East German Rock

 

For 30 years the East German government banned western music, but it was easily heard from West Berlin radio.  In the early 80s, rock was recognized and bands approved by the Komitte fur Unterhaltungkunst ( Committee for Entertaining ) were allowed to perform.By the early 1970s, experimental West German rock styles had crossed the border into East Germany and influenced the creation of an East German rock movement referred to as Ostrock.

 

DT64 was a youth oriented radio program started in 1964.

 

On the other side of the Wall, these bands tended to be stylistically more conservative than in the West, to have more reserved engineering, and often to include more classical and traditional structures (such as those developed by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht in their 1920s Berlin theater songs). These groups often featured poetic lyrics loaded with indirect double-meanings and deeply philosophical challenges to the status quo. As such, they were a style of Krautrock. The best-known of these bands were:

 

The Puhdys' 1974 debut album

    The Puhdys-formed in 1969 and allowed to tour in West Germany-their name comes from the first letters in the members names

     

     

     The opening titles of Die Legende von Paul und Paula ( The Legend of Paul and Paula 1973) sung by the Puhdhys

     

     

     

    Puhdys video with English translation

    The Puhdys' band website

     

    Karat started in 1975. Their 1982 album Der blaue Planet (The Blue Planet) was one of the year's top sellers in both East and West Germany.  Karat's website

     

     

     

     

Tamara Danz (1952-1996) of the rock Band Silly Silly Band's website

 

 

 Silly video

     

Dean Reed 1938-86 an American singer who defected to the East ,moved to East Germany one of the most famous Americans in the Eastern Bloc in the 70s.

 

 

deanreed.de

     

    Pankow  formed in 1981

     

     

    Pankow video