Table Of Contenti
Made in Germany
Made in Germany: Studies in Popular Music serves as a comprehensive introduction to the his-
tory, sociology, and musicology of contemporary German popular music. Each essay, written by
a leading scholar of German music, covers the major figures, styles, and social contexts of popular
music in Germany and provides adequate context so readers understand why the figure or genre
under discussion is of lasting significance. The book first presents a general description of the his-
tory and background of popular music in Germany, followed by essays organized into thematic
sections: Historical Spotlights; Globally German; Also “Made in Germany”; Explicitly German;
and Reluctantly German.
Oliver Seibt is Assistant Professor of Cultural Musicology at the University of Amsterdam, The
Netherlands.
Martin Ringsmut is Research Assistant in the Ethnomusicology Department at the University of
Cologne, Germany, where he has taught courses in Ethnomusicology and Popular Music Studies.
David- Emil Wickström is Professor of Popular Music History at the Popakademie Baden-
Württemberg, in Mannheim, Germany.
ii
Routledge Global Popular Music Series
Series Editors: Franco Fabbri, Conservatorio di Musica Arrigo Boito di Parma, Italy, and Goffredo
Plastino, Newcastle University, UK
The Routledge Global Popular Music Series provides popular music scholars, teachers, students, and
musicologists with a well- informed and up- to- date introduction to different world popular music
scenes. The series of volumes can be used for academic teaching in popular music studies, or as a
collection of reference works. Written by those living and working in the countries about which
they write, this series is devoted to popular music largely unknown to Anglo-A merican readers.
Made in France: Studies in Popular Music
Edited by Gérôme Guibert and Catherine Rudent
Made in the Low Countries: Studies in Popular Music
Edited by Lutgard Mutsaers and Gert Keunen
Made in Turkey: Studies in Popular Music
Edited by Ali C. Gedik
Made in Australia and Aotearoa/ New Zealand: Studies in Popular Music
Edited by Shelley Brunt and Geoff Stahl
Made in Greece: Studies in Popular Music
Edited by Dafni Tragaki
Made in Taiwan: Studies in Popular Music
Edited by Eva Tsai, Tung- Hung Ho, and Miaoju Jian
Made in Poland: Studies in Popular Music
Edited by Patryk Galuszka
Made in Hong Kong: Studies in Popular Music
Edited by Anthony Fung and Alice Chik
Made in Yugoslavia: Studies in Popular Music
Edited by Danijela Š. Beard and Ljerka V. Rasmussen
Made in Germany: Studies in Popular Music
Edited by Oliver Seibt, Martin Ringsmut, and Davil- Emil Wickström
iii
Made in Germany
Studies in Popular Music
Edited by
Oliver Seibt, Martin Ringsmut,
and David- Emil Wickström
iv
First published 2021
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 Taylor & Francis
The rights of Oliver Seibt, Martin Ringsmut, and David- Emil Wickström to be identified as the
authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Seibt, Oliver, editor. | Ringsmut, Martin, editor. | Wickström, David-Emil, editor.
Title: Made in Germany : studies in popular music / edited by Oliver Seibt,
Martin Ringsmut, and David-Emil Wickström.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2020. |
Series: Routledge global popular music series |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020015178 (print) | LCCN 2020015179 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780815391777 (hardback) | ISBN 9780815391784 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781351200790 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Popular music–Germany–History and criticism. |
Popular music–Social aspects–Germany–History. |
Popular music–Political aspects–Germany–History.
Classification: LCC ML3490 .M3 2020 (print) |
LCC ML3490 (ebook) | DDC 781.640943–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020015178
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020015179
ISBN: 978- 0- 8153- 9177- 7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978- 0- 8153- 9178- 4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978- 1- 351- 20079- 0 (ebk)
Typeset in Minion Pro
by Newgen Publishing UK
v
Contents
Notes on Contributors viii
Introduction: DEUTSCHLAND! – Echt jetzt?: German Popular Music’s
Complicated Relationship with German Identity 1
Oliver Seibt, Martin Ringsmut, and David- Emil Wickström
Rocking the Academy? Two Cold- War Careers and the Emergence of Popular
Music Studies and Higher Popular Music Education in Germany: An
Interview with Peter Wicke and Udo Dahmen 16
David- Emil Wickström
Part I: Historical Spotlights 27
1 Transnational Networks and Intermedial Interfaces in German Popular
Music, 1900– 1939 29
Carolin Stahrenberg
2 Nazis and Quiet Sounds: Popular Music, Simulated Normality, and Cultural
Niches in the Terror Regime, 1933– 1945 39
Jens Gerrit Papenburg
3 Conflicting Identities: The Meaning and Significance of Popular Music in the GDR 48
Michael Rauhut
4 “Party on the Death Strip”: Reflections on a Historical Turning Point 58
Susanne Binas- Preisendörfer
Part II: Globally German 69
5 The Krauts Are Coming: Electronic Music and Rock in the 1970s 71
Ulrich Adelt
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vi
vi • Contents
6 German Metal Attack: Power Metal in and from Germany 81
Jan- Peter Herbst
7 German Longings: A Dialogue about the Promises and Dangers of
National Stereotypes 90
Melanie Schiller and Jeroen de Kloet
Part III: Also “Made in Germany” 99
8 Peepl Rock: Post- Soviet Popular Music in Germany 101
David- Emil Wickström
9 Made in Almanya: The Birth of Turkish Rap 111
Thomas Solomon
10 G.I. Blues and German Schlager: The Politics of Popular Music in Germany
during the Cold War 122
Bodo Mrozek
Part IV: Explicitly German 133
11 Neue Deutsche Welle: Tactical Affirmation as a Strategy of Subversion 135
Barbara Hornberger
12 “One Day You Will Wish We’d Only Played Music”: Some Remarks on Recent
Developments of Germany’s RechtsRock Scene 145
Thorsten Hindrichs
13 Hallo Blumenau, bom dia Brasil! German Music beyond Germany 154
Julio Mendívil
Part V: Reluctantly German 163
14 “Meine Lieder sind anders”: Hildegard Knef and the Idea(l) of German Chanson 165
René Michaelsen
15 How Munich and Frankfurt Brought (Electronic) Dance Music to the Top
of the International Charts with Eurodisco and Eurodance – and Why
Germany Was Not Involved 175
Heiko Wandler
16 Japonisme 2.0: German Visual- Kei Fans, Tokio Hotel, and the Popular Music
Genre That Must Not Exist 184
Oliver Seibt
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Contents • vii
Coda 195
17 The Germaican Connection: German Reggae Abroad 197
Martin Ringsmut
Standing up against Discrimination and Exclusion: An Interview with
Kutlu Yurtseven (Microphone Mafia) 207
Monika E. Schoop
Further Reading 216
Index 223
viii
Contributors
Ulrich Adelt is Associate Professor for American Studies and Director of African American
and Diaspora Studies at the University of Wyoming. He holds degrees from the University
of Hamburg, Germany, and the University of Iowa. He has published in a number of journals
including the American Quarterly and the Journal of Transnational American Studies and is the
author of two books, Blues Music in the Sixties: A Story in Black and White (Rutgers University
Press, 2010) and Krautrock: German Music in the Seventies (University of Michigan Press,
2016). His current research focuses on electric guitar performance, in particular rhythm guitar.
Susanne Binas- Preisendörfer has been Professor of Music and Media Studies since 2005; she
currently teaches and conducts research at the University of Oldenburg, focusing on the his-
tory and aesthetics of mediatized musical forms, music and globalization, transculturation,
popular practices of listening, and historiographics of popular music. She also has experi-
ence as a musician, before 1990 (Der Expander des Fortschritts), as curator (singuhr-g allery),
as member in juries or as consultant for cultural and educational matters (e.g. as expert in
the Enquete Committee “Culture in Germany” of the German Bundestag). From 2013 to
2016 she served as chair of the German- speaking branch of the IASPM. See https:// uol.de/
susanne- binas- preisendoerfer.
Udo Dahmen studied classical percussion in Aachen and Cologne from 1971 to 1976 and was
also trained by Dante Agostini in Paris. As a drummer, Dahmen played with various popular
acts such as Kraan, Hellmut Hattler, Eberhard Schöner, Sting, Gianna Nannini, Nina Hagen,
Jack Bruce, Gary Brooker, Sarah Brightman, Joachim Kühn, Inga Rumpf, Charly Mariano,
Achim Reichel, Lake, Herb Geller, Georg Danzer and many more. From 1983 to 2003 Dahmen
was Professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. From 1995 until 2015 he
was the president of the European drummers’ association “Percussion Creativ.” Since 2003,
Dahmen has been vice president of the German Music Council as well as the artistic director
and CEO of the Popakademie Baden- Württemberg in Mannheim.
Jeroen de Kloet is Professor of Globalization Studies and Chair of the Department of Media
Studies at the University of Amsterdam. He is also a professor at the State Key Laboratory
of Media Convergence and Communication, Communication University of China. He has
published widely on popular music in China and Hong Kong, but also on cinema, boredom,
viii
ix
Contributors • ix
digitization, failure, nylon stockings, and his mother’s struggle with Alzheimers. This chapter
is part of the ERC funded project ChinaCreative (no. 616882). See also http:// jeroendekloet.nl
and http:// chinacreative.humanities.uva.nl.
Jan- Peter Herbst is Senior Lecturer in Music Production and Director of the Centre for Music,
Culture and Identity at the University of Huddersfield, UK. He has written the books Network
Sound: An Educational Challenge of Popular Music (Wissner, 2014; translation) and The Guitar
Distortion in Rock Music. A Study on Playability and Aesthetics (LIT, 2016; translation) and is
currently working on his third book, Heavy Metal in Germany, exploring the German metal
scene with its music and culture. Before joining Huddersfield, he taught popular music studies,
music production, music analysis, empirical musicology, music history and music theory at
the universities of Paderborn, Bielefeld, Münster, and Berne (Switzerland).
Thorsten Hindrichs is a faculty member in the Department of Musicology at Johannes
Gutenberg- University (JGU) in Mainz. He received his PhD with a dissertation on guitar
music in Germany ca. 1800, but has specialised in extreme right- wing music for many years.
He is a member of the “Counselling Network against Right- Wing Extremism” of the state of
Rhineland- Palatinate and lectures as a freelance author in political education against right-
wing extremism.
Barbara Hornberger studied cultural studies and aesthetic and applied arts at the University
of Hildesheim and specialized in popular culture, especially popular music. She received her
PhD with an exploration of the topic “New German Wave” (Neue Deutsche Welle). Currently,
she is Professor of Popular Music Didactics at the University of Applied Sciences Osnabrueck.
Her research focuses on popular culture and music, on popular culture history and popular
music and education.
Julio Mendívil is a Peruvian author, musician, and ethnomusicologist living in Austria. From
2008 to 2012 Mendívil led the ethnomusicological department of the Institute for Musicology
at the University of Cologne, Germany. Between 2012 and March 2016 he was Chair of the
Association for the Study of Popular Music, Latin American Branch and between 2013 and
2015 director of the Center for World Music at the University of Hildesheim. He was Professor
for Ethnomusicology at the Goethe- University Frankfurt between 2015 and 2017. He is cur-
rently a Full Professor for Ethnomusicology at the University of Vienna.
René Michaelsen received his PhD, on self-r eflexivity in the music of Robert Schumann, in 2011
and has researched on topics from Beethoven to Keith Jarrett. From 2007 to 2016 he worked as a
research assistant at the Institutes of Musicology at Universität zu Köln and Goethe-U niversität
Frankfurt am Main. Since 2016 he has been employed as dramaturg at Cologne’s Theater im
Bauturm, and he currently teaches jazz history at Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln.
Bodo Mrozek is a contemporary historian. His monograph, Jugend – Pop – Kultur. Eine
transnationale Geschichte, on the history of youth pop culture, analyzes the interrelations
between the US, Great Britain, both German States and France during the 1950s and 60s
(Berlin 2019). Mrozek is also a co- editor of two collective volumes on the history of popular
