Grobschnitt are one of my favorite bands from Germany. They were formed in Hagen in 1966 as The Crew and released their first self titled album in 1972. Their Oeuvre can be divided basically into two periods. The progressive- /krautrock period from 1972 - 1981 and the Neue Deutsche Welle / pop period from 1982 - 1989. During their first period they released a whole bunch of great album, which were heavily influenced by Genesis and other classic progressive rock bands of that time. After the album Illegal the keyboard player Volker Kahrs left the band and their music became influenced by the Neue Deutsche Welle style, which was big time in the early eighties. Bass player Wolfgang Jäger moved to NDW band Extrabreit (also from Hagen), Extrabreit`s drummer Rolf Möller became drummer in Grobschnitt.
One of the trademarks of the band was the stage performance, which included many elements of comedy and theatre. Another one is their very German sense of humour.
The core track of their career is the 33 minute long epic Solar Music, which was played at every gig since 1974 with various changes over the years.
Whilst their progressive rock albums are undisputedly of high standard, the band got a lot of bashes for their musical change in the eighties. Not only was the music blamed for having become superficial and futile, but also were the (since 1982 German) lyrics called childish and silly. While I understand these critics to some extend, I fail to hate their later work. It would fit in the time and the place (Hagen was the home of such famous NDW acts like Nena and others). I claim, that the band wrote great songs until the end. No longer progressive, but great.
Discography:
1972 - Grobschnitt
1974 - Ballermann
1975 - Jumbo (English version)
1976 - Jumbo (German version)
1977 - Rockpommel`s Land
1979 - Merry-Go-Round
1981 - Illegal
1982 - Razzia
1984 - Kinder und Narren
1987 - Fantasten