Joachim Witt
Joachim Witt (born February 22, 1949 in Hamburg ) is a German musician and actor . His best-known titles are Goldener Reiter , Tri tra trullala (Hostel Father) and Die Flut . The latter is a duet with the Hamburg-based synth-pop singer Peter Heppner and is Witt's greatest commercial success with over 900,000 units sold. Witt's works are judged controversially, but critics also describe him as one of the “most interesting German artists” who “has not yet found his way”. Witt's works from the early 1980s are considered “musically groundbreaking”. The video on the title Gloria sparked a heated discussion .
Artistic career
The early years (1973–1977)
After Joachim Witt had played in cover bands for many years, he decided in the mid-1970s to devote his life entirely to music. He began his career under the pseudonym "Julian". In 1974 Metronome released the single I'm a man and I know I'll be back . However, the commercial success failed and the record deal was canceled.
A year earlier, in 1973, Witt had joined an independent theater group and played in the play Gorilla Queen . He then trained as an actor at the Hamburg Drama Studio Hildburg Frese and then worked at the Hamburg Thalia Theater , which he left in 1977.
First successes with Duesenberg (1977–1980)
In mid-1976 he founded the rock band Duesenberg with two friends, Harry Gutowski and Wolfgang Schleiter . A year later, the band released their first album Duesenberg 1 under the then Nova label. The LP sold around 15,000 times and has been featured in some German music programs. Witt already had his first television appearances at that time. In 1979 the third album Strangers was released, for which the band was awarded the German music prize for the best young band in 1980. In the same year Witt left the band to go his own way.
The start as a solo artist (1980)
Witt sent some demo recordings of his own songs to various German music labels, all of which, however, were rejected. Witt had to produce his first album Silberblick completely by himself, only some of his old bandmates from Duesenberg stood by Witt's side. Witt presented his album fully produced to the German label WEA , which signed him in 1980.
The album was released in December of the same year, followed by the single Cosmetics in January 1981 and finally his most famous single Goldener Reiter in May , for which a video was also produced. Witt initially failed to achieve commercial success with the album and began recording his second album Edelweiß in late autumn .
The breakthrough with the NDW (1981–1982)
In November, the single Goldener Reiter was presented in the broadcast Musikladen on ARD and thus made accessible to a wide audience. A week later, sales exploded, and both singles and the album Silberblick made their way into the German charts.
The single Goldener Reiter , which made it to second place, was particularly successful . Therefore the release of the second album was postponed. In total, the Golden Rider sold over 250,000 times and the Silberblick album even more than 300,000 times. With the single Cosmetics and the album Silberblick Witt was also able to record international successes; Witt achieved sixth place in the Austrian singles charts . In the same year Witt received a role in the television film Inflation in Paradise , for which he also wrote the film music.
The follow-up album Edelweiß with the ex- Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit and the Mania-D saxophonist Eva Gössling was stylistically based on the band German American Friendship (DAF) and was also a commercial success. Shortly after the publication, Witt also started his first major tour, which took him from Germany to Austria to the Baltic States . At that time Witt was considered the best known and most successful solo artist of the Neue Deutsche Welle.
Towards the end of the same year, the single Tri tra trullala (hostel father) was released, which should be a song of derision against authorities. Although the single was played by many radio stations, it only reached number 39 in the charts, and this was Witt's last chart placement in the 1980s.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder wanted to use Witt as an actor in the film I am the luck of this earth , but Fassbinder died shortly before shooting began.
Setbacks (1983–1985)
After the big tour, Witt retired at the end of 1982 to work on new songs. The third LP Märchenblau and the single of the same name were released in early 1983. However, the sales figures for both the album and the single releases remained far below expectations. The planned tour was canceled due to lack of interest, only one concert took place in Hamburg.
With his fourth album Mit Rucksack und Harpune , Witt returned to rock stylistically. He also worked with lyricists outside the WEA label and wrote English songs for the first time. But even this album could not meet the expectations of the label; due to a lack of promotion, the album sold less than 10,000 times. However, the CD version of this album is now a sought-after collector's item. Witt released his fifth album Moonlight Nights under the Polydor label and relied entirely on English lyrics. But here, too, there was no great success.
Joachim Witt underground (1986–1996)
In April 1988 he released his 6th album 10 Million Partys , in which he again devoted himself to German-language music and which contains the then club hit Pet Shop Boy . However, he was less busy producing his own songs at the time, as he was also a producer of some underground bands such as Metallic Traffic. In the late 1980s, Witt moved to Portugal for two years .
At the beginning of the 1990s, Joachim Witt's NDW hits were remixed by Torsten Fenslau and Jens Zimmermann (Goldener Reiter) and Ian Ritchie (hostel father) and released as singles. At the end of 1991 he published the cover version of Dr. Alban's Hello Africa also has its own single again. Hello Germany ironicized the reunification hysteria of East and West Germany at the time. In 1992 he released his seventh studio album Captain of Dreams , after which he was played on the radio more often; Chart placements were still missing. For the next few years, Witt found himself in an artistic depression, from which he only freed himself a few years later. In 1994 he was hired as a speaker for the audio book Felidae ; apart from that, it remained quiet around him until 1996.
Turning towards the New German Hardship (1996–1997)
In 1996 Witt came into contact with the record company Strangeways, which produced bands such as Wolfsheim . The label signed him through contacts with Peter Spilles (front man of Project Pitchfork ). In the same year, the single Das geht deep was released, which also has distinctive features of the New German Hardness . In the next year, Witt began work on his new album.
Comeback (1998)
The new album was completed in early 1998, and Witt released the single Die Flut together with Peter Heppner . The single became the greatest success in Witt's career, reaching high chart positions in all German-speaking countries and platinum status in Germany for over 900,000 units sold. The album Bayreuth 1 was also very successful and received a platinum record for over 500,000 copies sold. Also the second single, And… I run was able to stay in the charts for weeks, and Witt went back to being a producer. At the beginning of 1999 Witt toured for the first time in the USA and large parts of Europe.
NDH to this day, Bayreuth series of works
In the period from 1998 to 2007, all of Witt's publications can be stylistically assigned to the New German Hardship. While the next two albums Bayreuth 2 and Eisenherz were still successful ( Eisenherz even made it into the top ten of the charts), his albums Pop and Bayreuth 3 only recorded moderate sales. The publication of Bayreuth 3 in early 2006 closes the Bayreuth trilogy. Bayreuth 3 is a very political album in which Witt, who is a member of the globalization-critical Attac network , points out social grievances in the world. With his songs, he strikes a socially and socially critical tone, which he continues over and over again in his next albums.
On September 14, 2012 Witt released the single Gloria . He describes this as the third milestone in his work after The Golden Rider and The Flood . These three songs reflected his life.
Two years after his last work DOM , Witt released his studio album Neumond on April 25, 2014 , on which primarily electronic and danceable tones are heard. This was produced by Martin Engler, head of the band Mono Inc . The first single from it, Mein Herz , failed to hit the charts.
In 2015, Witt's next album ICH followed, which was financed through crowdfunding and reached number 29 in the charts. He also relied on this type of financing for the successor work Throne , which appeared a year later . Both works were produced by himself. For his next album Rübezahl , which was produced with Chris Harms ( Lord of the Lost ), he again relied on crowdfunding.
On November 25th, 2016 the Mono Inc. single "Children of the Dark" was released as a guest singer with the support of Tilo Wolff , Chris Harms and Joachim Witt. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Falco's death on February 6, 2018, Joachim Witt published a cover version of Jeanny in collaboration with MajorVoice , on whose production Martin Engler again participated. On July 20, 2018, Witt and Lotto King Karl released a reinterpretation of the 2014 song “Get up” as the new HSV anthem. On August 10, 2018, Heppner released the single What stays? , the first single from Heppner's third studio album Confessions & Doubts . The piece celebrated its live premiere during a joint appearance at the M'era Luna Festival on August 12, 2018.
Discography
Studio albums
| year | Title music label |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
|||
| 1980 | Silberblick Warner Elektra Atlantic Records |
DE10 (32 weeks) DE |
AT20 (2 weeks) AT |
- |
First published: December 1980
Sales: + 300,000 |
| 1982 | Edelweiss Warner Elektra Atlantic Records |
DE20 (14 weeks) DE |
- | - |
First published: March 26, 1982
|
| 1983 | Fairytale blue Warner Elektra Atlantic Records |
- | - | - |
First published: October 1983
|
| 1985 | With backpack and harpoon Warner Elektra Atlantic Records |
- | - | - |
First published: February 1985
|
| Moonlight Nights Polydor ( Polygram ) |
- | - | - |
First published: December 1985
|
|
| 1988 | 10 million parties RCA Records ( BMG ) |
- | - | - |
First published: April 1988
|
| 1992 | Captain of Dreams Metronome Records ( Warner Music Group ) |
- | - | - |
First published: December 1992
|
| 1998 | Bayreuth I Epic Records ( Sony Music ) |
DE12  (32 weeks)DE |
AT40 (7 weeks) AT |
- |
First published: May 4, 1998
Sales: + 700,000 |
| 2000 | Bayreuth II Epic Records (Sony Music) |
DE13 (11 weeks) DE |
- | - |
First published: November 27, 2000
|
| 2002 | Eisenherz Columbia Records (Sony Music) |
DE7 (8 weeks) DE |
- | - |
First published: May 27, 2002
|
| 2004 | Pop Valve Records |
DE39 (3 weeks) DE |
- | - |
First published: January 26, 2004
|
| 2006 | Bayreuth 3 Primadonna Records (GuM Media) |
DE35 (3 weeks) DE |
- | - |
First published: January 27, 2006
|
| 2012 | DOM Columbia SevenOne Music (Sony Music) |
DE6 (6 weeks) DE |
AT43 (1 week) AT |
CH68 (1 week) CH |
First published: September 28, 2012
|
| 2014 |
New Moon Oblivion ( SPV ) |
DE8 (4 weeks) DE |
- | - |
First published: April 4, 2014
|
| 2015 | I Oblivion (SPV) |
DE29 (1 week) DE |
- | - |
First published: June 5, 2015
|
| 2016 | Thron Ventil Records ( Soulfood ) |
DE32 (2 weeks) DE |
- | - |
First published: September 9, 2016
|
| 2018 | Rübezahl Ventil Records (Soulfood) |
DE23 (3 weeks) DE |
- | - |
First published: March 23, 2018
|
| 2020 | Rübezahl's return Ventil Records (Soulfood) |
DE14 (2 weeks) DE |
- |
CH64 (1 week) CH |
First published: May 8, 2020
|
gray hatching : no chart data available for this year
Radio plays
- 2014: Michael Farin : Wintersoldat - Director: Michael Farin (radio play - DKultur)
criticism
Joachim Witt published the video Gloria in September 2012 . It shows men in camouflage clothing with black, red and gold on their sleeves. In the portrayal you abuse a woman and possibly kill a possible child eyewitness. The federal chairman of the German Armed Forces Association, Colonel Ulrich Kirsch , called for protest against the tasteless denigration of German soldiers on Witt's Facebook page.
In addition, at the request of several citizens , the Federal Family Ministry applied for the controversial video to be indexed in early October 2012 . In an assessment, the lawyer Udo Vetter doubted the correctness of a possible indexing, since the video is not harmful to young people and the representation of the Bundeswehr soldiers falls under artistic freedom . On October 25, it became known that the federal inspection agency had classified the video as not harmful to minors.
Witt apologized on October 5, 2012 on his Facebook page with the words:
“As there are currently many entries from members of the German armed forces regarding the video for GLORIA, I would like to say the following: The video for GLORIA is unmistakably an art form! We draw an apocalyptic horror scenario in large and sophisticated pictures! The soldiers in this video are interchangeable! If someone - and apparently many do - feel attacked or even insulted because of the emblem on their uniforms, I apologize! As a former member of the Federal Border Police (still during the Cold War), I respect the work of the Bundeswehr! Greetings from Joachim Witt "
In an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung at the beginning of October 2012, Witt stated that he had researched in advance of the video that there were “around 80 cases of sexual assault, some of which were raped”, among Bundeswehr soldiers each year and that this was verifiable. As early as the end of August 2012, the Bundeswehr announced that since 2007 there had been a total of 395 cases of alleged violations of the right to sexual self-determination , in which at least one soldier was said to have been involved. According to the Defense Commissioner Hellmut Königshaus , sexual abuse is the exception. In 2011, 78 cases were reported, in more than half the proceedings were discontinued because the allegations had turned out to be untenable.
Trivia
In November 2002 Sony Music Entertainment released the live DVD “Witt live in the Berlin Philharmonic”, which not only contains a concert recording but also music videos.
In 2012 the album Ich bin by Heinz Rudolf Kunze was released . On it is a duet with Witt called "Die Welt ist Pop".
In 2013, Witt recorded the song "Kein Weg zu weit" with the Hamburg band Mono Inc. In the video he plays alongside the band. In August 2015 Witt published the title "Hands up". In the video, his companion Hubert Kah plays a psychiatrist. On November 27, 2015 the live DVD "Wir" from SPV was released. In addition to a concert recording, videos, archive material and a CD are included.
On April 21, 2016, Witt's multi-storey half-timbered house in Mannhagen burned down. He was on tour at the time. Many memorabilia and his recording studio were destroyed in the fire.
In 2016 Witt recorded the title "Terrorist of Love" with Hubert Kah and also played in his music video.
On September 2, 2016, Witt went to the private broadcaster Sat.1 as a candidate in the Celebrity Big Brother house. He stayed 13 days and was seen next to the former soccer player Mario Basler , the ex-model Natascha Ochsenknecht , the actor Ben Tewaag and the actress Dolly Dollar .
Witt is a football fan of Hamburger SV . He was also active as a youth at HSV.
bibliography
- 1982: Joachim Witt: Notes - Texts - Pictures ISBN 3-88393-130-6
- 2012: Joachim Witt - DOM - A biography by Thomas Bleskin
Web links
- Official website
- Joachim Witt on MusicBrainz (English)
- Joachim Witt at laut.de
- Joachim Witt in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Markus Brandstetter: I have no idea about dance. laut.de, October 2, 2018, accessed on October 3, 2018 .
- ↑ Ulf Kubanke: In the deep valley of sentimentality. In: laut.de. Retrieved August 21, 2018 .
- ↑ The record of my life - Joachim Witt "Edelweiss" As exciting as 30 years ago. In: Hamburger Abendblatt . December 27, 2012, accessed August 21, 2018 .
- ↑ Trouble about "Gloria" video. In: ntv.de. October 13, 2012, accessed August 21, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k ichwillspass.de/joachimwitt: ichwillspass.de (accessed on April 20, 2009)
- ↑ Joachim Witt - Edelweiss. Retrieved March 18, 2012 .
- ↑ KAHE: Dömitz: Fassbinder's "Wilma Wilmersdorf" | svz.de . In: svz . ( svz.de [accessed on July 25, 2017]).
- ↑ Available from today: "GLORIA". (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 21, 2012 ; accessed on November 27, 2015 .
- ^ Joachim Witt: Biography. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 5, 2012 ; accessed on November 27, 2015 .
- ↑ New album NEUMOND. Retrieved April 23, 2014 .
- ↑ Joachim Witt: My new album RÜBEZAHL . In: PledgeMusic .
- ↑ Helgvar Sven Mánfreðson: Hellfire Magazin - Record check: MajorVoice feat. Joachim Witt - Jeanny. Retrieved May 3, 2018 .
- ^ Witt, Joachim. deutsche-mugge.de, accessed on February 28, 2019 .
- ↑ Joachim Witt. laut.de, accessed on December 27, 2017 .
- ↑ Joachim Witt - Gloria (official music video). In: YouTube . Columbia Germany , September 2, 2012, accessed October 30, 2012 .
- ↑ Press release DBwV. Retrieved October 5, 2012 .
- ↑ Thomas Wiegold : Federal government wants to put Joachim Witt video on the index (Update: Ministry). augengeradeaus.net, October 9, 2012, accessed October 18, 2012 .
- ↑ Stefan Kuzmany: German soldiers as rapists: Witt's disgusting video becomes a commercial. Spiegel Online , October 9, 2012, accessed October 18, 2012 .
- ↑ Udo Vetter : Something that you have to endure. law blog , October 10, 2012, accessed October 18, 2012 .
- ↑ Joachim Witt video "Gloria" not classified as harmful to minors. (No longer available online.) In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . dpa message, October 25, 2012, archived from the original on September 2, 2016 ; Retrieved October 30, 2012 . 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.
- ↑ posts / 440000642718390. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original
- ↑ Trouble about "Gloria" video: Joachim Witt is pissed off. In: n-tv . dpa report, October 13, 2012, accessed on October 18, 2012 .
- ↑ 80 sexual assaults per year: Almost 400 suspected sexual offenses in the Bundeswehr since 2007. In: Der Tagesspiegel . dpa report, August 22, 2012, accessed on October 18, 2012 .
- ^ Heinz Rudolf Kunze's album "I am Heinz Rudolf Kunze" . In: werkzeug.heinzrudolfkunze.de .
- ^ Message from the management on Facebook. April 21, 2016, accessed April 22, 2016 .
- ↑ NDW star Witt "very touched" by sympathy. (No longer available online.) NRD.de , April 22, 2016, archived from the original on February 2, 2017 ; Retrieved April 22, 2016 .
- ↑ Bild.de: New goosebumps hymn for HSV , accessed on July 19, 2018
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Witt, Joachim |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German musician and actor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 22, 1949 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hamburg |