Das Madonna Hip Hop Massaker - Lost In Music

I found an old video..



Well.. it's not THAT old. It's from 2001 but that already seems like a light year away. I found it on a CD that I have from my old band Madonna Hip Hop Massaker - when I put the CD into my laptop, a video icon also popped up and there it was: Big Mistake, The Trash House Remix Video. The last hurrah of my band before we split up. Our record company didn't trust the original 'indie rock' mix and got some hip remixer in to deliver the goods.. but no big radio hit - again.

Oooops.. It all started so well in 1995. During the 'Bands From Berlin Hype' of the mid-90s we managed to get signed by a major record label and produced our first record in a rancid Hinterhof studio in Berlin Kreuzberg. The 1st single Super Pop Peepshow [an ironic comment about the state that we were suddenly in] sold more than 10,000 times in Germany and a lot of other European countries and for a year or two we were one of the next big things.





From there we recorded 3 albums, played more than 250 gigs all over Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy since 1994, went through more arguments and fights than Oasis, wasted 6 drummers, 3 producers, 3 keyboarders and 2 managers ..and did a lot of regional radio and TV.

Rob Zoom, Miss Megatrance & myself

 
In the end it was too much Spinal Tap and not enough record sales to keep us going financially. Time for the burn out.. the end was near. There are some more interesting videos on the still existing Madonna Hip Hop Massaker website.  Here's a song from the last record Radical Romance:



You can buy our first two albums on iTunes - What happened to the third album.. I don't know. It's not even on iTunes. We still owe two record companies money because they gave us advance cash that they never really recouped. I lived through the whole of the 90s just by playing a bit of guitar and arguing with producers and A&R managers. My main goal - a Japan tour - never came through but, hey, if all dreams would come through, there wouldn't be any dreams left.

"Zugabe!"



Stare at me once more..



..and to quote Miss Megatrance: "Danke!"

Sleazy Biker Movie Posters & Halbstarke

People in the 60/70s seem to have been obsessed by Savage Orgies of Murder, Killing, Blood, Lust, Hard Living, Hard Loving ..and Werewolves on Motorbikes. Bit like today. So, that's a whole movie weekend of CGI-free cheap thrills sorted!

'Hog straddling female animals on the prowl' Just playing around..

'Belted, buckled and booted Superwomen' These Pussycats kill faster!

'Wild and wicked living with no tomorrow' Mega-Mayhem One Day Only!

'He'll take his chopper and ram it down your throat' [the whole thing, down your throat]

This gang found a new type of hell.. THE BRIDE OF SATAN!'

Satan = Werewolf?! Mmm..

 

'Their game is sex and violence' [and blood and lust of course]

 

'Chopper outlaws riding their hot throbbing machines to a brutal climax of violence!' In Color

Clearly everybody involved in the production and design of these cinematic pearls was on acid 24/7 ..except from Russ Meyer who was square like a cube. There's a great Russ Meyer biography called 'Big Bosoms And Square Jaws' by Jimmy McDonough and I recently bought a great photo book called 'Rebel Youth' by Karlheinz Weinberger who documented the arrival of Rock'n'Roll in Switzerland in the early 60s. It's full of absolutely amazing pics of rocker/biker youth gangs in all their DIY glory. It shows in a great way how the kids had to invent their outfits which were clearly inspired by US Rock'n'Roll and cowboy movies.

"In Germany and Switzerland the German term 'Halbstarker' was created in the 50s. It literally means half strong. The 'half strongs' were gangs of young people who were looking for an identity of their own. They rejected society’s expectation and were pioneers in the establishment of youth culture through music, clothes and assimilation of American culture.

 

©Rebel Youth: Karlheinz Weinberger, Rizzoli New York, 2011

Interesting stuff I found on the web last week

..and the personification/machinification what's generally wrong with the world today: