Slime: История немецкого Deutschpunk

German punk rock band

Slime, a German punk rock band founded in Hamburg in 1979, became a defining band in the 1980s German punk scene, and is the most widely recognized example of the musical style Deutschpunk.

Although initially playing in the straightforward style of late 70's British punk, Slime developed their own unique style of punk rock, which has been seminal for Deutschpunk. Slime's songs involve complex song structures with layered, sophisticated lyrics, that often include an element of story telling. The main themes in Slime's music are political resistance to racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and fascism. Their political activism on these topics has strongly influenced the German punk movement in general. The band describes their music as protest songs. In the 1980s they were associated with the anti nuclear and squatting movements. Their anti police songs continue to be anthems of leftist political movements, and have translated into slogans that are widely used, for example, in graffiti and stickering campaigns. Slime is a controversial band in several ways. During the period where they were becoming successful, they were accused of selling out. Some of their lyrics have expressed anti American sentiment, a popular opinion among students in the '68 generation, because Americans were perceived to have put several prominent Nazi sympathizers back into power (see also Red Army Faction#Background). This attracted criticism from the political left; the song Yankees raus (English translation: Yankees get out) originated in that historical period, and is one they no longer play. A few of their songs have been the subject of legal investigations, most famously the songs Wir wollen keine Bullenschweine (English translation: We don't want any cops/pigs) and Deutschland muss sterben, both released in 1980. "Bullenschweine" was indexed in 2011 and is no longer played, while "Deutschland" was legally classified as protected art in 2000.

Michael "Elf" Mayer and Sven "Eddie" Räther both attended high school at the Gymnasium Heidberg in the Hamburg district of Hamburg Langenhorn. They discovered their love for punk rock through the Ramones' first album and decided to form a band. Mayer played guitar and Räther played bass, and the harbor worker Peter "Ball" Wodok played drums. The band's first vocalist was Thorsten "Scout" Kolle, a friend and classmate of Mayer and Räther. They first performed under the name "Slime 79 and the Sewer Army", although this was soon shortened to "Slime". The first song written by the band was "Polizei SA/SS", which compared the police to the SA and SS, a reaction to the police actions against anti nuclear protests. Slime's first performance was in the youth center Kiwittsmoor, appearing with the band "The Kreislaufkollaps". The singer for the Kreislaufkollaps, Dirk Jora (artist name "Dicken" and later "Diggen"), was impressive and they asked him to replace Kolle as singer. Slime's practice room was a former bunker in Hamburg Eimsbüttel. After Diggen joined the band, the first song that they wrote was Wir wollen keine Bullenschweine. Tom Meyer from Moderne Musik offered to release this song as a single. In fall 1979 Slime recorded four songs for an EP: Bullenschweine, Iran, Hey Punk and Ich hasse. This EP was released in February 1980; only 2,000 LPs were pressed, and they quickly sold out. On February 24, 1980 Slime performed with The Buttocks at the youth prison Neuengamme, which was built on the former land of the concentration camp Neuengamme. They played Polizei SA/SS and Wir wollen keine Bullenschweine, as well as a cover version of Drafi Deutscher's song Marmor, Stein und Eisen bricht. Shortly after this performance Christian Mevs joined the band as a second guitarist. This album includes the chilling song Der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland (English translation: "Death is a master from Germany"). This song was inspired by the poem Todesfuge (lit. "Death Fugue") by Paul Celan, who was a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust and described the horrors he had experienced there. After the release of Schweineherbst the band broke up again. In 1998 Diggen and Elf formed the band C. I. A. (Church of Independent Assholes) to produce the album Codename Freibeuter. C. I. A. released a re written cover version of Rio Reiser's song König von Deutschland in collaboration with Axel Kurth of the band Wizo and Bela B. of Die Ärzte. After a short tour, this band also broke up.

In 2002 and 2003 the record label Weird System re released Slime's first three albums. The titles that had been censored were re sung in a way that avoided further prosecution. In 2004 the double DVD "Wenn der Himmel brennt" was released; this DVD had been scheduled to be released in 2003, but had to be postponed because of ongoing legal investigations. The DVD provides a documentary overview of the band history, and includes a 56 page booklet with an interview that discussed the band history and includes a list of releases. Another song on this album, Banalität Des Bösen, references the work of philosopher Hannah Arendt; this song protests both homophobia and racism. In 2020, Slime released the album Wem gehört die Angst (English translation: "Who does the fear belong to?"). During this tour, the band broke up due to internal problems. Dirk Jora walked out, announcing publicly that the band had broken up. The rest of Slime announced simulataneously that Jora had stepped back for health reasons. The remainder of their tour was cancelled.

Slime quickly recruited a new singer, Tex Brasket, with whom they recorded a new album Zwei ("two"), released in 2022. Jora has said that the new band should have selected a new name.

2009: Alle gegen Alle – A Tribute to Slime (Toten Hosen, Rasta Knast, Dritte Wahl, etc.)