• 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

    First we learned to walk on water.

    Then we tried something harder.

    - Red Seven -

  • I have albums in red although have to admit I have not played them in a few years


    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


    I also have a live album called Solar Music - Live

    “Without music, life would be a mistake”

  • I mentioned only the studio albums in my list. The live album you have is a top notch version of Solar Music. There are various other live versions around. The original studio version is on Ballermann.

    First we learned to walk on water.

    Then we tried something harder.

    - Red Seven -

  • It's been over a year an a half, I love this band. Thanks for the recommendation!!!.......;)


    I've got all their albums now.....:)

  • I'm just getting into them. About time, after all I'm German!


    Quite a band, but Jumbo is a bit of a letdown after the great first two albums. Now I'm looking forward to the alleged masterpieces Rockpommel and Solar Music Live.