Punk rock from Germany  Popcast #11/2026

With music by:

Sex Pistols | Universal Music Group
Die Goldenen Zitronen | Weser Label
Slime | Aggressive Punk Produktionen
DAF | Virgin Records
Male | Tapete Records
Die Toten Hosen | Totenkopf Label
Hans-A-Plast | Tapete Records
Cava | Buback
Team Scheisse | SoulForce Records
Deutsche Laichen | Pretty on the Inside
Ulrich Gutmair, Schorsch Kamerun,
Rudi Esch& Jäki „Eldorado“ Hildisch
Author: Angie Portmann
Speaker (English): David Creedon
Speaker Female Voice-Overs (English): Louise Hollamby Kühr
Translation (English): Eric Rosencrantz

It is the year of punk – or rather, the 50th anniversary of its supposed birth, historically and quite justifiably dated to 1976. The Goethe-Institut has celebrated this extensively this year – with the project ‘Alle Gegen Alles – Punk@50’, with exhibitions, talks, a tour by the Berlin band Cava, a film series on Goethe on Demand, a special ‘Gegenüber’ issue and now with a ‘Punkcast’ – the November edition of the ‘Popcast’ – in which we attempt to trace the history of German punk from the late 1970s to the present day, drawing on key bands and interviews with punks from the very beginning. The first signs of an independent German punk scene emerged in the mid-1970s, in parallel with the global punk movement, in the vicinity of the Düsseldorf pub Ratinger Hof. Thus, Male – now referred to as the ‘first German punk band’, formed in 1977 in this slightly run-down and otherwise utterly unremarkable dive bar – were one of the first indications that something very special was brewing here. In the months that followed, born from the same melting pot of like-minded people and bar-counter neighbours, numerous other groups were formed, including Fehlfarben, Die Toten Hosen and also the later pioneers of electropunk, Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft – DAF for short – one of the most innovative and influential bands of the new movement. The brash sound of the Hanover-based band Hans-A-Plast – half of whose line-up was female – coupled with biting, ironic lyrics and the laid-back attitude of rebellious teenagers, was also without parallel internationally and played its part in shaping a new sound that, shortly afterwards, was to take the country by storm as the ‘Neue Deutsche Welle’ (New German Wave), a German version of post-punk.

An uncompromising political stance

At the same time, in the port city of Hamburg – known for its cosmopolitanism – a radical political offshoot of punk emerged, a so-called ‘second wave’, musically raw and uncompromising, with a slight hard rock feel and, above all, a very clear political stance. Bands such as Abwärts and Slime were the first to lend the new subculture an even more distinct political dimension, making the punks’ dissatisfaction and disillusionment the central theme. At the same time, scene insiders such as the journalist Alfred Hilsberg, as well as individual bands like the aforementioned Hans-A-Plast, had begun to build up a network of small, self-managed record labels by founding small, local labels, which contributed significantly to securing the movement’s independence. Nor was there any need for the mass media at first: a nationwide, dense network of literally hundreds of fanzines resonated with the subversive energy of the young movement, reaching even the remotest corners of the country.

But punk also gained prominence commercially. Bands such as Die Toten Hosen, Die Ärzte and Die Goldenen Zitronen, who emerged in the mid-1980s with playful names and an energetic sound, were also able to make their mark in the mainstream. And whilst some, such as Die Goldenen Zitronen, evolved towards art and political activism, Die Toten Hosen and Die Ärzte became national stars who filled stadiums, yet never quite shed the punk spirit. This spirit has stood the test of time and can be found today in a number of interesting young bands where content takes precedence over form: Musically diverse – sometimes more rock-oriented, sometimes quite simple in the familiar three-chord style, sometimes quieter, more poetic or even acoustic – bands such as Cava, Deutsche Laichen, Team Scheisse, Pogendroblem and countless others are characterised first and foremost by an uncompromising political stance. And so the 50th anniversary of the birth of punk also marks a milestone in Germany for a subculture whose cultural influence and political relevance were – and still are – immeasurable.

11/2026