69, Slime

Description

Slime was a German punk rock band, founded in 1979 and disbanded in 1994. The pre-Slime band was called Screamer, and the post-Slime band is – contrary to the occasional rumors – not Emils (Slime backwards), but Rubberslime, with the member Elf.

The band was founded by Elf (Guitar), Eddie (Bass) and Ball (Peter Wodok – drums). Some months later, Dirk joined as vocalist. Christian joined the band in 1980 as second guitarist, and Ball left in 1981 and was replaced by Stephan Mahler.

Slime were very influential to the German punk culture and their first album Slime I was actually the first German punk album banned. They are often considered to be the prototypical German punk or deutschpunk band.

Notable songs are “Deutschland muss sterben (…damit wir leben können)” (“Germany must die (… so we can live) (an allusion to “Deutschland muß leben, auch wenn wir sterben müssen” (Germany must live, even if we have to die), the inscription on the Kriegerdenkmal in Hamburg-Dammtor which is a line of the “Soldatenlied” by the German poet Heinrich Lersch), “Bullenschweine” (literally police swines), “Polizei SA/SS” (police SA/SS), comparing police to the SA and SS and “A.C.A.B.” (“All Cops Are Bastards”).

Slime produced three studio albums in the first years. They sang song against war (e.g. We don’t need the Army), and they made a punk anthem with the song Hey Punk. They even produced songs against their government (They don’t give a Fuck), their justice (Gerechtigkeit – means fairness), their police and their politicians (Sand im Getriebe). The song Yankees raus (Yankees out) is against imperialism. The following years, the neo-fascism in Germany was rising more and more, so they felt dutybound to sing against them.

The song “Der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland” (Death is a master from Germany) was inspired by the poem Todesfuge (lit. “Death Fugue”) by Paul Celan, who was a prisoner in different concentration camps during the Third reich.