Oldish Psych and Prog

Mentors of the cliché "agit-rock", Ton Steine Scherben (Sound Of Stones Breaking Glass) took their roots from American 1960's punk like the Velvet Underground and The Stooges, added a touch of heavy blues and a strong dose of German angst. Presenting their raw aggressive rock frequently at free festivals in the late-1960's, none of the German labels would touch them.

WARUM GEHT ES MIR SO DRECKIG? was privately issued and contains some of the most anguished, lyrically venomous, raw rock to come out of Germany. Toning down their act a little, KEINE MACHT FÜR NIEMAND put them on a more accessible footing, less intense it also included a few excellent more experimental tracks showing that they could do much more than insult or aurally assault people, they could produce high quality rock too.

Ever trying to move further, both musically and lyrically, they kept coming on in leaps and bounds, taking both the music press and their audience by surprise. Their finest moment, as far as we are concerned, was their second double, the really ambitious WENN DIE NACHT AM TIEFSTEN, which saw them develop on an even more progressive level, with heavy rock and psychedelic touches, more Krautrock really, with diversions to Zappa-esque humour, and several experimental moments: most especially the long suite encompassing side 4.

Alongside these activities Ton Steine Scherben have constantly worked as support or backing band to a number of radical theatre and political cabaret acts (including Brühwarm, Kollektiv Rote Rübe and Hofmann's Comic Teater). The recorded results of these collaborations are generally quite odd, and not easy listening for non-German ears.

Further proper Ton Steine Scherben albums paled somewhat towards more conventional German rock. Rio Reiser (pseudonym of Ralph Möbius) since became a figurehead of the German underground and quite an esteemed authority on the matter. I have encountered numerous lengthy essays on the web by or about him, which sadly do not translate well with Google's automatic translator! He died on 20 August 1996.