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Slime (band)

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Slime
Slime performing in 2016
Background information
Also known asRubberslime
OriginHamburg, Germany
Years active1979–1984, 1990–1994, 2009–present
MembersElf Mayer
Dirk Jora
Christian Mevs
Nici
Alex Schwers
Past membersPeter "Ball" Wodok
Sven "Eddie" Räther
Ollie
Stephan Mahler
Stephan Larsson
Websiteslime.de

Slime is an extreme leftwing German punk rock band founded in Hamburg in 1979. They were one of the defining bands of the 1980s German punk scene. Musically and lyrically, they developed from simple, straightforward songs in the style of late 70's British punk into complex song structures with layered and cryptic texts.

Slime's work was the subject of controversy. During their periods of growing success, they were accused of "selling out".

The band first dissolved in 1984 and reunited in 1990 as violence against refugees began to mount (e.g. Hoyerswerda riots, Rostock-Lichtenhagen riots) and released two albums, experiencing their first commercial success before dissolving again in 1994. The band reunited in 2009 after 15 years and has released two additional albums.

History

Slime's first album, Slime I (1981)

Michael "Elf" Mayer and Sven "Eddie" Räther both attended Gymnasium Heidberg in Langenhorn, Hamburg. Both discovered their love for punk rock through the Ramones' first album and decided to found a band. Mayer played guitar and Räther played bass, and the harbor worker Peter "Ball" Wodok played drums. The first vocalist was Thorsten "Scout" Kolle, a classmate of Mayer and Räther. First appearing under the name "Slime 79 and the Sewer Army", which was soon shortened to "Slime". The first song written by the band was "Polizei SA/SS", a reaction to the police actions against anti-nuclear protests. The band made their first appearance in the youth center Kiwittsmoor, appearing with The Kreislaufkollaps. Their singer Dirk Jora impressed the band, which replaced Kolle with Jora.

The band recorded their first EP, Wir wollen keine Bullenschweine ("We don't want any fucking cops"), which was released in February 1980, followed by their first album, Slime I (1981). The album also contained a copy of the song "Wir wollen keine Bullenschweine", which attracted the attention of the Hamburg public prosecutor. Charges for "Volksverhetzung" ("incitement to hatred") were filed and dropped.

While their songs in the beginning featured simple riffing and rather stereotypic anarchist sloganeering, music and lyrics became darker and more complex by the third album "Alle Gegen Alle".

Notable songs are "Deutschland muss Sterben (...damit wir leben können)" ("Germany must die (... so we can live)"), an allusion to "Deutschland muß leben, und wenn wir sterben müssen" (Germany must live, even if we must die), a line of the 1914 poem Soldatenabschied by the German poet Heinrich Lersch, "Bullenschweine" (literally cop swines), "Polizei SA/SS" (police SA/SS), comparing police to the SA and SS and "A.C.A.B." ("All Cops Are Bastards").

They sang anti-war songs (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" - "Justice"), their police and their politicians ("Sand im Getriebe"). The song "Yankees Raus" (Yankees out) is against imperialism.

Dirk Jora at Rock in Caputh 2013

The following years, neo-fascism in Germany was rising more and more, so they felt dutybound to sing against them. While their 1992 comeback album "Viva La Muerte" was a rather sketchy affair, their 1994 album "Schweineherbst" (Autumn Of Swines) is by many seen as their masterpiece, musically as well as lyrically.

The chilling 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 Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust and described the horrors he had experienced there.

The band reunited in 2009 and released the album Sich fügen heißt lügen ("To submit is to lie") in 2012, followed by Hier und jetzt ("Here and now") in 2017.

Discography

Slime in SO36, 2010
  • 1981: Slime I (no label, banned)
  • 1982: Yankees raus (AGR)
  • 1983: Alle gegen Alle (AGR)
  • 1992: Viva la Muerte (AGR/Modern Music)
  • 1994: Schweineherbst (Indigo)
  • 2012: Sich fügen heißt lügen (People Like You/EMI)
  • 2017: Hier und jetzt (People Like You)
  • 2020: Wem gehört die Angst (Arising Empire)

Live and compilations

  • 1984: Live (AGR)
  • 1990: Compilation 81–87 (Bitzcore)
  • 1990: Die Letzten (AGR)
  • 1995: Live Punk Club (Große Freiheit in Hamburg) (Slime)

Singles

  • 1980: "Wir wollen keine Bullenschweine" (Moderne Musik)
  • 1993: "Der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland / Schweineherbst" (Weserlabel/Indigo)
  • 1993: "10 Kleine Nazischweine" (mit Heiter bis Wolkig), two-track-EP

Tribute album

  • 2009: Alle gegen Alle – A Tribute to Slime (Toten Hosen, Rasta Knast, Dritte Wahl, etc.)

DVDs

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