Böhse Onkelz
Böhse Onkelz is a popular german rock group. It was founded in 1980 in a town called Hösbach near Frankfurt, Germany. Böhse Onkelz started their career into the Oi! and Skinhead movement and went through a drift to the political right-wing and nationalism. Around that time they wrote controversial songs like Türken raus ("Turks out").
Their debut album Der nette Mann (1984) was confiscated by the German BzKJ (Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons) until 2005 (20 years) because of its alleged violence-glorifying and sexist content, which meant that they weren't allowed to sell it anymore nor perform any songs of the album publicly.
In the mid 80's, Böhse Onkelz left the skinhead scene and distanced themselves from their past. However, critics argue, that they just left the scene to gain popularity in the non-right-winged fanbase and still believe in their nationalist ideals.
By releasing more and more albums, they built up a respectable fan community. Their last album got the significant name Adios and they finally ended their career after 25 years on the Lausitzring-Festival in 2005 - In front of more than 120.000 fans. Without any promotion, the tickets were sold out after 22 days. Special guests performing were: Motörhead, Machine Head, J.B.O., In Extremo, Psychopunch, Children of Bodom and Pro-Pain.
According to Machine Head singer Robert Flynn, "Every person knew every lyric, and pointed the words right back at them in perfect sync. Literally a sea of more than 100,000 would raise their arms and point along with the words, and then when the lyrics stopped they’d all go back down."
In early 2014 the band announced their reunion for at least one concert later that year on Hockenheimring. After the concert was sold out in under 2 hours, they announced a second concert that would be held just one day after the first.
The band members are:
Kevin Russell (lead vocals)
Matthias "Gonzo" Röhr (guitar)
Stephan Weidner (bass guitar, guitar, vocals, keys)
Peter "Pe" Schorowsky (drums)
Official site: www.onkelz.de
Their debut album Der nette Mann (1984) was confiscated by the German BzKJ (Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons) until 2005 (20 years) because of its alleged violence-glorifying and sexist content, which meant that they weren't allowed to sell it anymore nor perform any songs of the album publicly.
In the mid 80's, Böhse Onkelz left the skinhead scene and distanced themselves from their past. However, critics argue, that they just left the scene to gain popularity in the non-right-winged fanbase and still believe in their nationalist ideals.
By releasing more and more albums, they built up a respectable fan community. Their last album got the significant name Adios and they finally ended their career after 25 years on the Lausitzring-Festival in 2005 - In front of more than 120.000 fans. Without any promotion, the tickets were sold out after 22 days. Special guests performing were: Motörhead, Machine Head, J.B.O., In Extremo, Psychopunch, Children of Bodom and Pro-Pain.
According to Machine Head singer Robert Flynn, "Every person knew every lyric, and pointed the words right back at them in perfect sync. Literally a sea of more than 100,000 would raise their arms and point along with the words, and then when the lyrics stopped they’d all go back down."
In early 2014 the band announced their reunion for at least one concert later that year on Hockenheimring. After the concert was sold out in under 2 hours, they announced a second concert that would be held just one day after the first.
The band members are:
Kevin Russell (lead vocals)
Matthias "Gonzo" Röhr (guitar)
Stephan Weidner (bass guitar, guitar, vocals, keys)
Peter "Pe" Schorowsky (drums)
Official site: www.onkelz.de
