Die Ärzte (4): Schrei nach Liebe (1993)

The song "Scream for Love" is "one of the best known political anthems and anti-fascist songs in Germany". It tells the story (with a lovely happy end) of a fictional right-wing extremist/skinhead who gets insulted during the song. The chorus, in fact, ends with "arsehole" - which may have a catharsis effect but was the very reason why radio stations at first were reluctant to play the song. The music company was afraid the single would be hard to marketing. Nevertheless, the song became the first top ten hit for Die Ärzte in Germay (via). That was in 1993 and it does not stop here.



After more than two decades, "Schrei nach Liebe" became a number one chart song again in 2015. A school teacher started the campaign "Aktion Arschloch" and encouraged people to buy the song "Schrei nach Liebe" online or tell radio stations to play it in order to make a statement against xenophobia in these times of refugee and humanitarian crises. The band "Die Ärzte" stated on their official website that they supported the message and that they would donate all proceeds to "Pro Asyl". Download portals such as Amazon and Universal Publishing donated all proceeds, too (via and via). There are several cover versions, among them one sung by 21 senior citizens (LISTEN/WATCH).

„Wir wünschen allen Nazis und ihren Sympathisanten schlechte Unterhaltung.“
Die Ärzte

Here the official video from 1993:



You are really dumb,
which is why you're doing so well.
Hate is your attitude,
your blood boils constantly.
Everything needs to be explained to you
because you really don't know anything,
most likely not even what attitude means!

Your violence is only a silent cry for love,
your combat boots long for tenderness,
you have never learned to articulate yourself,
and your parents never had time for you ... ohhh... asshole!

Why do you have fear of caressing, what's the meaning of all this nonsense?
under the laurel wreath with acorns, I know your heart beats,
and romanticism is only grey theory for you,
between Störkraft and den Onkelz (explanation: nazi bands) is a Kuschelrock LP! (explanation: cuddle rock, a soft rock compilation franchise)

Your violence is only a silent cry for love,
your combat boots long for tenderness,
you have never learned to articulate yourself,
and your parents never had time for you ... ohhh... asshole!

Because you have problems that interest nobody,
because you have fear of intimacy you are a fascist.
You don't have to project your self-hate on others,
so nobody notices what a lovely man you are ... ohhh...

Your violence is only a silent cry for love,
your combat boots long for tenderness,
you have never learned to articulate yourself,
and your girlfriend never has time for you ... ohhh.
Asshole, asshole, asshole!

(translation via)

Live in 2012:



And here another version:

In 2000, Die Ärzte released the song "A Summer Just For Me" in which they asked the question whether the sun also shone for nazis.

Does the sun also shine for Nazis? If so, I would cry.
Are fascists also allowed to travel? That seems unfair.
Do racists also get to see part of the blue sky?
Does the sun also shine for Nazis?
If it's up to me, it doesn't:

(complete lyrics in English: LINK)

::: "Ein Sommer nur für mich" (live): LISTEN/WATCH

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photograph via

Die Ärzte (3): Manchmal haben Frauen (2000)

The song "is about a man who meets a drunken man in a bar who tells him something that's unbelievable for him - sometimes women like a little spanking. The man rushes home and asks his girlfriend about this. The woman starts to ..." (via) - no spoiler, just watch the clip.

"Sometimes, but just sometimes
Women like to be slapped around a bit
Always, yeah, really always
Guys like you deserve to have your asses kicked"



It was in a bar, he talked to me
He was drunk and smelled like sweat
He said:
Boy, listen to me
There are a few things that I know better
Emancipation is the just reward
For the pussy-whipped wussies of this world

But you can trust in me
Between men and women
There is a difference on an enormous scale
And what I then heard totally outraged me
Repeating it about took it out of me
He said:

Sometimes, but just sometimes
Women like to be slapped around a bit
Sometimes, but just sometimes
Women like to be slapped around a bit

I told him - leave me alone
I will listen no more
You stinking drunk macho freak
He didn’t want to hear that
He started to drag me away
Shortly thereafter, I caught one from him
He yelled - don’t act as if you’re blind,
You aren’t a child

I’ll flatten you
And then you’ll know
But instead of smacking me,
He started to whine

Then suddenly I felt bad for that guy
He started to beg
I should finally understand
His bad breath really made me queasy

He said:
Sometimes, but just sometimes
Women like to be slapped around a bit
Sometimes, but just sometimes
Women like to be slapped around a bit

I pushed him away and I ran right home
I had to tell that to my girlfriend
I didn’t leave anything out, it came gushing out
The uncertainty started to torture me
That never happened to me before, I was traumatized
And I was a little bit curious, too
She smiled and then raised her knee
And, as hard as she could, rammed it into my stomach
As I gasped for breath and I heard her voice
Blowing an ice-cold breeze

She said:

Sometimes, but just sometimes
Women like to be slapped around a bit
Sometimes, but just sometimes
Women like to be slapped around a bit
Always, yeah, really always
Guys like you deserve to have your asses kicked
Always, yeah, really always
Guys like you deserve to have your asses kicked

translation via



"Wir sind nicht so unpolitisch wie die Leute es gerne hätten (...)."
Farin Urlaub




photographs by Nela König via and via and via

Die Ärzte (2): Waldspaziergang mit Folgen (2012)

"A Walk in the Woods with Consequences" is about a piece of wood that turns into God and is put on a shelf. Having God on the shelf is seen as nothing extraordinary as religious symbols are often part of, for instance, living rooms. According to sociologist Oliver Susami, their main purpose is to have a message, to tell guests and visitors who you are (via). The song is an appeal to turn religiosity into a private matter (via).



I was going for a walk in the woods, I just had to get out
there I spotted a piece of wood, it looked sacred
so I put it in my pocket, took it home with me
and there I carved a God out of it.

Then I placed my God on my shelf
there he‘s got a nice view over the world
and as long as he‘s not making promises that he then won‘t keep
I have to say that I like God quite a bit
and may others claim it being abnormal
I have a God on my shelf.

And soon hereafter some miracles started happening:
I got incredibly rich, and yet more incredibly handsome
I made the lame run and the blind see
and of course I could walk on water as well.

I placed a God on my shelf
and I hope he won‘t fall down from there
and as long as he‘s not making promises that he then won‘t keep
he‘s surely a gain for this world
and if others claim my being abnormal
I have a God on my shelf.

Now I had it all: fame, fortune and power
but it‘s well known how these things end, I thought to myself
and so I took him sometime at night
and brought him back into the woods.

I placed a God on my shelf
I‘d never have thought that I‘d like him that much
and while he was still up there, he was really my hero
I thought him the best god in the world
others have books - for me that‘d be too mundane
I had a God on my shelf!

Translation via



More Die Ärzte:

::: Lasse redn (2008): LISTEN/WATCH
::: Ich ess Blumen (song from 1988): LISTEN/WATCH
::: Junge (2007): LISTEN/WATCH



photograph by Nela König via

Die Ärzte (1): Männer & Frauen (2012)

Manche Männer lieben Männer,
Manche Frauen eben Frauen
Da gibt's nichts zu bedauern
und nichts zu staunen
Das ist genauso normal wie Kaugummi kauen
Doch die meisten werden sich das niemals trauen



Some men love men,
like some women love women.
There's nothing to regret
and nothing to marvel at.
It’s just as normal as chewing gum,
but most people would never dare do that.



You tend to see them on the weekend,
athletic modern men with a hot look.
They drag the freshly-painted ladies
out onto the dance floors of the Republik.

The grown ups' public display of affection
is more interesting than some would think;
from a chest-hair toupee to a Botox mask,
all is fair in love and war!

Men and women are a sheer terror.
How they gaze for hours
into each other’s eyes,
how the women steal the men
from other women,
and how the men take their frustration out
on those women.

‘Cause men and women are willingly capable
of mutually messing up
each other’s night
when they pine away until dawn,
and then take off and go home alone again.

As early as noon, they’re in the bushes,
and at night they can hardly walk
through the city park.
Romantic enthusiasts call it love –
I would say:
you can see the hormones at work here.

And when they dim the lights down low –
A nation’s in carnal overdrive
In springtime it’s especially bad–
that’s why I like the winter so much better.

Men and women are a sheer terror.
How they gaze for hours
into each other’s eyes,
how the women steal the men
from other women,
and the men only screw things up anyway!

Some men love men,
like some women love women.
There's nothing to regret
and nothing to marvel at.
It’s just as normal as chewing gum,
but most people would never dare do that.

(translation via)



Die Ärzte is a German band that was founded in 1982. These pioneers of the German punk rock scene that are extremely popular in Austria, Germany and Switzerland and quite unknown in other countries (via), have a great many wonderful songs and hilarious clips that can probably also be enjoyed if one does not speak German.

More Die Ärzte:

::: Dinge von denen (2003): WATCH/LISTEN
::: Mein Baby war beim Frisör (1996): WATCH/LISTEN
::: 3-Tage-Bart (1996): WATCH/LISTEN
::: Die klügsten Männer der Welt (2004): WATCH/LISTEN

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photograph by Nela König via