As a football star, he won tens of titles. However, his autobiography suggests that Markus Babbel’s life is about more
We spoke to the man who became famous for football and called his autobiography “It’s Not only Football” according to his autobiography. But he also made a name for himself as a DJ Bavaria and he introduces hardcore and metal bands on Instagram, for example. Now it starts with the blind date with Markus Babbel.
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Hans-A-Plast-“Rock’n Roll Freitag”
Markus Babbel: I hear that for the first time, but of course it fits perfectly with my “Music Friday” on Instagram. I would actually have to adopt the song.
This is Annette Benjamin with her then band Hans-A-Plast. Formerly punk from Germany. Do you have a reference to punk?
When I was 14 I heard the dead trousers for the first time, they grabbed me at the time. And to my great pleasure, I got to know her later, with Campino I am now friends. I generally like punk, and I think it’s important to protest through language. But I’m not a punk, I know that too. At most one would -be.
Iron Maiden – “The Trooper”
I have a relatively large number of Maiden discs at home-but mainly because of the cover. I always found it world class. But I’m not the biggest maiden fan. And to my shame I have to admit that I have never seen her live.
What were your first points of contact with hard music?
My older brother, who unfortunately died early, brought me to it. The devil knows what he has unpacked. I come from the deepest Bavaria. My parents heard 24/7 Bavaria one, because only hits ran. Our type of demarcation was just the music. And as far as the music Friday is concerned: At first I played a lot of transverse beds. Then I said to myself that I only do rock and metal now. The mainstream things can listen to people on the radio.
Sportfreunde Stiller – “Me, Roque”
Great guys. By the way, they come from Germering, I grew up nearby. My two eldest children went to the same school with them. I particularly like the sports fans that not everything sounds the same. It’s not that you hear a reef and then everything is right.
A former teammate of you, Mehmet Scholl, had a special connection to the band.
That’s right, he practically promoted it at the time – and also introduced it to me. Mehmet and I as a player could not suffer at all. Nevertheless, he was the first to stand on my bedside in a difficult hour. And since then it has been protected by me. I still often shake my head at Mehmet, but now we get along really well.
The Lightning Seeds – “Three Lions”
EM 1996! That was practically our hymn. Back then we did it into our tournament song. “Three Lions on the shirt” – that was going on the bus every time. And everyone groined. The highlight was of course when we really won the thing. I still know how we drove back to the hotel from the stadium. The bus has almost exploded. I still find an outstanding song.
You yourself did not record a song at the European Championship, right?
No, and I’m also happy about that. We often had to sing something with Bayern, according to Christmas carols. God, it was horrible. Hoeneß has always tried to make money out of everything. But even if we sang grotto, it didn’t even belong that badly on the CD. You can make up a lot with technology.
Which player had the best music taste?
Clearly Icke Häßler. Also a rocker. He even had a music label at the time. At that time I was the youngest in the team, and then the big Icke came up to me and asked if we didn’t want to listen to music together. We somehow managed to get into the presidential suite of an airport hotel, where we played songs on a huge stereo system. That evening we are pretty swamping. Unlike him, I hardly drank alcohol at the time and did not smoke. The next day I felt dog elend. Nevertheless, I went to England happy and inspired.
Sodom – “hail of bomb”
The Onkelz, or what is it?
These are Sodom from Gelsenkirchen.
I even know because I have a disc. They really punch in – old moth!
On what occasions can you give yourself this kind of music?
When I go to concerts, it is almost always something out of this genre. With Thrash or Black Metal, I also like to support these often unknown bands over my channel. The response is incredibly positive. At home or in the car, I rarely listen to it. Then I need such a certain melody …
Chris de Burgh – “High on Emotion”
We Germans love him, but Chris de Burgh is frowned upon in England. An incredibly likeable person and a large FC Liverpool fan. During my time there he performed at a Christmas party. We foreign players found it great, he even came to us at the table, thanked him a thousand times – he knew that the English didn’t really like him. Then a nice connection between us was created. I visited him at concerts a few times. And when he happened to play in Munich, he asked about me because he knew that I would be in the hospital somewhere. Then he was actually there.
The fabulous counter sluts – “Toni let it cushion”
Toni upholstery with the counter sluts! With that they could really do everything. He was the perfect player for Cologne. It is always surprised when I say that Toni Polster was my best opponent. I think I played against him three times and he scored seven goals. During the game he kept boring at me and practically didn’t go. That was fatal to me – I needed opponents who move and not just stand around. But he is a great person. Only recently did I meet him again. He has such a great abuse, I could listen to him for hours.
More about Markus Babbel
He grew up in Gilching in Upper Bavaria. Football opened the gateway to the world: in 1991 he switched to big FC Bayern and experienced the proverbial “FC Hollywood” times. In 1996 he won the European championship title in England with the national soccer team. However, he was always faced with blows of fate, his older brother left life early, Markus Babbel himself had to fight with the rare nerve disease at FC Liverpool during his time. After his active time, he went through various coaching stations, and on TV he can be seen regularly as an expert.