Neue Deutsche Welle Lyrics and Factoids Quiz

Answer: Autobahn

In spite of its importance for the development of the Electropop genre and later the Neue Deutsche Welle, "Autobahn" was never a smash hit. Its top chart placing was ninth in Germany and eleventh in the United Kingdom. However, it was a favorite on the radio and the chorus "Fahrn, fahrn, fahrn auf der Autobahn" became a part of common speech.

Answer: 99 nuclear missiles

"99 Luftballons" is an anti-war song originating at the height of the Cold War where the fears of an accidental World War Three were rampant. The story tells of 99 balloons someone has let fly. They are mistaken as UFOs, fighter jets scramble, war secretaries decide it is time to start conquering and in the end, a century of war has left Earth in ruins.

The song achieved number one chart positions in most European countries as well as number two in the United States

Answer: I don't love you

Apart from the two meaningless lyric fragments, the most repeated line of the song is "Du liebst mich nicht, ich lieb dich nicht" (You don't love me, I don't love you).

"Da Da Da" and the previously mentioned "99 Luftballons" are typical representatives of the two main streams of the Neue Deutsche Welle. Both streams are influenced by the Punk movement of the middle and late 70s and express a form of protest, but they do it differently. The more political stream directly addresses issues in a provocative way while the abstract, almost expressionist movement of bands like Trio provoke through the absence of any meaningful content.

Answer: A mental hospital

"Goldener Reiter" was a number two hit in Germany. The song consists of the ramblings of a formerly successful person who has gone mad and is now being transported to a mental institution described as newly built and extremely large (having the capacity of all shopping malls in the city). It is a very dark reflection on how today's society negatively affects people's mental health.

Answer: Hurrikan

"Hurrikan" (Hurricane), while dealing with a natural disaster, has no warning element or human influence but is simply a powerful description of how a hurricane forms, disrupts life and fades away again. The other songs all involve a dystopian element (global heat and desertification, a society in which technology eradicates all freedom and a general metaphor describing Earth as the sinking Titanic) and each implies or openly describes that society in general as well as its leaders simply fail to react to the crisis.

Peter Schilling's most successful song, the 1983 single "Major Tom", however, lacked a strong political element. An interesting point of his work is that the first two albums were entirely translated to English and released on the international market, but apart from "Major Tom", none of his songs made top 100 outside the German-speaking countries.

Answer: Liquor in St. Kathrein

The story of "Keine Sterne in Athen" is that of a couple on a vacation to St. Kathrein that was taken at the wife's insistence. The husband, who would have preferred a romantic journey to Greece, is bored out of his skull and turns to drinking, lamenting that this was not the vacation he imagined.

The song placed number three in Germany and number two in Austria. Another famous single by Stephan Remmler is the carnival classic "Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei", also peaking at number three in Germany.

Answer: The two songs are two sides of the same dialog.

The theme of the original "Sabine, Sabine, Sabine" is a phone call a suitor makes to a woman named Sabine. On the song, however, you only hear his side as he tries to seduce her into another meeting and tries to re-evoke romantic feelings. The cover version, however, is Sabine's side of the call and you get to hear her decline all the advances (and, at the end of the song, you also learn that she is not alone).

It is quite funny when you know one half of it and then hear the other for the first time.

Answer: Third from the left

The CODO entity is claiming to bring love back to an Earth ruled by hate. The most famous part of the lyric is the chorus "Und ich düse, düse, düse im Sauseschritt, und bring die Liebe mit, von meinem Himmelsritt" (And I breeze, breeze, breeze in running steps, and bring the love along, on my ride through sky). Another repeating line however states the position "Codo der dritte, aus der Sternenmitte, bin ich der dritte, von links" (Codo the third, from the stars' center, I am the third, from the left).

The song's charm is to a good part in the difference of the voices of CODO (a thin but clear female singing voice) and the lord of hate (an electronically modified speaking male bass voice).

Answer: Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung

Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung (often abbreviated to EAV) is an Austrian band having produced a substantial number of often very comedic songs. They have numerous Austrian number one hits, both in albums and singles, but fell short of a number one in Germany, although their album "Neppomuk's Rache" was number two in 1990 and "Liebe, Tod und Teufel" was number three in 1987.

Many of the EAV songs include quite unexpected twists and their lyrics include humorous treatments not only of social issues but also of subjects like prostitution and flatulence, without ever going into the obscene or tasteless, using quite unusual phrasings for taboo words.

Another of their trademark features is that many songs having a foreign setting are sung with a distinct and evocative accent.

The band's name is a word play on "Erste Allgemeine Versicherung" which was, at the time the band was founded, a major insurer in Austria.

Answer: Rosi

This question refers to Spider Murphy Gang's 1981 German number one hit "Skandal im Sperrbezirk". The lyrics talk about how the city of Munich bans prostitution, but a lady named Rosi offers her services despite the prohibition. "32 16 8" is her telephone number and mentioning that number is even today quite an in-joke among people who were teens in the early 80s and grew up with this song. The song was quite a scandal at its time, because it used the word "Nutten" (a somewhat rude slang term for prostitutes) and some radio stations initially boycotted it.

Anna, Berta and Carla are all from the Trio song "Anna" and have no connection to this song whatsoever.

I hope you liked my excursion into this unique music genre and if the quiz re-triggered some old memories or inspired you to search out a few of these songs to listen to, all the better!