30 records in 30 days from 2 collections from one household, day 14: Nichts, First Album.

A Challenge: 30 Platten in 30 Tagen/30 records in 30 days, Nichts Debütalbum

30 records in 30 days goes into the fourteenth round. “Lieber Gott ich wünsch mir so. Meine Stimme im Radio. In den Charts Nummer Vier. Alle sind so nett zu mir.”

These first lines from the first song on the A-side of this LP have accompanied me not only through my youth, but also into the present time. O. k., wicked people will say it’s punky Tralala, simply Neue Deutsche Welle. Some of the lyrics are hilarious, some even show some depth. In contrast to Alien Sex Fiend it’s easy-going German punk with a bit of infantile nonsense.

Probably that’s why I love this LP. Not only because it appeals to my childish mind, but also because there are so many memories associated with the songs. I’ve been searching for it for the last decade and a half, but it’s not available on CD or as a legal electronic download. In 2020 I bought it again, a real vinyl record after more than 30 years. Digitized at a friend’s house and cherished ever since.

Stay tuned

30 records in 30 days from 2 collections from one household, day 13: Alien Sex Fiend, Acid Bath.

30 Platten in 30 Tagen / 30 records in 30 days. Alien Sex Fiend, Acid Bath

30 records in 30 days goes into the thirteenth round. A trip to the moon or goodbye and smoke your bones?

From the beginning ASF was a pretty weird band with a distinct morbid humor. But maybe they were just creative? Or simply crazy? In any case, they combined several different worlds: Punk, experimental electronic music styles, visual art (the album covers were usually designed by Nik Fiend himself) and a bizarre stage performance. And that’s exactly what impressed me from the beginning. The band was just so completely different and so creative-surreal, so anti-mainstream and the music so good, for me it is a milestone in music history, almost artistic avant-garde.

A commercial success on a broad scale was denied to them from the beginning, they were simply too extreme, too eccentric and also too destructive. How? Here is a typical example from the track “breakdown and cry”: “Breakdown is on it’s way. Breakdown in the month of May. Breakdown and cry, lay down and die. Goodbye, goodbye.” Not everyone’s sense of humor, but whatever. Perhaps it is not humor, perhaps it is a hidden message? A misunderstood poem?

I still celebrate ASF and have therefore successively acquired some CDs and many electronic downloads.

Stay tuned

30 records in 30 days from 2 collections from one household, day 10: The Damned, the debut album.

A Challenge: 30 Platten in 30 Tagen/30 records in 30 days: Damned, Debut Album

30 records in 30 days goes into the tenth round. My fan club is waiting for new roses.

I can still remember very well the moment when I suddenly came across this wacky record cover in our tedious supermarket in the tedious record corner. After the exact study of the back side it was clear to me that I must have this great piece of music. Although with each record about 1/5 of my pocket money was gone, I took the risk and bought it without having listened to it.

Threw it on the record player at home, listened, marveled, and heralded a radical musical change. Before the purchase I my hair was long (dare not to laugh) and my favorite music genre was reggae. After that, pretty much everything changed: cut my hair short, unpacked my dad’s 50s shoes (pointy and ugly), and stole all my mom’s safety pins. Hooray, I was a punk! I was simply fascinated at that time by the possibility of producing something resembling music despite complete lack of musical skills.

Unfortunately, some of my records also fell victim to this radical turn, for example Bob Marley’s “Babylon by Bus”, Frank Zappa’s “Joe’s Garage” and “Live in New York”. As a real punk, of course, you didn’t have such records in your collection. A decade later I was deeply sorry, but in the meantime I own them again as CD or as download.

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