In this country, if you intone “Oh, oh, oh” with a certain crescendo, there’s hardly anyone who will not enthusiastically complete the sound sequence with a shout of “ARSCHLOCH!”. The song Schrei nach Liebe (Cry for Love) by Die Ärzte has ingrained this reflex in our cultural memory – and plenty more besides...
In 1992 a full-page advert is published in the music industry magazine Musikmarkt, reading as follows:“Best band in the world seeks record label”.
Best band in the world? Even today there’s no doubt – at least in German-speaking countries – as to who has bagged themselves this ludicrous superlative: Die Ärzte (German for Doctors) from Berlin. Even the fact that they had disbanded five years before that unusual advert changed nothing. In a punk career not exactly short on action, the split between Bela B. and Farin Urlaub in 1988 – at the height of their success – was supposed to be the last hurrah. But things turn out differently.
After the temporary hiatus, the two free spirits initially follow their solo ambitions (Farin with King Køng and Bela with Depp Jones). But they realise that away from the blinding genius of their project Die Ärzte, there is considerably less interest in their art. This downer provides a motivation that would bring them back together again at the start of the nineties: the Musikmarkt advert mentioned earlier makes their reunion official, a record label is easily found. Die Ärzte are back – with the addition of Depp Jones / Rainbirds musician Rod Gonzales on bass. But this return is about more than the bruised egos of two solo careers that have suffered parallel damage. In an interview with the music channel MTV, drummer Bela B. puts it in a nutshell: “After Hoyerswerda we just couldn’t keep quiet anymore”
This is affirmed by the first single in the new era, which is released in autumn 1993 a month before the album Die Bestie in Menschengestalt (The Beast in Human Form), bears the title Schrei nach Liebe and catapults the band to an unaccustomed level: whereas in the eighties Die Ärzte came across as challengers or indeed even as troublemakers, who were even able to cash in on the censorship of some of their obscene lyrics, their nineties incarnation now describes them as an act that doesn’t merely want to cause havoc but also accepts responsibility. Schrei nach Liebe is an anti-right statement. Against the shift towards the right that has been building momentum since the Reunification in pogroms primarily directed towards asylum-seekers’ accommodation – such as recent events in Hoyerswerda.
But Die Ärzte are not aligned with the counter-movement of cheap declarations of pacifism, they don’t identify with the torchlight processions proffered at the time by civil society and politicians to assuage the horror – Schrei nach Liebe is far more representative of a new generation’s readiness to defend, a generation that now has to fight for democracy itself, and equally stands for anger towards the events in Germany. The lyrics aren’t trying to convey any of the widespread “Nazis raus”-type slogans, instead they clearly name the aggressors as “fascist(s)” and the word “Arschloch” (arsehole) just happens to be used. And that... well, it needed to be said at last, in these times. The other feature that has allowed the track’s popularity to endure is its succinct pathologising of the right-wing mentality.
Your violence is nothing but a silent cry for love
Your combat boots long for tenderness
December 2023