Die Toten Hosen

Die Toten Hosen (literally 'The Dead Trousers', although 'tote Hose' can also mean 'boring, nothing going on') are a German punk band, one of few well-known outside their home country, although their musical influences also encompass drinking songs, gypsy music, jazz and reggae. They are prolific (14 LP releases to date), long-lasting (formed in 1982 while most of the members were still at school and is still extant) and support numerous causes, including Greenpeace, PELT (posing naked for anti-fur publicity) and anti-right wing groups. They are life-long supporters of the football team Fortuna Düsseldorf.

Something of their punk attitude can be gleaned from the fact that they began by playing private birthday parties for free on the condition that unlimited beer was provided and that the hosts paid for all damages caused by the band. The 1987 release Never Mind The Hosen-Here's Die Toten Rosen had a cover that parodied the Sex Pistols' similarly titled debut, and the 1991 LP Learning English Lesson One mainly featured covers of punk classics with at least one member of each original band present (this included Ronnie Biggs, who had appeared on the Sex Pistols' Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle, and T.V. Smith of the Adverts, with whom they continue to work).

Due to the success of their early singles, they signed to EMI in July 1983 and produced a controversial video for the song Eisgekühlter Bommerlunder which the company financed. thumb|350px|rightIn 1984, the BBC asked them to record a Peel session, but the high costs involved in their journey to England provoked a row with the company, which was further inflamed by the band parodying another EMI-signed German artist, Heino, during a concert. The band consequently left the label and signed to Virgin (just as the Pistols had done) and incurred their wrath once again by sending up the HMV label's Nipper dog on their next LP (EMI successfully took out an injunction to have the cover altered).

The session itself inflamed even Peel, who only found out after the broadcast (and a vinyl release that he played on BFBS) that the songs contained a considerable amount of swearing (albeit in German). (Quite when he realised this is unknown, since the session was repeated twice in 1984 and he was still playing their records on BFBS the following year.) Feeling that the band had unfairly tricked him, he refused from that point to play their material and never went back on this decision, as he outlined on the 11 October 2001 show: "'The reason why there’s no Toten Hosen to be honest with you is they did a session for the programme and took advantage of the fact that I knew no German and recorded a couple of songs of breathtaking vulgarity that could have got us taken off the radio. So I kind of hardened my heart against Toten Hosen and I haven’t played any of their stuff since. I know it’s a bit childish, but to hell with them.'"

Festive Fifty Entries

 * None

Sessions

 * One session, available on Liebesspieler + Die John Peel Session vom 30.6.84.

1. Recorded: 1984-06-30. First broadcast: 10 July 1984. Repeated: 25 July 1984, 22 August 1984.
 * Hip Hop Bommi Bop / Spiel Mir Das Lied Vom Tod-Es Ist Vorbei / Reisefieber / Bis Zum Bitteren Ende / Hofgarten

Other Shows Played

 * 31 May 1983: 'Jürgen Engler's Party (7")' (Totenkopf)
 * 07 January 1985; 'Der Mord An Vicky Morgan (LP-Unter Falsche Flagge)' (Virgin)
 * Peel 007 (BFBS): 'Hofgarten' (from session release listed above)