Annette and Inga Humpe have been the chief architects of German-speaking pop music since the early 80s. With the neon babies they started the NDW, on which they rode in different bands such as ideal and Döf. Nevertheless, you should only celebrate your greatest successes in the 21st century, with the Duos Ich + I and 2 room apartment. We met the sisters to listen to music in the city, which ideal had already made a monument in 1980: Berlin.
Neonbabies – “Blue Eyes (Live 1981)”
Inga Humpe: I sing! I have never heard the version.
It was originally a song of your common band Neonbabies, but a hit was only ideal in the version of Annette’s successor group.
Annette Humpe: This is my song that I wrote. At first I sang him. Then it was found ideally and the men with ideal were very jealous that I sing in two bands. They didn’t want that. I would have stayed in both bands because of my sake. I then took my song over and in this intermediate phase I must have sung it.
So you had to be ideal for a majority decision?
Annette: Yes, FJ (Ideal guitarist Frank Jürgen Krüger-Note) and Hansi (Drummer Hans-Joachim Behrendt) I said I couldn’t be with the neon babies and them. After that, they opened and offered Inga to change. But I wanted to do that alone.
That doesn’t sound completely easy.
Annette: It was never and never became.
Inga: In the beginning everyone wanted their own identity. And Annette was probably fully doing the snout from always doing everything with me.
Ideal – “No home” (1982)
Song texts could hardly be contemporary, right? “The man from overseas / the Americans come / or do the Russians come? / No home / Who protects me from America?” That comes from 1982!
Annette: It could be re -published today. Tell the guy of the record company!
Trio – “DA DA DA” (1981)
Annette, here you sing backing vocals. What does that do with you to watch how this crazy song develops into a world hit?
Annette: Nothing at all. I neither wrote nor arranged. Stephan (Remmler-trio singer; note) I asked if I wanted to sing along.
In the video you will be stabbed Annette. How did it come about?
Annette: Dieter Meier from Yello was a director, a typical men’s fantasy …
Inga: Where will you stabbed there?
Annette: I play a waitress in a pub, Stephan hits me on my butt, I show him the middle finger, whereupon Stephan pulls out a knife and throws into my back. I then bite a blood capsule and spit blood.
Inga: I never noticed that.
Annette: Today I would have said: “You spin? I don’t do that.”
Because you continue to bleed, maybe there is a gesture of feminist resistance?
Annette: Nothing! It is from front to back what it looks like.
Now my earliest childhood memory comes …
Annette & Inga: We already know what it is!
Döf – “Codo” (1983)
Inga: Exactly! Taking this up was one of the greatest moments of fun.
As a child, I always had to hold my ears in the rammstein-like “I am the hatred” stanzas and wait for the heavenly chorus.
Annette: That was together with two comedians from Austria: Josef Prokopetz and Manfred diving. They already had the chorus and I, as a producer, thought to me: “This is too sweet! I have to oppose something ugly, there has to be a fight, love against hatred.”
Then the women’s part is written by men and the other way around? Sensational!
Annette: Exactly, the sweet is from the boys.
There was a legal dispute in 1983 for the authorship of the refrain melody, since the song of the GDR songwriter Holger Biege goes back to his “Kiss me and love me”. Bending complained and lost. How stressful was that back then?
Annette: I was not afraid. He was sitting in East Berlin, behind the wall, and claimed that we had secretly heard Ostradio and stolen it from him. That was of course nonsense. I also felt sorry, he was a star in the GDR and then went down after the turn.
Humpe & Humpe-“Yama-Ha” (1985)
With such gibberish-Japanese you couldn’t get through these days, right? Keyword cultural appropriation.
Inga: That was not played on the radio at the time. It was said that it would be creep advertising.
Annette: But “MfG” from the Fantastischen Vier with all of his brand names was no problem 15 years later.
Inga: In Japan you know that. I was asked about that there.
You actually sing here as a duo in English. How did the move come about?
Inga: At that time we deliberately avoided German, the language was knocked on by the NDW.
How did you experience the commercialization of the revolution you have initiated?
Annette: It is always like this in capitalism: something has success and is exploited – it was not surprising.
Inga: But it already hit me.
I + I feat. Rhythms del Mundo – “From the same star” (2008)
Annette: Oh, this is this Cuban version, I don’t have it on my screen, even though I was there for the new recording in Cuba. I like the original better. The trip there was nice, but the food was not delicious.
The harmonious chants are reminiscent of “Codo” – was that intentional?
Inga: This is nobility (Tawil, singer at Ich + I – Note.) Also noticed at the time – yes, that’s a quote.
Udo Lindenberg feat. Inga Humpe – “You can’t repair a heart (MTV unplugged)” (2011)
Annette: We wrote that – Udo didn’t want to sing that at first.
Inga: That was too negative for him. But in the end there is this positive reversal.
Annette: It is from him! He didn’t want the song to go out badly.
In 2011 it was another hit. Amazing that you will always reach new generations with your projects.
Inga: That was not intended.
Annette: Yes, from me.
Inga: You just make interesting music, but not with regard to …
Annette: I don’t want to be interesting. I want to communicate, always.
More about Humpe & Humpe
Annette Humpe was born in Hagen in 1950, her sister Inga six years later. In the mid-70sYears they moved to Berlin and founded the New-Wave band neonbabies, from which ideal Annette emerged. In 1985 they felt for two Albums together as Humpe & Humpe. Inga Humpe has been operating with her partner Tommi since 2000 Eckart as a 2 -room apartment, Annette kicks as producesTin from Ua Die Prinzen, Rio Reiser and Joachim Witt And on the side of Adel Tawil as I + I was in appearingtung. Now their album from 1985, Humpe Humpe, re -published.