIS
Capital is always worthless and life has no price
DENKEN IST NICHT IMMER WISSEN UND WISSEN IST KEINE WEISHEIT
Thinking is not always knowing and knowledge is not wisdom
SCHLAFEN IST NOCH NICHT DAS STERBEN ABER TOD IST IMMER BEREIT
Sleep is not yet death, but death is always ready
ACHTUNG BEIDE SEITEN
Attention, both sides
ACHTUNG BEIDE POLE
Attention, both poles
SCHLAFEN IST NOCH NICHT DAS STERBEN ABER LAIBACH IST IMMER BEREIT
Sleep is not yet death, but Laibach is always ready
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
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