Won't Forget This Song - And it's Driving Me Insane

[AndyMead]

I don't know what it's like watching the Cup in the U.S., but the broadcasts, clip shows, and analysis programs on Premiere in Germany are all overplaying this song:

http://www.music-team-germany.de/fileadmin/mtg/content/media/wftd.mov

WARNING: Listen at you're own risk. It's killing me. There are a few songs from Korea 2002 that still reverberate, but at least those were pop/dance tunes and not an overproduced piece of pop/schlock.

Only three more weeks of listening to this song! Woohoo.

--

Yeah, it's not hard news, but I dare any of you to put this on your ipod and listen to it about 50 times a day for the next two weeks.

I am amazed, however, at how much of German pop music is sung in English.

Well, I'm off to Heidelberg for a few hours then Stuttgart for tonight's game there. I get back around the time the first period of the Stanley Cup game seven, and I've already identified an American sports bar that should be showing the game. Good thing I've got tomorrow off!

[Pathogen]

30 seconds before I clicked it off. Top that bitches!

[ritsoccer86]

I have been listening to this song just the day I watched that one-of-the-most-memorable-matches-I-have-seen-in-my-life (US/Italy). He's Adam Freeland, one of the most successfull DJ's in the world. The song I accidently stubbled upon is called "Hello Doors vs Freeland" and WOW....it brings back many good memories. If you are mesmorized after hearing this song, please comment!!

[herewego]

The dutch NOS TV uses an imho far better song of the maybe most succesful german band of the last years "Wir sind Helden" for their daily end of the show clip.

Take a look at this examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Upf6jAOrKFg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q96F5LYdVUs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH4v3f09Bto



I think "Wir sind Helden" is one of, if not the most succesful contemporarily music in todays germany. So it may be interesting for our foreign friends to read, hear and see something about them, just to get a catch on german youth pop culture.

I found a website which is done by a corporation of infamous Amsterdam youthcenter "Melkweg" and discoteque "Paradiso", where they publish streaming videos of gigs which took place in their houses.

"Wir sind Helden" played there a small club gig in front of a mixed german and netherlands crowd. And now you can watch the whole concert online.

Just go to www.fabchannel.com and look for "Wir sind Helden" on the right side in the "archive" column and click.


"Wir sind Helden" is a mix of independent rock and pop music, sometimes with some organ or synth in it.
They live from rather simply structured but therefore much danceable music with highly recognizing and singalong value.
And from their otherwise very sophisticated poetry about live, love and sometimes critic of the system.
As they sing in german language, non german speakers will of course lose a bit of the experience. But I recognized, that "Wir sind Helden" is sometimes used by german teachers all over the world for their lessons and is therefore promoted by the "Goethe" institutes.

I found a weblog where all "Wir sind Helden" lyrics are translated to english by pupils and foreign fans. It might be helpful to read some of the translations to get a feeling about the whole WSH piece of art:
http://earthlingsoft.net/ssp/blog/2005/07/wir_sind_helden_in_english

Something about the interesting history of the band, to get success without a big record company in the back, how it all started and how this guys think you can find on the english or french versions of their homepage. Very much stuff on it, even some of their videos, all the lyrics, the guitar riffs, photodiaries of their tours, bios, statements and so on:

http://www.wirsindhelden.com/

click on "english" at the bottom of the page.


http://www.wirsindhelden.com/engl/gif/wahrheit/bilder/wand1.jpg

[Mattbro]

Wir Sind Helden are horrible. That chick has the most irritating voice imaginable.

EDIT: Sorry to piss on them if you like them though. It's just that they've been like nails on a chalkboard for me ever since I first heard them.

[MattR]

It appears to me that the ESPN coverage is sponsored by U2.

[96Squig]

I love die Helden. Saw them live in front of an 300 ppl audience in my favourite club here in hanover (when they wer already famous and played in front of more than 40 000 people...)
Anyways, other quite good German football music are Sportfreunde Stiller ( 54 74 90 2006 ), die Toten Hosen ( Weltmeister ) and Olliver Pocher (Schwarz Rot Gold)...

[meininki]

The dutch NOS TV uses an imho far better song of the maybe most succesful german band of the last years "Wir sind Helden" for their daily end of the show clip.


Wow! The Dutch have great taste in music! :)
I like Wir sind Helden a lot, especially "Wenn es passiert".

[meininki]

I don't know what it's like watching the Cup in the U.S., but the broadcasts, clip shows, and analysis programs on Premiere in Germany are all overplaying this song

You shouldn't be watching it on Premiere anyway, better switch to ARD and ZDF... :)

[Alex_K]

Wir Sind Helden are horrible. That chick has the most irritating voice imaginable.

EDIT: Sorry to piss on them if you like them though. It's just that they've been like nails on a chalkboard for me ever since I first heard them.
As usual I tend to agree with Matt :D. Still better than Sportfreunde Stiller, though.

[Goleo]

The best world cup song is "Zeit dass sich was dreht" from "Herbert Grönemeyer". Here you can watch his video clip, showing the best scenes of the world cup history!! amazing....

http://www.viva.tv/Stars/Player/id/270512/asset_id/33959/type/video/inter_id/276

[Alex_K]

The best world cup song is "Zeit dass sich was dreht" from "Herbert Grönemeyer". Here you can watch his video clip, showing the best scenes of the world cup history!! amazing....

http://www.viva.tv/Stars/Player/id/270512/asset_id/33959/type/video/inter_id/276

Ok, so we have Footix and Goleo... any other BigSoccer members named after World Cup mascots arround? :D

[Mattbro]

As usual I tend to agree with Matt :D. Still better than Sportfreunde Stiller, though.

I can't stand them either!

[Detlef1961]

I don't know what it's like watching the Cup in the U.S., but the broadcasts, clip shows, and analysis programs on Premiere in Germany are all overplaying this song:


Premiere is pay-TV.
Now you know why pay-TV isn´t that sucessful in Germany. :D
Watch the games on ARD or ZDF.

[capitalist]

It appears to me that the ESPN coverage is sponsored by U2.

I was thinking the same thing :)

But I like it

[Alex_K]

I can't stand them either!

I wouldn't have expected anything else! :D

[Mattbro]

I only need about half the fingers of one hand to count the number of bands that sing in German that I actually like. I just don't think the German language translates well to pop music. That said, I can tolerate bands like Juli and Silbermond because - unlike those pseudo-intellectual hipsters Wir Sind Helden - they don't appear to be under the impression that they're doing anything that hasn't already been done before.

Of course the German language is even less conducive to song when it's being used in Austrian dialect form - Rainhard Fendrich, Wolfgang Ambros... horrid stuff!

[herewego]

Mattbro, Judith Holofernes isn´t pseudo intellectual. She´s simply a cool young artsy intellectual. Could it be, that you have a problem more with their political statement, then their music?

I mean, lyricwise, "Wir sind Helden" really has something to offer. There is real poetry and esprit in it, so why do you call it pseudo, when it´s truly far over standard?

[Mattbro]

Mattbro, Judith Holofernes isn´t pseudo intellectual. She´s simply a cool young artsy intellectual. Could it be, that you have a problem more with their political statement, then their music?

No, believe me, I hate their music more than their pseudo-intellectual postering. The "artsy" poseur thing is just the icing on the cake!

[Mattbro]

A funny thing - I was in the Museum of Art History in Vienna a couple of months ago, and there was a painting of Judith slaying Holofernes. Now I was raised Catholic but I never paid much attention in church, so I'd never heard of either Judith or Holofernes. Imagine my surprise when I read the caption and the little hamster started turning the wheel in my frontal lobe: "Judith..... Holofernes.....Eureka!" (lightbulb goes on in my tiny brain) It had never occured to me that she uses a nom d'art.