White (album)
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Studio album by 
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Bellaphon Records | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, MC, LP |
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Title (number) |
12 |
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running time |
48:06 |
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| occupation | Singing: Kevin Russell Drums: Peter Schorowsky |
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Stephan Weidner |
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Studio (s) |
Sound studio Rüssmann Hennef |
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White or White Album is the eighth studio album by the German rock band Böhse Onkelz . It was released together with the album Schwarz on October 4, 1993 on the Bellaphon Records label . The concept of the two albums with the colors white and black should reflect the duality of life.
History of origin
Regarding the meaning of the concept of the albums white and black , the band wrote in 1994 in the first fanzine for the official fan club BOSC : “It should be a black and a white album! Good and Evil, Black and White, Sun and Moon, AZ. The duality of life, which is reflected in the lyrics, should also be found on the LP covers. They should make everyone think at first sight. "
During the making of the albums White and Black , singer Kevin Russell was heavily addicted to drugs.
Many ideas for new songs arose from impressions that Stephan Weidner collected while traveling with Sven Väth in the spring of 1993 in India and Nepal, for example, or from reading books.
On this album, the Onkelz again took a stand on the neo-Nazi scene and distanced themselves from it (this becomes clear in the song Deutschland im Herbst ). Musically, the Onkelz have developed again on this album. There are calm songs as well as fast ones.
The two albums were the last to be released by Bellaphon Records , as with them the contract, according to which the band was obliged to release three studio albums including a live option within four years, was more than fulfilled. According to their own statements, the band was quite dissatisfied with the Frankfurt label at the time, which is why they wanted to look around for a new contract on the music market.
Cover design
The cover is completely white. On the one hand the name of the band is represented by Braille , on the other hand by the finger alphabet . The band name Böhse Onkelz can be seen in the middle in the typical font.
Track list
| # | title | length |
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| 1 | Rather die standing | 4:00 |
| 2 | Start this fire | 4:21 |
| 3 | The miracle of personality | 5:15 |
| 4th | go to hell | 3:33 |
| 5 | Everything FaM | 3:38 |
| 6th | welcome | 3:08 |
| 7th | Forever | 5:38 |
| 8th | Germany in autumn | 4:34 |
| 9 | It | 4:33 |
| 10 | She's got an engine | 2:57 |
| 11 | Tribute to Stevie | 1:51 |
| 12 | Beautiful new world | 4:38 |
Background information on individual songs
- Start this fire
The song is understood by the Onkelz as a call to consider yourself and your own actions before complaining about others. Current events for things that need to be changed appear in the text at the time it was written. For example the war in Yugoslavia or the race riots in Los Angeles. "This is your inheritance, and if you don't like it, you will become better people and you will get a better world."
- The miracle of personality
This song is about the uniqueness and individuality that every person has. It is peppered with quotes - this is how Stephan Weidner used Hermann Hesse , for example .
- go to hell
In this song the band criticized the press. The line: “For the blind and the deaf one last time.” In the chorus refers to the language of the blind and the fingers on the covers of the albums White and Black .
- Forever
This song is one of the very quiet ones on the album. Again Weidner used Hermann Hesse for this song, which he had written for his Persian friend Nika at the time.
- Germany in autumn
With lines of text such as "I see blind hatred, blind anger." And "I see brown shit killing." The band makes their negative attitude towards racism and the riots in Rostock-Lichtenhagen in 1992 clear in this song .
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. "
Götz Kühnemund from the music magazine Rock Hard and Andrea Nieradzik from the music magazine Metal Hammer positively highlighted the song in their reviews of the album.
- She's got an engine
The song is about a motorcycle. The text passage: “I'll look into your screws, little one” is a modified quote from the film Casablanca , where it says “I'll look you in the eye, little one” .
Chart successes and awards
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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The album entered the German album charts at number 77 in the 42nd calendar week of 1993 and was able to climb to positions 65 and 11 in the following weeks before reaching the highest position 10. In total, White stayed in the top 100 for 13 weeks.
In 2003 the album received a gold record for over 250,000 units sold in Germany .
reception
| Professional reviews | |
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| Rock hard |
  
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| Metal hammer |
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In 1993, Götz Kühnemund from the music magazine Rock Hard rated Weiß in issue no. 79 together with the album Schwarz as a complete work with 8.5 out of ten possible points. He praised the cover design as "original" and interpreted the concept of the two albums as "duality of life, about good & bad and black and white painting in general" and related it to the relationship of the band to the German press, which in his opinion still did not understand what changes the band had gone through and how informative they had become in political terms. He picked up the song Germany in autumn from the album Weiß as an "unmistakable anti-Nazi song". He wrote about the musical content of the albums:
“... but at least one thing should be said: These two new ONKELZ albums are among the best in terms of text that is currently available on the German-speaking market. Let's get to music. The question is: did it really have to be two albums, wouldn't one have been enough? Answer: If it had only been about producing a typical ONKELZ record with consistently dirty Rock'n'Roll numbers, the highlights of the 23 songs could have been put on a longer album - but then one would have have to do without a few musical experiments that have their charm, such as E.g. the UNKELZ atypical instrumental numbers 'Tribute To Stevie' and 'Baja'. Thus the publication of two individual discs is justified. As far as the interaction of the band is concerned, the ONKELZ have become much tighter and more musical compared to earlier records. Guitarist Gonzo in particular surprises with his simple, but invariably accurate solos that don't seem superfluous in any single piece. Kevin, on the other hand, always provides the necessary dirt with his incomparable whiskey tube and sounds more convincing than before, even in quieter moments. Despite the greater variety, the ONKELZ are always best when they really get down to business - as in 'Lieber standing die', 'Reise zum Hölle', 'Deutschland im Herbst', 'Brave New World', 'That's how you are ',' The Knife and the Wound 'or' Words of Freedom '(absolute highlight). The bottom line is that there are only a few failures that cannot reduce the otherwise convincing impression. Impressive performance. "
Andrea Nieradzik from the music magazine Metal Hammer rated the album on December 1, 1993 with five out of seven possible points. She wrote about the album:
“Onkelz, the second. The black one was rightly rated better in this soundcheck, but the differences are vanishingly small - hence the same rating on my part. If you really wanted to be malicious, you could most likely attribute the pathetic opener 'Lieber Standing Die' to the former Onkelz image - if you were malicious, as I said. Otherwise one would have to search in vain. Texts like 'Deutschland im Herbst' are a clear statement that actually doesn't have much to add. 'Alles FaM' (pussies except mom) is, uh, well, let's say, not necessarily what my mom would find tasteful - but the statement is okay. The instrumental 'Tribute to Stevie' (Ray Vaughn), where guitarist Gonzo really comes into play, should also be mentioned. Musically all in all completely okay and the content is harmless (I haven't heard it backwards yet ...). "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Onkelzvinyl - Album "Weiss". Website accessed on August 16, 2010 ( Memento of the original from May 26, 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.
- ↑ a b Weidner, Röhr, Russell, Schorowski: BOSC Fanzine No. 1 . 1994, p. 25.
- ↑ Edmund Hartsch: In: Böhse Onkelz, Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, pp. 209-210.
- ↑ Edmund Hartsch: In: Böhse Onkelz, Thanks for nothing. Original edition, 1997, p. 212.
- ↑ Album cover on amazon.de
- ↑ Dunklerort.net ( Memento from June 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Dunklerort.net ( Memento from June 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Dunklerort.net ( Memento from June 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Dunklerort.net ( Memento from June 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ a b c d Götz Kühnemund : Album review: Black & White On: rockhard.de. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
- ↑ a b c d Andrea Nieradzik: Album review: Weiß On: metal-hammer.de. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
- ↑ Dunklerort.net ( Memento from June 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts CH
- ↑ Chart tracking white at musicline.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.
- ↑ Gold Record
