40 years Die Toten Hosen! The fact that the band is celebrating this anniversary with a new best-of album is just as logical as the fact that this is not the first best-of work, as there have been more than enough hits in four decades.
As a tribute to Campino, Breiti, Kuddel, Andi as well as Wölli (†) and Trini, we listen to the band’s single releases and choose the twenty best singles.
20. “Why can’t I get fed” (2000)
Walking bass, horn sections, lots of drama: on “Why won’t I get enough”, the fourth single from “Imsterblich”, the trousers were musically very unusual. Criticism of capitalism with lots of swing — and Campino, who mimics a perfect yuppie in the accompanying video!
19. “Travel Fever” (1982)
“The North Sea hits you in the face / you still lost / you didn’t get far,” Campino sings in “Reisefieber”, accompanied by the oh-oh-ohs typical of trousers. Fortunately, the band’s career-related travel fever went much further than just to the North Sea – they laid the foundation for it here. “Reisefieber” was the second single of the debut “Opel-Gang”. Still a lot of fun today.
18. “I am the longing in you” (2004)
“I am the longing in you” describes the acoustic status quo of the pants after “Immortal” quite well. The band got a little rockier again, sometimes darker, the guitars experimented with dissonances here and there. “I am the longing in you” is a good example of this phase – and the best song of the album “In aller Stille”.
17. “Days Like These” (2012)
In 2012, the Hosen had a mega hit with “Days Like This”. Delay guitar, hook line after hook line, colossal chorus, carpe diem lyrics. For many, it was too close to German pop or Schlager – and not everyone thought that the CDU used the piece for their election campaign punk. Be that as it may: “Days like these” is perfect pop rock in ultra HD – and gave the pants a real boost in the early 2010s.
16. Pushed Again (1998)
Sure, with the pants, a German-language song also works abroad. But because one thinks internationally (and Campino is also half English anyway), the band released in English from time to time. For example the compilation “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is” – or the 1998 hit “Pushed Again”. Old pants buddy and punk legend TV Smith helped with the text revision.
15. “Carnival in Rio (Punk Was)” (1991)
“Dad, what was punk rock,” asks a child’s voice with a heavy British accent at the beginning of the piece. This one, my son, was punk rock — when the Hosen visited Ronnie Biggs in Rio in the early 1990s to record “Carnival in Rio (Punk Was)” with him for their history lesson “Learning English, Lesson One.” Great fun, still.
14. “To Be Beautiful” (1999)
Observing society á la DTH: “Being beautiful” was the first single from the album “Immorblich” and was written by Campino together with Funny von Dannen. The video with Ben Becker is also unforgettable.
13. “Paradise” (1996)
“I don’t want to go to paradise / If the way there is so difficult”: On “Opium fürs Volk” the band dealt extensively with the topics of the search for meaning and religion. It starts with the “Our Father” intro, continues with “The Ten Commandments” and continues in the single “Paradise”.
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12. “Nothing Lasts Forever” (1995)
Nothing remains for eternity, in which Campino (who shortly before had lived as a guest in a monastery) tackles the subject of transience, is also introspective.
11. “Friends” (2005)
The Hosen aren’t just a band, they’re a gang. They always have been and always will be. And that is until they are all buried in the band’s own grave. “Friends” is a pledge of friendship, a tribute to what has been experienced and reassuring one another that things will continue and get even better.
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10. “Get up when you’re down”
A perseverance slogan in song form: “Get up when you’re on the ground” appeared in 2002 on “Auswartspiel” and provides a lot of well-being live.
9. Bonnie & Clyde (1996)
The DTH road movie set to music, an ode to the eternal gangster couple and to outlaw life – with iconic text and the line of text, which is not entirely uncontroversial for many: “We’ll shoot two, three, four, five cops if there’s no other choice”.
8. “Just Visiting” (2002)
In the play Just Visiting, Campino deals with his mother’s death — and speaks directly to her in the play. “And the mail is still coming, addressed to you in bold letters / Although everyone knows that you have moved away,” it says.
7. “All For Love” (1993)
“I would like to tell you how much I like you / Why I can only think of you / I feel bewitched and imprisoned / And you alone are to blame for it”: It all starts so harmlessly in love with “Everything out of love “. We’ve known how the love story ends since the single contained on “Kauf mich”: “Come on, I’ll show you how great my love is / And kill us both,” sings Campino. Then you hear shots.
6. “Love Player”
Absolute pants classic – and by far the best piece of the second work “Unter wrong Flaagge”.
5. “All All These Years” (1990)
Released in 1990 on the double album “Kreuzzug ins Glück”, “All the Whole Years” is one of the most important tracks in the band’s history.
4. Immortal (2000)
“With you I have the feeling / that we are immortal tonight”: one of the greatest Toten Hosen ballads ever.
3. “1000 good reasons”
In “1000 good reasons” the trousers deal with the concept of home. “There are a thousand good reasons / To be proud of this country / Why can’t we all of a sudden / Can’t think of a single one?” It says. “1000 Good Reasons” is one of the best political pieces the band has ever written.
2. “Make a Wish” (1993)
“The time will come when wishing will help again”: Second place goes to “Wünsch dir was”, published on “Kauf mich!”.
1. “Here Comes Alex”
“In a world where all you live is / So that you go robots every day / Is the biggest excitement there is / The nightly TV picture”… The best pants song ever, written for a stage version of “A Clockwork Orange” and the trousers classic for a long time: With “Here comes Alex” the band showed what they could do at the end of the 1980s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z8o7qAIIIU