Böhse Onkelz

This article covers the rock band Böhse Onkelz. For her album of the same name see Böhse Onkelz (album) .

Böhse Onkelz
Böhse Onkelz on Rock the Ring (2018)
General information
origin	Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Genre (s)	Punk (1980–1981), Oi! (1981–1986), hard rock , German rock (since 1987)
founding	1980, 2014
resolution	2005
Website	www.onkelz.de
Current occupation
Lead vocals	Kevin Russell
Electric bass , vocals	Stephan Weidner
Electric guitar	Matthias Röhr (since 1981)
Drums , percussion	Peter Schorowsky

Böhse Onkelz is a German rock band that was active from 1980 to 2005 and has been active again since 2014 . The band was particularly controversial in the early 1980s because of its closeness to right-wing rock . Her first album The Nice Man from 1984 was initially indexed as harmful to young people and confiscated shortly afterwards . From the mid-1990s onwards, the Böhsen Onkelz achieved multiple placements in the top 10 of the German album and single charts . Since the 1998 album Viva los Tioz, the band's six studio albums have reached number one in the German charts .

Band history

Stephan Weidner (2019)

Kevin Russell (2019)

Matthias Röhr (2019)

Peter Schorowsky (2018)

1980 to 1981: foundation

Inspired by bands like The Clash or The Stranglers , Stephan Weidner , Kevin Richard Russell and Peter “Pe” Schorowsky founded the band in 1979/80. The band name was given to them by some children from the neighborhood when they told their younger siblings: “... be careful, there are the bad uncles! … “Warned that they would take the sled away from them.

In 1981 Matthias "Gonzo" Röhr joined the band. He had previously played guitar in the Frankfurt punk group, Antibody, and thus brought experience to the musically inexperienced band. Initially Schorowsky played the drums, Weidner the guitar, Röhr the bass and Russell took over the vocals. Shortly before the first recording of the sampler soundtrack for Downfall Vol. II , Röhr and Weidner swapped instruments.

The band was initially active in Frankfurt am Main . The first concerts took place in the course of 1981 in the youth club Juz Bockenheim, in the Batschkapp and in the Turkish family center on Wiesenhüttenplatz near the main train station together with other young punk bands. During the last-mentioned concert on November 14, 1981, the xenophobic song Turks out was played. For guitarist Matthias “Gonzo” Röhr, the JUZ Bockenheim, which no longer exists, was a “ bastion of folly ” in his youth . When the Böhsen Onkelz performed in the Turkish family center and even played the song Türken raus there, the majority of the Turkish visitors present reacted to this humorous song, as Onkelz guitarist Röhr, who was still plucking the electric bass in the band at that time, in of his autobiography published by Hannibal-Verlag in 2019. In the music club Batschkapp, however, the band was banned from the house and stage, for which guitarist Gonzo retaliated by storming the Batschkapp with a dozen skinhead comrades and devastating the interior.

1981 to 1986: The years in the skinhead scene and indexing

After the first demo recording in 1981, which contained the piece Türken raus , the band recorded their first single Kill the Hippies - Oi that same year and contributed two songs to the politically more left-wing punk sampler Soundtracks zum Untergang 2 , which was released in 1982 . When the originally largely apolitical punk scene moved further and further to the left and, on the other hand, the media tried to commercialize the originally unadjusted, rebellious punk into a pure fashion trend, the Onkelz lost interest in this subculture and oriented themselves more and more to the Oi ! -Move. There they saw the opportunity to continue to make non-conformist, rebellious music without being politically co-opted.

In 1983 the second demo cassette appeared in an edition of around 100 copies. This contained the second song with xenophobic content, Deutschland den Deutschen . It quickly spread to the skinhead scene by copying . In the summer of the same year, the band's first concert in front of a skinhead audience took place in the so-called KdF-Bunker, an old factory building that the band Kraft through Froide used as a rehearsal room in Berlin. At this performance in front of around 50 spectators, the song Turks out was played live for the last time and the song Germany for the Germans for the only time.

At the beginning of May 1984 the first studio album The Nice Man was released on the Rock-O-Rama label , whose focus at that time was still on punk and new wave music. This album also contained the songs Stolz and Germany , which brought the Onkelz an increased cult status in the skinhead scene. On August 15, 1986, The Nice Man was indexed by the Federal Inspectorate for Writings Harmful to Young People (BPjS) . This happened on the one hand because of two texts that, according to the BPjS, "took over the contents of National Socialism without reflection" ( Böhse Onkelz ) or "tended to be National Socialist" ( France '84) , on the other hand because of a " pornographic " song ( girls ) and three titles glorifying violence ( Dr Martens Beat , Football and Violence , The Nice Man ). A short time later, the Brühl District Court confiscated the album nationwide for glorifying violence ( Section 131 (1) StGB ), which meant a total ban on distribution. The nice man had sold moderately by then, the initial print run was 1,000 copies, but now spread quickly through black copies in the Oi! Scene. It was only after the ban that the general public became aware of the album.

In the fall of 1984, the Onkelz took part in a live appearance in the Berlin Loft in the television film Zagarbata by Tabea Blumenschein , which deals with the early skinhead and punk movement in Germany in the early 1980s and on May 19, 1985 has been published.

At the end of 1984 Weidner, Röhr and Schorowsky slowly began to distance themselves from the skinhead scene because they felt that their freedom was too restricted, for example by certain dress codes . In 1986, Weidner also pointed out in retrospect that there had been “incidents” “with which we cannot identify” and that the band had no longer felt like “being pushed into a corner from which we could no longer get out ". Russell, on the other hand, still identified strongly with the skinhead culture until the end of 1985.

At the same time, the decision was made to separate from the Rock-O-Rama label, as this was increasingly noticed by neo-Nazi publications, beginning in 1984 with releases by bands such as Skrewdriver , Skullhead or Brutal Attack , and the Onkelz also had financial differences the label boss Herbert Egoldt had. Nevertheless, the band had to fulfill their recording contract for a total of three albums and so released Böse Menschen - Böse Lieder and Mexico in 1985 before they could part with Rock-O-Rama. Mexico only contains six songs because as little music material as possible should be made available to the label.

A key experience for the band was the last concert in front of a pure skinhead audience on November 9, 1985 in the KdF bunker in Berlin. The Onkelz played at short notice for another band that had failed. The Hitler salutes and neo-Nazi slogans shown by the audience there were, from the Onkelz's point of view, another reason to say goodbye to the skinhead scene.

1986 to 1992: First public awareness

Apart from the indexing of the album The Nice Man in 1986, after leaving the skinhead scene, things initially became quiet around the band. After appearing at a benefit concert near Frankfurt for the SOS Children's Village organized by moderator Manfred Sexauer in the same year, the band did not perform live until 1989. In 1987 the band released a new album with Onkelz wie wir ... on the Metal Enterprises label , which the band signed after breaking up with Rock-O-Rama. The sound carrier, which had sold around 15,000 times by the end of the year, was published for the first time in a nationwide music magazine, Metal Hammer .

In 1988 the fourth album Kneipenterroristen was released. Some of the recordings still dealt with alcohol and violence, but became more complex lyrically and musically. There were also new topics such as idol worship in False Prophets or psychological disorders such as paranoia in Dance of the Devil or nightmares in Freddy Krüger . Despite the musical development and the slowly increasing recognition within the metal scene , the band got massive problems internally due to severe strokes of fate, for example the death of close friends and the alcohol and heroin addiction of the singer Kevin Russell.

The interest in the Onkelz grew with the increasing sales of the follow-up albums The time has come , We haven't got enough and Holy Songs clearly. The latter reached number 5 on the German album charts and brought the band their first gold record in 1995 . In the course of this success, the past of the Onkelz and the demand for a name change were repeatedly discussed.

When there were various racist attacks in Germany in the early 1990s , for example the riots in Rostock-Lichtenhagen or the murder attack in Mölln , the Onkelz were often mentioned in connection with right-wing extremist violence. The group was confronted with massive criticism, which among other things led to several radio and later television stations such as MTV and VIVA refusing to play Onkelz songs. Large stores such as Media Markt , WOM or Saturn did not sell the Onkelz recordings. In addition, various city administrations and well-known concert promoters such as Rock-am-Ring organizer Marek Lieberberg , the then director of the Alte Oper in Frankfurt am Main David Lieberberg and Axel Schulz refused to let the band perform. Music journalist Mike Hennessey , who reported in 1992 in the American journal Billboard about the success of the album Heilige Lieder against the background of a growing neo-Nazi scene in Germany, judged the band's success story as "extremely racist ".

In contrast, the record label Metal Enterprises , with which the Onkelz were under contract until they left it in 1990 due to the ever increasing neo-Nazi tendencies, tried to appeal to neo-Nazi audiences, especially with the band's past, and thus make a profit. In the course of the collaboration, the Böhsen Onkelz became increasingly dissatisfied with the business conduct of Ingo Nowotny, the operator of Metal Enterprises. In addition, as guitarist Matthias "Gonzo" Röhr describes in his autobiography published in November 2019 by Hannibal-Verlag, Nowotny regularly tried to sow discord within the band in a perfidious way and asked the remaining three band members to remove bassist Stephan Weidner to dismiss the band. With the album It's so far , the Böhsen Onkelz fulfilled the contractual agreement to have to release three long-playing records on Metal Enterprises, after which the band left the label in strife and shortly afterwards switched to the record company Bellaphon Records . In 1994 the band successfully stopped a “best-of” release from Metal Enterprises with the title Kings for one day because the cover “gave a nationalistic impression” from the point of view of the band and numerous other viewers .

In the late autumn of 1992 a large press conference took place in the Römer , the city hall of Frankfurt am Main . With this PK, the Böhsen Onkelz once again attempted to publicly substantiate their renunciation of right-wing extremism and to launch a future collaboration with the middle-class event industry. The press conference was attended by representatives of concert and stage culture such as the operator of the Frankfurt music club Batschkapp Ralf Scheffler, the two concert promoters Fritz Rau and Ossy Hoppe , Alte Oper director David Lieberberg and the lawyer and publicist Michel Friedman . But only the cabaret artist Matthias Beltz and the Green politician Daniel Cohn-Bendit spoke out in favor of rehabilitating the four-piece rock band socially. At that time Daniel Cohn-Bendit was head of the department for multicultural affairs in the Hesse metropolis of Frankfurt. In the evening, the news magazine heute-journal of the television broadcaster ZDF reported on the press conference. It was particularly regrettable for Onkelz guitarist Matthias Röhr, as he wrote in his autobiography Gonzo , published in 2019 , that the concert promoter Fritz Rau, whom he valued, was not convinced of a business collaboration with the Böhse Onkelz. In the 1960s, the organizer Fritz Rau was one of the first organizers of blues concerts in Germany as part of the American Folk Blues Festival , a musical genre that guitarist Matthias Röhr has been ardently revering since his youth. During the press conference, left-wing activists stormed the room in the Römer with anti-Onkelz banners they had painted themselves.

1992 to 1997: Between criticism and success

Despite massive public criticism, the Onkelz continued to be successful and made it to number 10 and 12 in the German album charts in 1993 with their two released albums, Weiß and Schwarz . With the song Deutschland im Herbst , the album Weiß also featured a title with which the band positioned itself against the right-wing extremist scene and its racist attacks. In December 1993, Stephan Weidner commented on this in an interview entitled For the deaf and the blind ... in the magazine Rock Hard :

“The incidents last year, Rostock, Mölln, and so on, did not leave us without a trace. 'Germany in autumn' is our reaction to these riots, and the choice of words clearly shows what we think of it: 'Brown shit', these are chaos for me, no more and no less. "

- Stephan Weidner : Rock Hard , December 1993.

On December 31, 1993, the contract between the band and the record company Bellaphon , which had been closed on January 1, 1991 and included three studio albums and a live album, ended. Although the Böhsen Onkelz were able to professionalize themselves further in the music industry with the help of Bellaphon and its owner Branko Zivanovic, towards the end of the contract, as guitarist Matthias Röhr writes in his autobiography, the impression remained that they had been financially " ripped off " . In 1994 the Böhse Onkelz Supporter Club (BOSC) was founded as the band's official fan club. This was limited to 2000 members until 2002. With the help of Michael Schmelich, the former member of the state parliament of the Greens, and Daniel Cohn-Bendit , the head of the department for multicultural affairs in Frankfurt , the Onkelz went on an extensive tour of Germany and Austria for the first time in 1994. During this time, Russell was also able to successfully combat his addiction to heroin and alcohol, which by then had reached life-threatening proportions. In March 1995 the Onkelz switched to the record label Virgin Records and were thus under contract for the first time with a major label . The contract negotiations took place in camera and under the code name Rainbow Project. There they released the album Hier sind die Onkelz that same year , which reached number 5 in the German album charts.

In 1996 the album EINS followed , on which Enie Tfahcstob rüf Ediona-RAP was a title that sharply criticized the accusation of hidden backward messages in the band's songs , which had previously been raised by various journalists , and presented it as absurd. In addition, the band responded with the title You should not praise the day before the evening to statements by the two bands Die Ärzte and Die Toten Hosen , who had repeatedly expressed themselves critical of the Böhse Onkelz, and others. a. in the song Cry for Love by Die Ärzte.

In September 1997, the official band biography Böhse Onkelz - Thank you for nothing , written by the author Edmund Hartsch , was published, which, according to information on the band's website, has already sold over 100,000 times (November 2015).

1997 to 2004: No. 1 in the charts

Tour 2004, second concert in Dortmund

In the late 1990s, Media Markt and World of Music put the group's records back on sale. This and the growing fan base of the Onkelz ensured that the band reached number 1 in the German album charts for the first time with the album Viva los Tioz . Due to its great success, there was a nomination for the first time in 1999 for the Echo in the Rock / Pop category : National group of the year , which was not won. Because of the increasing prominence of the four band members, some fans began to camp for days in front of the musicians' homes or to enter their private property and peek through the windows of their homes. To protect personal privacy , the four Onkelz emigrated to Ireland in January 1999 to the capital Dublin .

In the fall of 1999, WDR television broadcast a 12-part documentary series called Pop 2000 about the history of rock and pop culture. In the last edition of the series entitled "Made in Germany", the musicians Wolfgang Niedecken , Campino and Herbert Grönemeyer present their opinion of the Böhsen Onkelz: Niedecken once again advocated giving the Frankfurt rock band a second chance and After years of rejecting the band, Campino drew an increasingly nuanced picture of the Onkelz. Grönemeyer, on the other hand, accused the Onkelz of “ misleading labels ” in relation to the Böhsen Onkelz's refusal to acquire a new band name in order to signal a clear demarcation of the rock group from its extremist past through the changed band name. Techno DJ Sven Väth , an old friend of Onkelz, also has his say in this episode of Pop 2000 . The Böhse Onkelz address the change in the band name, which is demanded by many social circles, in their song Thank you for nothing , which appeared on the 1995 album Here are the Onkelz .

After the contract with the record label Virgin had expired after three studio albums in 1998, the band founded their own label Rule 23 Recordings (2004 briefly Rule 23 Recordings). Virgin continued to take over distribution. Inspired by the myths and legends about ghosts and goblins of their new second home and the foggy autumn and winter weather in Ireland at the end of 1999 and beginning of 2000, the songs on the next album, which the Onkelz recorded in the Totally Wired Studios in Dublin, developed accordingly morbid, profound and apocalyptic. The album A wicked fairy tale ... from a thousand dark nights , which was created in this artistic atmosphere, was released in March 2000 and also reached number 1 in the German album charts and was sold over 300,000 times within the first 48 hours of sales. From a musical point of view, guitarist Matthias Röhr compares the disc Ein böses Märchen ... in its gloom with the Onkelz album Es ist ein , published ten years earlier , which also deals with shady topics such as death. For the single release Dunkler Ort , a music clip was produced for the first time, for the visual implementation of which the gloomy museum and bar of the Swiss surrealist and Oscar winner HR Giger in Gruyères was used as a location for the shooting. For the artistic design of the video clip, the Onkelz engaged the scriptwriter and director Axel Glittenberg, in collaboration with Edmund "Eddy" Hartsch, the band's press and public relations officer. The cost of the video clip amounted to 250,000 Deutschmarks, for which the record company Virgin Records paid an advance. When the Onkelz gave a concert in Dortmund's Westfalenhalle on May 17, 2000 as part of the accompanying tour , the security company IH Security was joined by about 100 members by Onkelz tour manager Thomas Hess, who ensured orderly entry and exit at the hall of the motorcycle club Hells Angels to prevent possible politically extremist groups like the NPD from entering the Westfalenhalle. After the concert, a police task force appeared in front of the hall and temporarily took all members of the Hells Angels into custody , some of them lying on the ground and their hands tied with cable ties . With this preventive measure, the police wanted to prevent the two rival motorcycle clubs Hells Angels and Bandidos from clashing in the district. The former tour manager of the Onkelz Thomas Hess, who had worked for the band since 1992 and died on April 5, 2018, had previously been president of the Bones MC motorcycle club in Frankfurt am Main.

With the album Dopamin , which was released in 2002, the Onkelz reached number 1 for the third time in a row. In 2001 and 2003, the Böhsen Onkelz were again nominated nationally for the Echo in the Rock / Pop: Group of the Year category.

During this time, the band repeatedly expressed their rejection of political extremism of any kind, took part in several rock-against-right and rock-against-violence concerts and got involved in social projects, but did not try to with their lyrics to significantly influence the political opinion of their fans. Even so, her past continued to be debated. A special broadcast called MTV Masters on the pop TV broadcaster MTV about the band was falsified according to their opinion, whereupon Onkelz released the single No Amnesty for MTV in 2002 , which reached 2nd place in the charts in Germany. In the documentary MTV Masters , Die Ärzte , director Benjamin Reding , who made the skinhead feature film Oi! Warning published, and the NPD press spokesman Jörg Hähnel about the Onkelz. The controversy reached a further climax on August 8, 2003, when the Böhsen Onkelz appeared as the opening act for the Rolling Stones at a concert at the Expo site in Hanover : The American tabloid New York Post headlined the German Nazi Punk Band to open for the Rolling Stones in their edition of June 2, 2003. In the run-up to the German kick-off of the Rolling Stones tour, which was called the Licks Tour, singer Mick Jagger replied at a press conference in Munich : “ The Onkelz are a good band. "And guitarist Keith Richards smugly commented:" I hope they are as bad as their reputation. “In July of the same year, the band went on tour in Germany under the Spanish pseudonym Los Tioz through small music clubs, for example the Onkelz performed at the Hirsch Rock Club in Nuremberg . In addition, the Onkelz played two-day open - air concerts in Ferropolis and on the Loreley open-air stage .

2004 to 2005: Provisional end

120,000 visitors at the concert

Stage with the inscription "Thank you for everything!"

On May 23, 2004 the Onkelz announced their withdrawal from the active music business.

“But - let's be honest with ourselves - that is the logical consequence of everything. From the past 24 years, from the cellar in Hösbach and the sold out festival hall in Frankfurt. The Onkelz never had the ambition to arrive at the Rockolymp as rock hermits with gray hair, but when they were with full vigor and not already sitting on the descending branch. "

After the release of the last studio album Adios and its jump to the top of the German charts, an appearance on August 5th at Wacken Open Air and the sold out tour La Ultima , a farewell open-air festival took place on June 17th and 18th, 2005 under the Name Vaya con Tioz ('Go with the Onkelz') at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz . The Brandenburg Police estimated that over 120,000 campers and 20,000 day visitors came.

During the final tour in 2004 there was a break between guitarist Matthias “Gonzo” Röhr and bassist Stephan Weidner. The stumbling block was issue no. 14 of the BOSC fanzine produced by the band's own fan club , in which Edmund Hartsch, the Böhsen Onkelz press officer, under the heading Help, the Onkelz stop . Or: What should become of my life now? published a four-page essay in which Hartsch presented the bassist Stephan Weidner as the sole leading spirit within the band, to which the remaining three band members would submit. Furthermore, the author Edmund Hartsch described the drummer Pe Schorowsky as " reliable, but a bit lazy ", and Schorowsky was " not much to see " within the band structure . After the first concert of the La Ultima tour on August 28, 2004 in the Ostbayernhalle in Rieden-Kreuth , guitarist Gonzo got to read in the cloakroom the article in the BOSC fanzine, which was hot off the press, which was offensive to him Weidner was on fire. Until the next appearance the next day in the Karlsruhe Europahalle , helpers had to tear the relevant pages with the Hartsch essay out of the BOSC fanzine before the magazine could be sold on the merchandising stands of the farewell tour. After that, the friendship between Gonzo and Weidner was on hold for nine years - until the reconciliation on the occasion of the Onkelz comeback in 2014.

On the occasion of the two-day farewell festival Vaya Con Tioz at the Lausitzring on June 17 and 18, 2005, a special design beer called BOB (Böhse-Onkelz-Bier) was produced in an edition of 250,000 cans.

In addition to the Onkelz as headliners , Wonderfools, Discipline , Sub7even , DAD , Motörhead , Machine Head played as opening acts at the Lausitzring on the first day of the concert and on the second day of the concert Psychopunch , JBO , Pro-Pain , In Extremo , Rose Tattoo and Children of Bodom . In addition, bands like Misfits and Turbonegro had initially confirmed their attendance. However, due to public pressure, they dropped out. Marky Ramone also canceled a few days before the concert, as he was threatened with boycott in the United States. Since the Onkelz also played the indexed piece The nice man from the debut album of the same name on the two days, in addition to many other titles from the past 25 years , this led to an advertisement. In the run-up to the festival it was decided that a large part of the profit would flow into BO Management AG, represented by managing director Matthias Martinsohn, and that the profit would not be shared by the four band members of the Böhsen Onkelz as usual. However, guitarist Matthias "Gonzo" Röhr did not agree with this regulation, so Röhr threatened not to appear at the festival at the Lausitzring if the divided profit was not paid out to the band members as on previous tours. For this reason, a studio guitarist was hired in the background as a precaution, who in an emergency could have stepped in for Gonzo at the two-day open air, if he had not come.

On the campground of the farewell festival Vaya Con Tioz , the German rock band Frei.Wild , which at that time was still poorly known, gave a small concert that was not part of the official framework program of the Onkelz Festival, but was specially and independently organized. Seven years later, in 2012, Onkelz guitarist Matthias “Gonzo” Röhr entered into a creative partnership with Frei.Wild singer Philipp Burger .

2005 to 2014: Intermezzo

On February 16, 2007, the last concert was released on four DVDs under the name Vaya con Tioz . In mid-November of the same year, the new album Onkelz wie wir… followed . For Vaya con Tioz , the band received their first and only echo in the category music DVD production (national) in 2008 after a few unsuccessful nominations .

Stephan Weidner and Matthias Röhr have released several solo and live albums since the end of the Onkelz .

Even after the band broke up, numerous events around the topic of Böhse Onkelz take place across Germany every year. For example, since the summer of 2006 there has been a regular music festival entitled Biggest Onkelz Night in Germany (GOND), for which around 20,000 tickets were sold in 2012.

In November 2007, the band was ranked 25 in the television program of all time music stars - Our best from the TV series Our Best of ZDF . In 2014 Der Tagesspiegel reported that the program had been manipulated and that the Böhsen Onkelz had received the most votes in the audience vote. According to the ZDF spokesman Alexander Stock , with the knowledge of the then program director Thomas Bellut, a “recalculation” of the voting results was carried out could be.

After an initial statement in October 2010 on the band's website, Stephan Weidner turned to fans in December via an article in his blog and interviews in the magazines Rock Hard and Metal Hammer . He let it be known that in truth the drug addiction of the singer Kevin Russell was the trigger for the breakup of the band. The resolution should prevent the band's reputation from being seriously damaged.

From June 27 to July 2, 2011, a play directed by Tamer Yiğit and Branka Prlic about the history of the Onkelz band was staged in the Berlin HAU Theater , which was funded by the Capital Cultural Fund.

Singer Kevin Russell regularly suggested a reunion of the Böhsen Onkelz between 2010 and 2012, with which Russell often approached guitarist Matthias Röhr in conversations, despite Kevin Russell's drug addiction flaring up again and the associated health problems. On August 31, 2012, Peter Schorowsky's first solo album, entitled Dreck und Seelenbrokat, hit stores. In an interview with the Leipziger Volkszeitung , Schorowsky stated that he would not rule out an Onkelz reunification: “It's not that far-fetched that Kevin (Russell) sings for the Onkelz again. It could be that all four of us will do something together next year. In theory it is possible - we are working on the practical implementation. I found the break-up thing at the Lausitzring to be very selfish. "

The final decision to revive the rock band Böhse Onkelz was made on October 3rd, 2013 during a meeting between guitarist Matthias Röhr, drummer Peter Schorowsky, bassist Stephan Weidner and singer Kevin Russell in the offices of the lawyer Claude Leyer in Frankfurt am Main. In the previous weeks, drummer Schorowsky and guitarist Röhr had been in email contact with each other since September and agreed to this meeting in order to pave the bureaucratic path for a possible comeback. In the law firm of lawyer Claude Leyer, guitarist Matthias Röhr and bassist Stephan Weidner met for the first time in over eight years, and Röhr and Weidner were able to reconcile and settle the disputes of the past. On November 26, 2013, Peter Schorowsky and Matthias Röhr founded the company EINS GmbH together in Günzburg . Their object is, among other things, the planning, supervision and implementation of music events of all kinds as well as the supervision of music groups, especially for concert organizers. EINS GmbH is also the operator of the website onkelz.de. As a condition for a reunification, guitarist Matthias "Gonzo" Röhr had assumed not to reactivate the former BO Management AG, but to re- structure and streamline the Böhse Onkelz company in a manageable and minimalist way, whereby External service providers are to take over a number of tasks on a project-specific basis in the future.

“BO City” stage at the comeback concert on June 20, 2014 at the Hockenheimring

2014 to 2019: comeback concerts and memento

At two comeback concerts on June 20 and 21, 2014 at the Hockenheimring in front of around 100,000 spectators each, the Onkelz played, according to Spiegel-Online reporter Arno Frank, "solid old man rock" and "a number of surprisingly tranquil ballads". Nine years after the official dissolution, the "common outsider [...] is the only message of the band," said Frank. Metal hammer editor Marco Götz, on the other hand, saw “the Onkelz in impressive shape”: Gonzo shook one unerring solo after the other out of his sleeve with a cowboy hat, while Pe behind the shooting gallery after all these years is still the unshakable rock the surf mimes. Kevin Russell's voice from the gutter still harmonizes perfectly with Stephan Weidner, whose bass often makes the Hockenheimring vibrate. ”At the opening of the concerts, the actor Ben Becker stepped on stage for a short introduction on both evenings . During the two open-air concerts, the four-piece rock band received musical support from the Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt under the direction of the conductor Patrik Bishay, who sat next to the band on stage and accompanied some Onkelz songs with strings, such as the opening piece 28 and the Ballad Heaven can wait . Inspired by this artistic encounter, the Böhsen Onkelz later recorded a purely orchestral album in 2015 with Onkelz songs in a classical guise, with guitarist Matthias Röhr playing a leading role in this album project in collaboration with conductor Patrik Bishay. In 2014 the band won the Metal Hammer Award in the Best German Band category .

In 2015, the band played four more concerts on two consecutive weekends at the Hockenheimring in front of a total of more than 350,000 spectators and was awarded a prize by the concert promoter Wizard Promotions for "the most successful successive individual events in German concert history".

On September 4, 2015, the single We remain, the first new song since the Onkelz comeback, was released. The song was written during rehearsals for the four concerts at the Hockenheimring. At the same time, a new studio album was announced for autumn 2016. In June 2016 the band released the DVD Böhse für's Leben , which immediately reached number 1 in the German album charts. On October 28, 2016, the comeback album Memento was finally released , which also topped the charts.

The live album Live in Dortmund II and the video album Memento - Gegen die Zeit + Live in Berlin followed in 2017, both of which were recorded on the Memento tour.

At the end of 2017, the band announced on Facebook that they were working on a revival of the 1988 album Kneipenterroristen . This was published on October 10, 2018 and reached number 3 in the German charts.

2020: 17th studio album

At the end of September 2019, the band announced their self-titled 17th studio album Böhse Onkelz on their website , which was released on February 28, 2020. With the album, the group reached the top of the German album charts for the eleventh time, making them the hard rock band with the most number one albums in Germany .

style

music

In their early stages, the Onkelz were joined by punk bands such as The Clash , The Stranglers , Public Image Ltd. , The Jam , The Damned or Sham 69 . With the advent of the Oi! Movement in Great Britain and its spread to Germany, groups like Cockney Rejects , Cock Sparrer or Angelic Upstarts became their musical role models. Furthermore, Matthias Röhr and Stephan Weidner were fans of the American blues rock musician Stevie Ray Vaughan , to whom they dedicated the instrumental piece Tribute to Stevie on the 1993 album Weiß after his death .

The band's musical style has changed over and over again throughout their career. From the time the band was founded until around 1985, she played Oi! Punk, with ska influences from 1983 and hard rock influences from 1985 . The guitarist's numerous and relatively complex solos were atypical of the genre. From the album Onkelz wie wir… their music changed significantly in the direction of heavy metal , whereby later albums, beginning with Heilige Lieder , can almost exclusively be assigned to hard rock, with influences from various musical genres. For example, the band combined their hard rock rhythms on the album Viva los Tioz with electronic sounds, using computer and synthesizer effects, which was continued on the following albums.

The instrumental piece Lt. Stoned is in the psychedelic rock style and was co-composed by drummer Peter Schorowsky. The Hammond organ is played by Fred Bauer from the band New Deal . Another example of this genre is the song 1000 Questions , whose metaphysical text, which questions the course of things, is reinforced by organ playing and an organ solo.

The piece once from the album Adios , which was created after Stephan Weidner's trip to India and deals with the Indian idea of ​​the transition between life and death, is instrumentally supported by a sitar .

In the songs Memories , Yesterday was still tomorrow , Koma - A night that never ends and Too close to the truth , a piano is used, the parts of which were not recorded by the band themselves.

At the Lieder-wie-Orkane-3 concerts in 1999, the Onkelz played a medley for the first time , consisting of parts from Wilde Jungs , Today we drink properly , This is how we are and never again .

The band only covered the four pieces Coz I luv you by Slade , Je t'aime… moi non plus by Serge Gainsbourg , My Generation by The Who and A good friend from the film Die Drei von der Gasstelle from 1930.

Typical for the singing was the rough and aggressive voice of the singer Kevin Russell, which according to the music magazine Rock Hard already sounded "significantly more melodious and warmer than in the past" on the album Heilige Lieder . On later albums he was increasingly accompanied in vocals by Stephan Weidner. In addition, the band's closest friend, Andreas Trimborn, can be heard in the chorus of the song 10 Years from the album Es ist Far enough.

The album Heilige Lieder begins with an intro, which is musically based on an oratorio sung by the two former singers of the Christian band Habakuk, Angi Dietze and Christine Neumann, and which does not recite the refrain of the song Wir ham 'enough .

In instrumental Baja are whale songs to listen to. The inspiration for this came when Weidner spent two months on a Greenpeace ship off the Baja California to watch the whales there, as well as through the song Remember Exxon Valdez from Dance 2 Trance , in which he recorded the guitar parts.

Texts

With the exception of the piece SS-Staat written by Kevin Russell in 1981 , all of the band's lyrics are by Stephan Weidner. The authors who have significantly influenced the lyrics of the band, beginning with the album Heilige Lieder , include Carlos Castaneda , Hermann Hesse , Tom Robbins and Henry Miller .

On most albums, the first song is a greeting from the fans. Often these pieces flirt with the reputation of the Böhse Onkelz . A sense of community is evoked from the rejection that the band and fans experience from the public. Religious references can be found in some of these titles such as Holy Songs , Here Are the Onkelz and Thank the Lord .

After distancing themselves from the right-wing extremist scene, the group often attacked critics in their songs who continued to view them as a neo-Nazi band. Therefore, many pieces are directed against the media, which, according to the band, abused their opinion-forming position. Examples include titles like Drive to Hell , Thank You For Nothing, and No Amnesty for MTV .

From the album Wir ham 'onwards , some of the songs deal with the question of the meaning of life ; a passage in Find the Truth reads : "For the ways are long, and even death is not their end, wake up at last", or The riddle of life : "The riddle of life, the miracle of existence, begin it to solve and you will understand me ”.

Those questions also arose through the processing of the death of a very good friend of the band, Andreas "Trimmi" Trimborn. On June 16, 1990, he was fatally injured in the chest area by a young man with a knife. The alleged perpetrator, who described a self-defense situation in the subsequent process, was acquitted. The band processed this event in several pieces: Only the best die young , Heaven can wait and The place next to me - Part I + II . With No matter as well as The knife and the wound, there are also two songs that are directed at the perpetrator. According to TAZ, according to ethnological field research , the line Only the best die young , used by the band, can be read most often in death notices of young people from the new federal states.

The band also denounced social and political grievances in their songs. The titles ugly, brutal and violent , Deutschland im Herbst , Hass-tler and Ohne mich take a stand against political extremism, especially on the part of right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis.

In the pieces Shit doesn't matter , Brave New World , Power for whoever doesn't want it , Words of Freedom and Igniting this Fire , the group addresses the interventions by state censorship, the changed, chaotic conditions for people after the fall of the Soviet Union and its partner states , the war sufferings of the Yugoslav civilian population, a lack of understanding of democracy, the situation of the East German population and the damage caused by corrupt politicians.

Child abuse and child prostitution are other issues that have been taken up again and again. So it says in the song How can that be : “Customers from the affluent countries strolling through Bangkok and Manila , through pedophile territory, like shit that pulls with poverty. […] How mercilessly can we go over to the order of the day? ”In the plays Much Too Young and The Nice Man , the subject of child abuse is treated with very harsh and explicit language, but it is clearly declared despicable.

In addition, the band often criticized society. In the song Superstar , programs like Deutschland sucht den Superstar are described as the product of a music industry that is too commercially oriented and that would produce “pop machines” and “test tube bands” without talent: “I want girls, boobs and millions, the Bohlen should get me . “In Overstimulated , the group criticized a sluggish, lazy society, whose bellies were full and which would destroy themselves. In Regen it then says: “It is raining, the fight for survival. [...] It's raining anger, there is no ark here, we are drowning in blood. "

In the song Dunkler Ort the environment of a person is described, which he creates himself through the negativity of his thoughts. In Church , Call Me God and Religion , the band expresses their aversion to the Roman Catholic Church and its dogmas and morals. Faces of Death describes the supposed greed of the media for quotas and the basis of those quotas, namely the human suffering that is most profitably marketed. Exitus characterizes conservative , thoughtless people who are unable to create change or develop their own opinion and ideals: "Far too cowardly to undermine morality, without belief, without ideals."

Another important theme in the band's music is self-discovery and self-love . In the song If You Really Want , which was contributed to the soundtrack of the film Kombat Sixteen , it says: “Be yourself, stand by yourself, the truth is lived and not taught. You are what you were and you will be what you do, begin to love yourself and you will find what you are looking for. ”Pieces like The Miracle of Personality , Mutier mit mich , I do what I want and I am how I am relate heavily on individualism .

From the mid-1990s onwards, the band referred to their fans as "nephews and nieces" in order to strengthen the feeling of togetherness. This is sung about in the song Thank You from the album An evil fairy tale ... from a thousand dark nights .

reception

Alleged proximity to right-wing extremism

First demo recordings

Despite numerous dissociations, the Onkelz were often accused of neo-Nazi tendencies. The song Turks out from 1981 is mentioned in particular . In this piece, which the band recorded in their punk phase, there are lines such as: "Türkenpack, out of our country, go back to Ankara , because you make me sick." According to the Onkelz, the song is a reaction to a A group of hostile Turkish youths emerged, with whom they were often involved in fights .

Critics such as the author Stephan Richter, on the other hand, point out that the song does not speak of a specific group, but demands that "all Turks [...] have to get out". According to the band, this generalization can be traced back to their primitive way of thinking at the time. Richter writes about the song that although it does not reflect “a well-thought-out political conviction”, it expresses “in the most primitive way the hatred of Turkish immigrants ”.

In addition, the song Deutschland den Deutschen von 1983 - a rewritten version of Oi, Oi, Oi - is cited. The line “Punks and skins in solidarity against you and your state authority” of the original text became “ Skinheads in solidarity against you and your Kanaken world ” in the Onkelz version , and the line “We deserved a better life, but until now always have die cops victorious "was rewritten to" ... always the Kanaks victorious ". Like Turks out , this piece is said to have been a reaction to the experiences on the street and the inability to defend oneself against acts of violence by youth groups. In contrast to the Turks out , it was the first time that it presented a “'political' justification”:

“The existing society is reduced to a 'friend-foe' dualism . On the one hand there is the anonymous masses who are idly watching Germany's impending decline and are incapable of solving existential problems. The only possibility to escape this doom scenario is seen in a 'Germany of the Germans'. It becomes the task of a militant minority, even against the will of the failing general public, to rebel against these shortcomings in the Federal Republic. [...] The perceived threat remains anonymous and appears omnipresent. The fear of being sidelined by overpowering foreign cultures is typical of the scene. The outsiders of society, the skinheads, are called to unite and take their fate into their own hands. "

The band points out that the songs Türken raus and Deutschland den Germans can not be found on any official publication. The pieces were distributed by duplicating and passing on the demo cassettes. Stephan Weidner said in an interview published in 2001: "But we didn't want to publish that back then and we would do the devil, to do something again today is quite clear." Turks out and Germany the Germans have not yet been the subject of their own ban proceedings . The indexing and confiscation of the phonograms on which the two pieces were represented have so far been carried out because of the objectionable titles from the band's debut album.

The play SS-Staat , which appeared on Kill the Hippies - Oi in 1981 , and which included the line of text "Oh, you Jew, old pig - who should be in the gas chamber ?", Is often interpreted as a glorification of National Socialism.

Indexing of the debut album

Six of the 14 songs on the debut album The Nice Man , which was released in May 1984, prompted the Federal Inspectorate for Writings Harmful to Young People to put this and the album as a whole on the index in 1986 : The pieces The Nice Man , Dr. Martens Beat as well as Football & Violence were classified as glorifying violence , girls as sexist , France '84 and Böhse Onkelz as glorifying National Socialist ideas. In the texts available to the BPjS Commission, some lines or words differed from the original texts.

In the justification of the federal inspection agency it is said that the song The nice man is: "suitable to arouse raw instincts", and preach "murder of small children". The band, on the other hand, described it as their intention to directly draw attention to how cruel necro - and pedophile violent criminals are, and that even the most inconspicuous person could be such a criminal. Kevin Russell said it was necessary to play the role of the sex offender who molested children in order to be able to clearly convey the mind of such a person and the cruelty of the crime. In the opinion of the band, the distancing from the crimes addressed in the song should be through the lines: “I am the nice man next door and anyone can be. Look at me, look at me I am the perverted pig ”.

Individual lines of the piece Böhse Onkelz , in which the band glorifies themselves according to their own statement , were also criticized . The Federal Inspectorate classified the text "We drink with our left and rule with our right [...] We are Böhse Onkelz and do what we like, Germany belongs to us today, and the whole world tomorrow" as a glorification of National Socialist ideas.

According to the band, the title France '84 should be seen as an expression of anticipation for the 1984 European Football Championship , as members of the band had tickets for a game of the German team in Strasbourg . The indexing commission saw in the lines: "Yes, we'll see each other in any case, in the summer of '84 during the attack on France " of the play, however, an association with the attack on France in 1940 . This line of text originally comes from the October Club and reads there: “Yes, we will definitely meet in Summer '73 for the Xth  Festival .” However, the historical background fell away even before the actual indexing of the song, when the band wrote the lyrics after the EM '84 quickly adapted to Mexico: "in the summer of '86 during the attack on Mexico". The author Stephan Richter criticized the justification of the BPjS and considered it to be overrated because it did not take into account the connection to the skinhead culture:

“The political information content of the title was probably overrated by the examination board, as the relevant background of the violent hooligan subculture in this context was completely ignored in the statements of the BPjS. The song describes less abstract imperialist fantasies of a great power than the direct confrontation in the stadiums with opposing hooligans. The term 'Volksstamm' does not appear in the text of 'BÖHSEN ONKELZ' and is used exclusively by the BPjS. The willingness to use violence emerging in 'France' 84 ', combined with a provocative nationalism typical of the right-wing hooligan scene, is interpreted as a neo-Nazi attitude. "

Often the piece Germany is counted by critics as one of the titles with a tendency towards right-wing extremist content. In their opinion, the song shows an exaggerated patriotism that can be interpreted in different ways. With the line: "Even twelve dark years in your history [sic!] Does not destroy our connection to you!" A reference to the time of National Socialism is established, which according to the band should be understood as a distancing from National Socialism. This song was not objected to by the Federal Testing Office for writings harmful to minors. According to political scientist Christoph Butterwegge , the play turned the slogan “We are proud to be Germans” into an anthem for right-wing extremist skinheads. Other authors like Klaus Farin classify the title as “extremely nationalistic” or like Christian Dornbusch and Jan Raabe as “moderate German-national”. The author Stephan Richter commented on the meaning of the text:

“Despite the rather diffuse nationalism, the text says something decisive about the political self-image of the 'BÖHSEN ONKELZ'. The band is referring to ' black-red-gold ', the national colors of German democracy - on the same record that was indexed for 'National Socialist' tendencies among other things. "

At a concert in Lübeck in 1985 before about 700 Oi! -Skins and some people who were clearly attributable to the neo-Nazi spectrum, the singer Kevin Russell exchanged arbitrarily the song Germany mentioning the colors black, red and gold against black-white-red from . According to the band, which called it “another stupid thing”, they were “beside themselves with anger over this solo effort”. The official biography of the group says: "During the 'Deutschlandlied', Kevin sang on his own instead of '... black-red-gold, we stand by you ...', '... black-white-red, we stand' n to you ... 'and got a serious shit from Stephan, which meant that he was about to hit Kevin in the face. "

The political scientist Henning Flad rated the album The Nice Man as "probably the most influential skinhead album in German right-wing rock history". In 2002 he stated: "To this day, right-wing extremist skin bands follow the range of topics given on this album: song about skinhead cult, alcohol glorification / party, violence, Germany, women and sexualised violence." Klaus Farin rates the album as the most important and most momentous in the history of Germany Skinhead scene.

The opinion of the fans on the songs of the debut album is divided. Fans of the band see this distribution of the audience as a clear sign that it is primarily not the political nimbus that is decisive for most listeners. In the skinhead scene in particular, the first Böhsen Onkelz albums enjoy cult status, regardless of their political orientation. Critics, on the other hand, argue that the band wants to reach a wider audience, but be careful not to alienate neo-Nazi fans. The group has softened its texts just enough not to be openly neo-Nazi and consequently to avoid censorship and the associated impossibility of commercial success.

How the band dealt with the allegations

The band confronts critics

On the record Böse Menschen - Böse Lieder from 1985, the band released the piece Ugly, Brutal and Violent , in which they defended themselves against the predominant representation of the skinhead scene in general and the Böhse Onkelz in particular. The song says: “We all wear swastikas , skinheads only have violence in mind. Is that what you wanted to hear that we are mindless thugs? ”And further:“ The media keeps saying that we are thugs for Nazis. But we have nothing to blame, because it's their talk that stinks. ”The title of the play was used several times by the magazine Der Spiegel as alleged evidence of the band's neo-Nazi sentiments and twice as the headline for reports on right-wing extremist / neo-Nazi parts of the Oi ! Scene used.

In 1987, the editor-in-chief of Metal Hammer , Edgar Klüsener, referred to the band's past in his review of the album Onkelz wie wir, saying that “there are well-known Nazi skins of the toughest kind”, which he “doesn't like a change of consciousness” without further ado ”This was followed by numerous complaints from fans of the band in the form of letters to the editor. When the band became aware of the review, they asked the editors for a clarifying discussion, which was partly printed in the magazine under the title Böhse Onkelz - evil yes - right-wing radical no . At the end of this, Klüsener explicitly withdrew the accusation that the Böhsen Onkelz were a “neo-Nazi band”.

In the comment What is a youthful sin? In the Darmstädter Echo daily newspaper on November 28, 1992, the journalist Bert Hensel believed he had deciphered a song name that read backwards as “ Arier On”, quote:

“New texts are so claused that they undercut the index. The Onkelz already give instructions for use for their most recent discharge. In the booklet to the record: 'If you try to read between the lines, you will learn more about us.' As you know, there is nothing between the lines. In a song title that sounds harmless like a girl's name, it is known. It's called: 'Noreira'. Deciphered from behind, it reads like this: 'Aryans On'. Also in the direction of Darmstadt? "

In fact, the title that appeared on the album Heilige Lieder is not called Noreira , but Noreia , named after the Celtic deity of the same name . However, there was a misprint on early editions, due to the use of the original printing film on the re-release of the record cover on which Noreira is written. In response to the meticulous search for hidden messages, the band released the title Enie Tfahcstob rüf Ediona-RAP on the album EINS in 1996 , which stands for a message for paranoids . A text spoken by Stephan Weidner is then played backwards , which reads as follows:

"Congratulations. Must have been a lot of work playing this song backwards. Either you're one of those paranoid assholes we made this song for, or you're just curious. The former should be said: Anyone who suspects backward spoken satanist or fascist messages on our records must be downright stupid and also suffer from extreme paranoia. Poor pig, we're really sorry for you. Lock yourself in and throw away the key. "

With the song Deutschland im Herbst , written as a reaction to the arson attacks on people of foreign origin in the early 1990s , the band distances itself from right-wing extremist violence against foreigners: “I see everyone against everyone, everyone against everyone. [...] I see brown shit kill. I see you! [...] I hear white noises, racially pure songs. I hear mindless slogans from idiots and losers. I hear the government's lies. The lie of your life. The lie about us. ”In the song Ohne mich from the album Viva los Tioz , the group distanced itself from both right- wing and left-wing extremists .

The band's refusal to change their name also caused repeated discussions. Critics see this as proof that the group is trying to continue to profit from its past through the continuity of the name. David Dear Berg said in a 1992 interview said: ". No, that's a brand name that still sells well and sold above all in the right scene" The German musician Herbert Gronemeyer commented in the last episode of the ARD produced twelve-part music report Pop 2000 as follows on the topic: “Well, Böhse Onkelz stands for me for real anger. So for me the name is an umbrella term for a right movement. Regardless of whether you turn away from it or renounce it. For me it's just a misleading label and then, in my opinion, they should have consequently changed the name. "In the same program, the techno DJ Sven Väth defended the band:" Oh, I think that's a general problem, also for the Germans maybe that on the one hand you ... on the one hand people say you have to be able to change and you have to develop further. Only if someone does it, then you don't believe him. ”The band replied that a name change would be a lie and the change in the group would then no longer be documented. In the song Thank you for nothing she commented on it: “Change your name, you say - change yours!” And: “Nothing would change, not in days, not in years, the truth is in you, and not in your name. "

In May 2001, the Böhse Onkelz failed with a lawsuit against the newspaper Die Tageszeitung (taz) . The group described them in an article as the “notorious right-wing radical band”. In the second instance, the Berlin Regional Court ruled in favor of the taz on the grounds that it was a "permissible value judgment" that was covered by freedom of expression . The taz had justified their point of view as follows: “Although the Böhse Onkelz ostensibly pretend to have nothing to do with their right-wing past, they assure their right-wing radical supporters with a wink at every opportunity that they are essentially unbroken despite the pressure of the public and have stayed the same. "

In July 2001, the German music broadcaster MTV Germany broadcast a consistently critical report on the Böhsen Onkelz as part of the MTV Masters program . The group then wrote an open letter to MTV in which they sharply criticized the station and those responsible and excluded any future cooperation. Stephan Weidner said in an interview:

“At first we were enthusiastic about the idea. [...] Because we believed that perhaps with the help of Onkelz you could reach people who are violent or have one foot in the right-wing camp and thus on the edge of society. If our story had been presented correctly, with all the mistakes we made, and shown how misguided we were, how we developed and where our path has led, it would have been a huge opportunity to possibly induce these people to rethink. It really hurt that this opportunity was not taken. [...] We didn't want to gloss over anything, we gave them an insight into everything [...]. The editor in charge, an Iranian woman, kept telling these people that if she smelled anything right here, she would be the first to report about it. [...] You didn't want to see the band portrayed as positively as in the original article. As a result, this editor was dismissed a few days before the broadcast date and the article was quickly re-edited. "

Basically, the Böhsen Onkelz accused MTV of having completely re-edited the program two days before it was broadcast and broadcasting it differently than the editor Leyla Piedayesh had planned. She then refused to sign because the group was presented in a way that did not correspond to what she found out during her year-long research. According to the band, the report suppressed a lot of information that had been supplied to MTV by the Onkelz and presented the verbal contributions of the band members shown in the report as "implausible and mendacious" through the off-moderation . In addition, MTV with Die Ärzte , Afrob and D-Flame only allowed musicians to have their say who “have never had contact with the band” and others like Sven Väth , Mark Spoon or Moses Pelham , who “know personally” the Onkelz, ignored. As a final reaction to the conflict with MTV, the Onkelz published the song No Amnesty for MTV six months later .

In November 2012, a video documentation originally conceived as an electronic press kit appeared on the musical career of Stephan Weidner, in which Leyla Piedayesh spoke about the Böhsen Onkelz looking back on her work at the MTV Masters . She said:

“As a Persian editor, I think I was actually quite well predestined to do this job. I think I worked on this post for over a year because I also went to several concerts, did an incredible number of interviews and actually had to put everything together myself that I needed. So I've already viewed it critically from all sides. […] I actually found her role model function in getting out of the dirt and somehow moving something and maybe pushing people in a positive direction, I found somehow more important than getting all the crap out now. [...] I should then get some opinion again that is absolutely anti Böhse Onkelz. I reacted by saying that you should do it yourself, because then I no longer stood behind what was, so to speak, demanded. Yes, because I couldn't identify with it anymore, because I thought that it no longer corresponded to my ethics and then I said, you can get me. "

Further negative press experiences, after which the band complained that they had been brought into connection with neo-Nazism with poorly researched articles without having been given a chance to justify them, led to the restriction of cooperation with the press. In some cases, interviews and press tickets for concerts were refused.

Engagement of the band against right-wing extremism

The editor-in-chief of Rock Hard , Götz Kühnemund , wrote in 1992 in the foreword to the first interview with the band and on its justification:

“After all, who could encourage xenophobic, radical right-wing youths, like those unfortunately also found in the rock scene, to rethink rather than the BÖHSEN ONKELZ? Grönemeyer? Maffay ? Doro ? Without wanting to doubt the honest commitment of these musicians: Ultimately, they only reach those who are in the 'right boat' anyway. The ONKELZ, on the other hand, can move a lot more if you give them the opportunity to distance themselves from the image of the past (and unfortunately also the present) and speak out against xenophobia and xenophobia in black and white. "

With concert announcements, the band distanced themselves from political violence on the part of the radical right and left as well as concert-goers who displayed Nazi symbols such as the swastika or the Hitler salute. They were asked by the band to leave the hall during the performance or were expelled from the hall by the security service. This was also implemented at concerts in Switzerland, where the symbols of National Socialism are not forbidden. In a tour diary entry for the band's concert on September 5, 2004 in the St. Jakob Hall in Basel , this was reflected, for example, by the band's press spokesman at the time, Edmund Hartsch: “The occasional Skrewdriver T-shirts in front of the Hall. The Swiss tolerance threshold is known to be so high that everyone is allowed to walk around with swastikas and the like. But not at an Unclez concert. Ass. And so I'm not surprised that the guy is surprised when he is thrown out. Pretending to be neutral, but secretly sniffing out the Nazi coke, that's what we particularly like. "In an interview in 1991, Stephan Weidner commented on the subject as follows:" We shouldn't make politics at our concerts. "

At a rock against right-wing concert on October 17, 1993 in Bremen, the band once again made it clear that they reject right-wing extremist ideas, xenophobia and general hatred. The event was titled Mensch !? , took place in the Bremen town hall and was co-financed by the Onkelz. In addition to the performances of the Onkelz and some other bands, works on the topic of xenophobia were exhibited and the Bremen cultural associations were given the opportunity to introduce themselves. A small group of neo-Nazis, who nevertheless wanted to attend the concert and chanted National Socialist slogans, were expelled from the security service of the concert while the visitors were shouting "Nazis out".

On March 9, 2001, the immigration authorities and WIR! e. V. in cooperation with the Onkelz another festival for the victims of right-wing extremist violence. Together with the Kreator , Destruction , Megaherz and Sub7even groups , who all waived their fees, the Onkelz brought in € 75,000. The money was then used to benefit victims of right-wing extremist acts of violence.

Reception within the music industry

When asked about the "former Nazi cult band Böhse Onkelz" in a Playboy interview in 1996 , Campino , singer of the group Die Toten Hosen , replied :

“It's a bit poor when a former Nazi combo claims overnight: We are no longer political, we stay out of it. The Böhsen Onkelz still stand for a shabby Landserheftchen romance, according to the motto: I'd rather die outdoors in a hail of bullets than sitting in the office. [...] I can only wonder that Virgin brings something like that to the people. Every further word about the Onkelz is a waste of time for me. "

When Campino was approached in 2003 in an interview about Onkelz, who appeared in Hanover as the opening act for the Rolling Stones, he said:

“You should finally treat the Onkelz like any other hard rock band. If you kill someone in Germany, you get life sentences, get out of jail after 20 years and the thing is over. But the guys are turned on for texts they once wrote 20 years ago, although they have been fighting against it for a long time now. I think somehow you should accept that too. […] There [in the Onkelz audience] there will certainly be a lot of people who don't give a shit about politics or who are just in their early twenties. How can you explain to them what was then? And is that still important? I'm more relaxed about this topic now. "

And in an interview with FAZ in 2017, Campino replied to the question of whether he likes the music of the Böhsen Onkelz:

"[..] I also believe that the band has long since distanced themselves from their legal phase in their eccentric, for me not always understandable way."

In the anti-neo-Nazi song Schrei nach Liebe by the group Die Ärzte , published in 1993, one line reads: "Between Störkraft and den Onkelz there is a cuddly rock- LP." This text passage was on the album Rock 'n' Roll Realschule in: "between Störkraft und den other "changed, which caused confusion among the fans of both bands. Farin Urlaub said in 2004:

“We actually got enthusiastic e-mails from Onkelz fans with the tenor 'You finally got it!'. What I actually meant was much harder: 'Disturbing power and the others' - that's even more clear to me that the Onkelz' are a Nazi band. We are now singing 'Onkelz' again for the whole of the blunt. I don't deviate a bit from that. I still don't like them. "

In the course of the conflict with both bands, the Onkelz released the song you should not praise the day before the evening on the album EINS , in which they consciously address the two rock groups by means of their founding locations: "Greetings to Düsseldorf and Berlin." it says: "Opium for the people, shit for the masses, yes you made it, I start to hate you, if I say something like that, it is not a lie, you should not praise the day before the evening!" - Opium for the time being Volk is the name of an album by Die Toten Hosen that was released in 1996. Stephan Weidner justified the necessity of publishing this piece in an interview with the music magazine Rock Hard in 1997 as follows:

“We didn't do the song to turn people on, but because the pants and the doctors really deserved it. For example, if the pants throw people with Onkelz shirts out of their concerts or force them to turn their shirts, then I seriously ask myself how much punk is still involved in them. [...] The song may not really show that we are above the point. But the pants kept rushing against us in interviews, even though they have enough information about us and should actually know better. We, on the other hand, do not have this broad media acceptance. We couldn't have defended ourselves in the press simply because nobody would have noticed. So there was basically no other option than this song. "

The once sharp critic of Presley, rock-am-ring tour operators Marek Lieberberg , moved in 2005 during a burst appearance clear stand for the band:

“The Böhsen Onkelz serve parts of the media and some representatives of rock music as a target for their supposed political correctness and as welcome bogeymen of the nation. […] Instead of taking the band at their word and accepting their help in the fight against right-wing tendencies, they were defamed and misused as a fig leaf for their own right attitude. The Böhsen Onkelz are soberly a hard rock band with great live qualities. For decades, your texts have not given rise to ongoing condemnation or criticism. In fact, there is no statement by the band that brings them close to fascist or chauvinist ideas. You don't have to like the Onkelz, but it's time for a fair, unbiased assessment of a career nearing its finale. "

Within the music industry there are other proponents of the band like rapper Moses Pelham . The techno DJs Sven Väth and Mark Spoon are or were part of the band's circle of friends. In the course of time, the group also received prominent advocates outside the music industry, such as the former commissioner for foreigners of the state of Bremen Dagmar Lill, the Green politician Daniel Cohn-Bendit and the journalist and publicist Alice Schwarzer .

In 2011 Bushido expressed interest in working with the Onkelz. Tarek Ebéné , rapper at KIZ , announced in the same year "We are something like the Onkelz of the reggae scene"; In 2006, KIZ had already released a mixtape entitled Böhse Enkelz . The rapper Vega appears publicly in an Onkelz T-shirt and published a music video with an Onkelz connection in 2012. In 2012, Moses Pelham published the song For Eternity, including a sample from the song Koma der Böhsen Onkelz. In 2014, Moses Pelham performed with the band at the two reunion concerts at the Hockenheimring.

Relationship of the neo-Nazi music scene to the band

The neo-Nazi band Landser sang in the song KPS from the 1995 album Republik der Strolche , as indicated by all of the band's albums : “Böhse Onkelz, you were awesome / but then you wanted to earn money / and turned into a bad game / completely just the good faces // Do you still know your old songs? / You don't want to hear them / because the sign of betrayal / is right in your face ”, referring to the song Signum of betrayal from the album Böse Menschen - Böse Lieder . In addition, the Zillertal Turkish hunters insulted Stephan Weidner in 1997 in the piece 1001 Nights of the confiscated album 12 Doitsche mood hits . In 2001 the German journalist Klaus Farin counted 20 hate songs from neo-Nazi bands.

Others

The band donated the proceeds of several T-shirt campaigns to charitable organizations such as the Gesellschaft zur Rettung der Delphine e. V., the Chandler Sky Foundation, which runs the Casa de Milagros children's home in Cusco (Peru), as well as a fund of the Association for the Promotion of Integration founded by the Hamburg Commissioner at the time. V. for the victims of war and displacement in Afghanistan. Furthermore, two members of the BOSC were financed a trip to Peru to help out in the Casa de Milagros.

In 2000 the Onkelz Dragster Racing Team was founded, which took part in official competitions until 2004. The vehicle was a GRP replica of a 1955 Ford Thunderbird with 850 hp or with nitrous oxide injection up to 1150 hp.

The Eintracht Frankfurt rugby team wore jerseys in the 2001 season that were sponsored by the Onkelz and carried their logo.

In April 2002, Matthias Röhr's Gibson SG guitar was auctioned off at Sotheby’s auction house for 2550 euros. The proceeds were donated to the International Peace Foundation, which used it in slum projects in Bangkok , for the rehabilitation of street children and drug addicts, and for aid to AIDS .

In February 2017 it was announced that the band had booked millions in revenues through their company CIBOULE - TRADING E MARKETING LDA. Trademark rights were outsourced to the Portuguese island of Madeira , where - compared to Germany - very low tax rates apply.

Discography

→ Main article : Böhse Onkelz / discography

Böhse Onkelz released the following studio albums:

• 1984: The Nice Man (Rock-O-Rama Records)
• 1985: Bad People - Bad Songs (Rock-O-Rama Records)
• 1987: Onkelz like us ... (Metal Enterprises)
• 1988: Bar Terrorists (Metal Enterprises)
• 1990: The Time Has Come (Metal Enterprises)
• 1991: We haven't got enough yet (Bellaphon Records)
• 1992: Holy Songs (Bellaphon Records)
• 1993: White (Bellaphon Records)
• 1993: Black (Bellaphon Records)
• 1995: Here are the Onkelz (Onkelz Productions)
• 1996: EINS (Onkelz Productions)
• 1998: Viva los Tioz (Onkelz Productions)
• 2000: A bad fairy tale ... from a thousand dark nights (Rule 23)
• 2002: Dopamine (Rule 23)
• 2004: Adios (Rule 23)
• 2016: Memento (Matapaloz)
• 2020: Böhse Onkelz (Matapaloz)

See also : List of songs by the Böhse Onkelz

Matapaloz

The Matapaloz is the Böhsen Onkelz's first own festival, where they headlined both days.

year	date	Venue	Bands day 1	Bands day 2
2017	June 16th & 17th	Hockenheimring	Hatebreed , Suicidal Tendencies , Papa Roach , Five Finger Death Punch	Toxpack , Cockney Rejects , Anthrax , Slayer
2018	June 22nd & 23rd	Leipzig Exhibition Center	Beasto Blanco , Pro-Pain , DAD , Arch Enemy , Megadeth	The New Roses , Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons , Haudegen , Rose Tattoo , In Extremo

literature

• Klaus Farin : Book of memories: the fans of the Böhsen Onkelz. Tilsner, 2000, ISBN 3-933773-13-X .
• Böhse Onkelz have great songs. In: Klaus Farin, Eberhard Seidel-Pielen : Skinheads. Orig. Edition, 7th edition, unchanged. Reprinted by Beck, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-406-66905-7 , pp. 80-98.
• Edmund Hartsch : Böhse Onkelz - thank you for nothing . BO-Management, Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 3-00-001743-7 .
• Stephan Richter: "Hated - damned - adored". The phenomenon of the former skinhead cult band “Böhse Onkelz” and its references to right-wing extremism. In: Herbert Kloninger (Ed.): Right-wing extremism as a social phenomenon. Federal University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration, Department of Public Safety, Brühl 2006, ISBN 978-3-938407-09-7 , pp. 110-189, vifapol.de (PDF).
• Matthias Röhr , Ralph Larmann: My last 48 hours with the Böhse Onkelz . IP Verlag Jeske / Mader, 2006, ISBN 3-931624-36-6 .
• Alfred Schobert : A Guhte aunt invited the Böhse Onkelz to Bremen. Böhse Onkelz and New German Hardness . In: Kassiber . No. 45, May 2001 ( excerpt) .
• David Schwarz: Oi! Music, politics and violence . In: Right Music . PopScriptum 5, Zyankrise, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-928835-42-4 hu-berlin.de (PDF).
• Klaus Walter : Reunited at the Hockenheimring: Böhse Onkelz in the hated mainstream . In: Berliner Zeitung , February 25, 2014.

Web links

Commons : Böhse Onkelz  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of the Böhsen Onkelz
• Böhse Onkelz at laut.de.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} According to the official band website. Sometimes 1979 is also mentioned as the year of foundation (cf. Alice Schwarzer : Böhse Onkelz oder nett Jungs? In: Emma , No. 1, 1993, p. 40 f.)
2. ↑ Alice Schwarzer : Böhse Onkelz or nice boys? In: Emma , No. 1, Jan./Feb. 1993, p. 40 f.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 26.
4. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 29.
5. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 28.
6. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 39.
7. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 45.
8. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 58.
9. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 270.
10. ^ Klaus Farin, Eberhard Seidel: Skinheads . 6th edition 2010, p. 80. In contrast, Edmund Hartsch gives in Böhse Onkelz - Thank you for nothing. rough the song title with Türkähn .
11. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. p. 77
12. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. p. 106
13. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 19.
14. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 56.
15. ↑ ^{a b} Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 59.
16. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 54.
17. ↑ ^{a b} Stephan Richter: Hated - damned - adored . The phenomenon of the former skinhead cult band “Böhse Onkelz” and its references to right-wing extremism . In: Herbert Kloninger (Ed.): Right-wing extremism as a social phenomenon . 2006, p. 113.
18. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 68.
19. ↑ Stephan Richter: Hated - damned - adored . The phenomenon of the former skinhead cult band “Böhse Onkelz” and its references to right-wing extremism . In: Herbert Kloninger (Ed.): Right-wing extremism as a social phenomenon . 2006, p. 112.
20. ↑ Stephan Richter: Hated - damned - adored . The phenomenon of the former skinhead cult band “Böhse Onkelz” and its references to right-wing extremism . In: Herbert Kloninger (Ed.): Right-wing extremism as a social phenomenon . 2006, p. 118.
21. ↑ Andreas Pohle: Copy of an article from ROIAL No. 7. ( Memento from November 24, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) rockoi.com; Retrieved September 1, 2011.
22. ↑ ^{a b} Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 99.
23. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 75.
24. ↑ Stephan Richter: Hated - damned - adored . The phenomenon of the former skinhead cult band “Böhse Onkelz” and its references to right-wing extremism . In: Herbert Kloninger (Ed.): Right-wing extremism as a social phenomenon . 2006, p. 123.
25. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 77.
26. ↑ Editor: Rock-O-Rama / Rock Nord Versand (Rees, North Rhine-Westphalia) On: netz-gegen-nazis.de, May 2, 2008. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
27. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 81.
28. ↑ ^{a b c} Decision No. 2638 (V) of August 15, 1986 published in the Federal Gazette No. 160 of August 30, 1986. (PDF, 0.7 MB) In: onkelz.de. Archived from the original on August 5, 2003 ; accessed on April 8, 2011 (version of the original report with corrected parts of the text on the Böhsen Onkelz website). 
29. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 80.
30. ↑ ^{a b} Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 82.
31. ↑ Article in the Internet Movie Database On: imdb.de. Retrieved July 4, 2011.
32. ^ Klaus Farin, Eberhard Seidel : Skinheads . 5., rework. and exp. 2002, p. 93.
33. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 87.
34. ↑ Interview in the Duisburg skinhead fanzine Singen und Tanzen , spring 1986.
35. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 101.
36. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 96.
37. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 98.
38. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 106.
39. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 112.
40. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 137.
41. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 157.
42. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 138.
43. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 149.
44. ↑ Gold / platinum database on musikindustrie.de. Retrieved July 19, 2012.
45. ↑ ^{a b} Blind rage . In: Der Spiegel . No. 46 , 1993 ( online ).
46. ↑ ^{a b c d} Stephanie Tücking: So what ? - Too much hatred in the wild south? Punks, Skins and Their Music , on SWF3, 1992.
47. ↑ ^{a b} Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 185.
48. ↑ Stephan Richter: Hated - damned - adored . The phenomenon of the former skinhead cult band “Böhse Onkelz” and its references to right-wing extremism . In: Herbert Kloninger (Ed.): Right-wing extremism as a social phenomenon . 2006, p. 115.
49. ↑ Report on Arte, 1992.
50. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 188.
51. ↑ Mike Hennessey: An Ominous Note: German Act Fans Neo Nazi Flames . In: Billboard . October 24, 1992, p. 1 ff.
52. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. P. 133 ff.
53. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. p. 155
54. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 230.
55. ↑ Chronology of the year 1992 with photos and video clips (" Nineteen-Ninety-Two: A Whole Nation Sinks into Powerlessness and Shame ") on the official homepage of the Böhsen Onkelz in the Timeline section , www.onkelz.de, accessed on April 30, 2020
56. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. P. 168 ff.
57. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. P. 170 f.
58. ↑ For the deaf and the blind .. . ( Memento of the original from July 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Rock Hard , No. 78, December 1993. 
59. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. P. 156 ff.
60. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. p. 176
61. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 232.
62. ↑ Restructuring BOSC ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. onkelz.de, May 23, 2002. Retrieved May 19, 2012. 
63. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 231.
64. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 237.
65. ↑ ^{a b} Weidner, Röhr, Russell, Schorowski: BOSC Fanzine No. 5 . 1997, p. 12.
66. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, pp. 252-254.
67. ↑ Timeline: The Onkelz publish their biography: “Thanks for nothing” . Böhsen Onkelz website, accessed on November 4, 2015.
68. ↑ Group: Böhse Onkelz forever . ( Memento of the original from July 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Werden-wen.de. Retrieved July 4, 2011. 
69. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. P. 212 ff.
70. ↑ rule23 was yesterday, from now on: rule23 . ( Memento from June 5, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) onkelz.de, May 24, 2004. Accessed July 24, 2015.
71. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. P. 222 ff.
72. ↑ A wicked fairy tale ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On: onkelz.de. Retrieved May 1, 2012. 
73. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. p. 222
74. ↑ HR Giger - A visionary of the gloomy On: focus.de, May 12, 2015. Accessed July 24, 2015.
75. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. P. 234 f.
76. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. P. 243 f.
77. ↑ Chronology of the year 2000 with photos on the official homepage of the Böhsen Onkelz in the Timeline section , www.onkelz.de, accessed on April 13, 2020
78. ↑ Wacken Open Air: Production manager Thomas Hess passed away Report from the online editorial team in the news on www.rockhard.de ( Rock Hard ), April 6, 2018
79. ↑ Steven Geyer: Böhse Onkelz at the Echo: Games with the dirty children . Spiegel Online , March 15, 2001; Retrieved July 23, 2012.
80. ↑ The first nominations of the Echo 2001 On: mediabiz.de, January 25, 2001. Retrieved on July 4, 2011.
81. ↑ All nominees for the Echo 2003 On: mediabiz.de, January 20, 2003. Retrieved on July 4, 2011.
82. ↑ Interview on Live in Vienna , 1991, from 4 min.
83. ^ NY Post: German 'Nazi' Punk Band To Open For THE ROLLING STONES on Blabbermouth.net , (copy of original article ), June 2, 2003. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
84. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. p. 279
85. ↑ Stephan Weidner u. a .: Böhse Onkelz Fanzine No. 14 . 2004, pp. 26-49.
86. ↑ Böhse Onkelz: Hard rock band breaks up at laut.de , laut.de , May 25, 2004. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
87. ↑ Weidner, Röhr, Russell, Schorowski, Werner, Hartsch, Erdenberger, Bogdan, Radtke, Witte: Böhse Onkelz Fanzine No. 14 . 2004, p. 17.
88. ↑ Wacken Open Air was born out of a beer whim ( memento of the original from February 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. From n24.de, July 30, 2008. Retrieved July 23, 2012. 
89. ↑ Rock Hard Böhse Onkelz Special Vol.2 , spring 2005. p. 8.
90. ↑ "Böhse Onkelz" concert on the EuroSpeedway Lausitz! (OSL) . ( Memento of the original from July 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Brandenburg Police, June 19, 2005; Retrieved July 24, 2015. 
91. ↑ La Ultima: The last tour of the Onkelz for a very long time on the official homepage of the Böhsen Onkelz in the Timeline section , www.onkelz.de, accessed on April 20, 2020
92. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. P. 299 ff.
93. ↑ Re. Eurospeedway Lausitzring, Onkelzbier . ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. onkelz.de, March 15, 2005. Retrieved May 19, 2012. 
94. ↑ Opening act cancellations . ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. onkelz.de, February 18, 2005. Retrieved May 20, 2012. 
95. ↑ Support act update . ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. onkelz.de, June 11, 2005. Retrieved May 20, 2012. 
96. ^ LKA advertisement after the farewell concert at laut.de On: laut.de, July 4, 2005. Accessed on May 20, 2012.
97. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. P. 310 f.
98. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. p. 347
99. ↑ Category: Rock / Pop ( Memento of the original from July 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On: mediabiz.de, April 1, 2005. Retrieved July 4, 2011. 
100. ↑ Echo 2006: The Nominees On: fan-lexikon.de, February 25, 2006. Retrieved on July 4, 2011.
101. ↑ First prize for Böhse Onkelz at laut.de.
102. ↑ Andreas Brückmann: 20,000 celebrate at GOND In: Mittelbayerische Zeitung . July 13, 2012, accessed July 13, 2012 . 
103. ↑ "Böhse Onkelz", good ZDF: The Second Manipulated Another Show On: tagesspiegel.de, July 15, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
104. ↑ Stephan Weidner: One last time ... ( Memento of the original from December 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On: der-w.de, December 10, 2010. Accessed July 4, 2011. 
105. ↑ ONKELZ - DIRECTOR: TAMER YIGIT AND BRANKA PRLIC  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Website of the Hebbel-am-Ufer-Theater. Retrieved July 4, 2011.  
106. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. p. 330
107. ↑ Review of Dreck und Seelenakrobat on Metalize.de.Retrieved on September 11, 2011.
108. ↑ Pe Schorowsky does not rule out Onkelz reunion , August 15, 2012, accessed on June 29, 2013.
109. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. P. 358 ff.
110. ^ Extract from the commercial register for EINS GmbH. Retrieved January 30, 2014 . 
111. ↑ Imprint from onkelz.de. Retrieved February 4, 2014 . 
112. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. p. 357
113. ^ Arno Frank: Onkelz concert in Hockenheim: The banality of the Boehs . On: spiegel.de, June 22, 2014. Accessed July 24, 2015.
114. ↑ Marco Götz: That was the Böhse Onkelz comeback at the Hockenheimring . From: metal-hammer.de, June 21, 2014. Accessed July 24, 2015.
115. ↑ Gonzo: The official and authorized biography of Matthias Röhr . Autobiography written with co-authors Dennis Diel and Marco Matthes, Hannibal Verlag , Höfen , 1st edition, November 2019. P. 370 ff.
116. ↑ Awards information on: metal-hammer.de. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
117. ↑ Wizard Promotions honors Böhse Onkelz for more than 350,000 visitors ( Memento of the original from May 2, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On: musikmarkt.de, June 29, 2015. Retrieved July 24, 2015. 
118. ↑ Wake up the children! “We stay” will be released on September 4th, 2015! onkelz.de, August 13, 2015. Accessed September 2, 2015.
119. ↑ Official German Charts - Official German Charts. In: www.offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved June 24, 2016 . 
120. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 53.
121. ↑ ^{a b} Buffo Schnädelbach: Böhse Onkelz . Holy songs . In: Rock Hard , No. 67, accessed June 29, 2013.
122. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 55.
123. ↑ Hesse meets Hesse on jugendkulturen.de. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
124. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. 1997, p. 179, p. 182, p. 213.
125. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 218.
126. ↑ ^{a b} Clemens Niedenthal: The Onkelz are leaving - please pass on . taz.de, August 18, 2004. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
127. ↑ ^{a b} Alice Schwarzer: Zeil at ten , In: Hessischer Rundfunk, Winter 1992.
128. ↑ ^{a b} Daniel Cohn-Bendit: Böhse Onkelz maybe "guuhde, nehtte Jungz" . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . December 22, 1992, p. 15.
129. ^ Alfred Biolek : Boulevard Bio , autumn 1992.
130. ^ Free Your Mind , in MTV, April 9, 1993.
131. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Leyla Piedayesh: MTV Masters - Böhse Onkelz , July 2001.
132. ↑ Stephan Richter: Hated - damned - adored . The phenomenon of the former skinhead cult band “Böhse Onkelz” and its references to right-wing extremism . In: Herbert Kloninger (Ed.): Right-wing extremism as a social phenomenon . 2006, pp. 118-119.
133. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 69.
134. ↑ Stephan Richter: Hated - damned - adored . The phenomenon of the former skinhead cult band “Böhse Onkelz” and its references to right-wing extremism . In: Herbert Kloninger (Ed.): Right-wing extremism as a social phenomenon . 2006, p. 121.
135. ^ Nazis in concert with the Stones . In: The Daily Mirror , June 2, 2003. Article takes u. a. Regarding Turks out and the SS state .
136. ^ France '84 ( Memento from June 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) on dunklerort.net in the Internet Archive . Retrieved July 19, 2012.
137. ↑ Stephan Richter: Hated - damned - adored . The phenomenon of the former skinhead cult band “Böhse Onkelz” and its references to right-wing extremism . In: Herbert Kloninger (Ed.): Right-wing extremism as a social phenomenon . 2006, p. 127.
138. ↑ Christoph Butterwegge : Topics of the Right, Topics of the Middle: Immigration, Demographic Change and National Consciousness , 2002, p. 126.
139. ↑ Klaus Farin : reactionary rebels. The story of a provocation . In: Dieter Baacke , Klaus Farin, Jürgen Lauffer (eds.): Rock von Rechts II. Milieus, backgrounds and materials . 1999, p. 22.
140. ↑ Christian Dornbusch , Jan Raabe: 20 years of legal rock. From skinhead rock to everyday culture . Editors: Christian Dornbusch, Jan Raabe: RechtsRock. Inventories and counter-strategies , 2002, p. 28.
141. ↑ Stephan Richter: Hated - damned - adored . The phenomenon of the former skinhead cult band “Böhse Onkelz” and its references to right-wing extremism . In: Herbert Kloninger (Ed.): Right-wing extremism as a social phenomenon . 2006, pp. 129-130.
142. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, pp. 91-92.
143. ↑ Henning Flad: On the economy of the right-wing extremist scene - The importance of trading in music In: Moderner right-wing extremism in Germany , 2006, p. 106.
144. ↑ Henning Flad: Not dead despite the ban. Ideological production in the songs of the extreme right . In: Christian Dornbusch, Jan Raabe (Ed.): RechtsRock. Inventory and counter-strategy . Unrast, 2002, ISBN 3-89771-808-1 , p. 95.
145. ^ Klaus Farin , Eberhard Seidel: Skinheads . 4th ed. 1997, p. 86.
146. ^ Klaus Farin, Eberhard Seidel: Skinheads . 5th adult and rework. 2007 edition, p. 192 ff.
147. ↑ ^{a b} Bert Hensel: What is a sin of youth? In: Darmstädter Echo . November 28, 1992.
148. ^ Klaus Farin, Eberhard Seidel: Skinheads . 5., rework. and exp. 2002, p. 94.
149. ↑ Edgar Klüsener: Böhse Onkelz - Onkelz wie wir ... In: Metal Hammer # 11/1987, November 1, 1987, p. 53.
150. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 113.
151. ↑ Edgar Klüsener: Böhse Onkelz - evil yes, right-wing radical no . In: Metal Hammer , No. 1/1988, January 1, 1988.
152. ↑ Holy songs version: Misprint Noreira . ( Memento of the original from June 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. onkelzvinyl.de. Retrieved May 17, 2012. 
153. ↑ Pop 2000 - Made in Germany . ARD documentation, 2000, episode 12.
154. ↑ Onkelz got pissed off . In: Metal Hammer , No. 2/1989, February 1, 1989, p. 155.
155. ↑ Eberhard Seidel : Böhse right Onkelz . taz.de, June 16, 2001. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
156. ^ Judgment of the Berlin Regional Court of June 21, 2001 . Copy of the letter of judgment on althand.de. Retrieved July 4, 2011.
157. ↑ Application to the Berlin Regional Court (PDF; 146 kB). Application by the taz attorney to the Berlin regional court to dismiss Onkelz's action, April 30, 2001. Accessed July 4, 2011.
158. ↑ Open letter from the Böhse Onkelz management to MTV ( Memento of the original from April 16, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Copy of the letter from onkelz.de, 2002. Accessed July 4, 2011. 
159. ↑ Thomas Kupfer, Götz Kühnemund: Retreaded . In: Rock Hard , No. 179, 2002.
160. ↑ Edmund Hartsch, Stephan Weidner: Open letter to MTV In: BOSC Fanzine No. 11 , 2001, pp. 18-19.
161. ↑ EPK - Stephan Weidner short document ( memento of the original from July 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On: http: //der-w.de,/  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. November 22, 2012. Retrieved July 24, 2015.   
162. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: "Stephan Weidner is THE W" quote from 10min 12s to 11min 49s, November 23, 2012. Accessed on July 24, 2015.
163. ↑ Interview with Edmund Hartsch in the tour film La Ultima 2004.
164. ↑ Götz Kühnemund: Abused as a symbol? In: Rock Hard Böhse Onkelz Special Vol.2 (copy of the original interview), spring 2005. p. 5.
165. ↑ Distancing at concerts ( Memento from June 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) on dunklerort.net in the Internet Archive . Retrieved July 19, 2012.
166. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: September 5, 2004 Basel, Switzerland, St. Jakob Halle . ( Memento of the original from June 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. onkelz.de. Retrieved July 21, 2012. 
167. ↑ Interview on Live in Vienna . 1991.
168. ↑ Uwe Käding: Triumph for the Böhzen Onkelz - From the offside into the charts On: rhein-zeitung.de, October 2, 1998. Accessed on July 24, 2015.
169. ↑ Edmund Hartsch: Böhse Onkelz - Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 226.
170. ↑ Guhte Böhse Onkelz - benefit proceeds of 75,000 euros . taz.de, June 19, 2002. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
171. ↑ Götz Kühnemund: Against the hatred / 20 years of Onkelz . ( Memento of July 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) In: Rock Hard , No. 168, May 2001. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
172. ^ Benefit concert against right-wing violence . at laut.de laut.de, October 27, 2000. Retrieved July 29, 2012.
173. ^ Matthias Röhr: Benefit concert against hatred . In: BOSC Fanzine , No. 11, 2001, p. 12.
174. ↑ Campino - the great Playboy interview . In: Playboy . March 1996.
175. ↑ The big summer interview 2003 ( Memento of the original from October 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On: dietotenhosen.de. Retrieved July 4, 2011. 
176. ↑ Timo Frasch: “We still have it” on: www.FAZ.de, May 3, 2017. Accessed July 1, 2019.
177. ↑ Stefan Gnad: EXTRA interview at: www.nordbayern.de, August 11, 2004. Accessed July 4, 2011.
178. ↑ Götz Kühnemund : Nasty songs, hard words . In: Rock Hard , No. 124, 1997.
179. ↑ Götz Kühnemund: VAYA CON TIOZ, böhse onkelz. The final at the Lausitzring . In: Rock Hard , No. 219, 2005.
180. ↑ Moses Pelham: 3p boss likes Naidoo and Onkelz . at laut.de On: laut.de, May 17, 2001. Retrieved on July 4, 2011.
181. ↑ Hans Nieswandt: Now he's shit quiet . On: taz.de, January 13, 2006. Retrieved July 4, 2011.
182. ^ Böhse Onkelz: Benefit concert against right-wing violence . at laut.de On: laut.de, October 27, 2000. Accessed July 4, 2011.
183. ↑ Dagmar Lill: Discussion against hatred . Bremen, 2001.
184. ↑ Böhse right Unclez . From: taz.de, May 16, 2001. Retrieved July 4, 2011.
185. ^ Andreas Hartmann: Young Liberals . ( Memento of the original from January 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. From: jungle-world.com, June 19, 2002. Retrieved July 4, 2011. 
186. ↑ Michael Pilz: Bushido & Sido: "Sarrazin and I are brothers in spirit" . In: THE WORLD . October 27, 2011 ( welt.de [accessed August 25, 2020]).
187. ↑ Vega about Bengalos and Böhse-Onkelz-Shirts (video). (No longer available online.) In: MeinRap.de. August 2, 2012, archived from the original on July 25, 2015 ; Retrieved July 25, 2015 . 
188. ↑ Vega - Rap-Böhse Onkelz (prod. Johnny Pepp) (official video). In: YouTube . August 26, 2012, accessed July 25, 2015 . 
189. ↑ Niclas Weiland: Interview with Moses Pelham: Inspired by the Böhse Onkelz. (No longer available online.) In: Extra tip . October 28, 2012, archived from the original on July 25, 2015 ; Retrieved July 25, 2015 . 
190. ↑ Thomas Kupfer: "Goethe or the Onkelz". Interview with Moses Pelham . In: Rock Hard , No. 327, August 2014. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
191. ↑ ^{a b c d} activities ( memento from July 19, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) onkelz.de. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
192. ↑ Böhse Onkelz Merchandise Catalog, 2001. P. 12.
193. ↑ web.br.de

Note: Most interviews can be viewed on YouTube with the full title or can be read on dunklerort.net in the Internet Archive under the item distancing the Onkelz . The individual references in the article section text content should primarily refer to the statements of the band about the meaning of the songs.