Читать книгу Human Punk For Real - Marco Thiede - Страница 5

That was the year of redemption! A bunch of crazy fuckers from London would change the lives of an entire generation and youth culture forever. That was the year of Punk Rock! A rebellion against the music establishment; a revolution of misfits. Finally there was something that was a reaction against all that useless Disco garbage and those endless whining love songs. Something that spoke the truth. Finally we had music to touch, to go crazy to and get our aggressions out on. The Punk invasion came at the perfect time, in the era of nuclear power, RAF (Red Army Faction), environmental pollution and other crises.

Punk Rock has changed my life forever, and in an extremely positive way. Unfortunately, it has drawn many…too many other people down into the gutter. From the beginning, I’ve always done my own thing. I had no ambition to just get wasted, and kept my hands off of drugs. And this in a time when those who indulged like crazy people died off like flies!

Old school class photo: top left Wilfried (later a Punk) Voller and I at age 12 about 1976 -1977

I've always been working class, and have nothing in common with those colored-haired Crusties that hang around the train stations.

With this book, I want to document, as well as I can, my Punk Rock life story. From the zero hour, with a focus on the 80s, up to and including today. With all the ups and downs. Including the growth of the Bremen Punk scene, and all the violent clashes against the right-wing Skinheads, cops and rednecks.

Bremen was, especially in the 80s, a very unpleasant place for Nazi Skinheads and sometimes, unfortunately, for Punks from other cities. Because of this, in part, it was not possible for Bremen bands to gig out of town, or to find places to crash in other cities.

Through the founding of ASL (Anti Skinhead League ) Bremen Punks became very well known throughout the whole German Republic. For this, they were sometimes shunned in other cities, because at the beginning of the Punk era, many Punks and Skins hung out together. Beginning of the 80s however, the whole Punks and Skins United thing fell apart.

I would first have to make it clear that I 'm not a thug, and don’t necessarily need violence in my life. But it was always clear to me that I would stand up for my beliefs, whether it was fun or not! If you were a Punk in Bremen, you were automatically in the ASL! There was no founder or boss. Our priority was to attack Skins whenever we saw them, and leave no inch for them to gain a foothold. Bremen was virtually the English Huddersfield,or Millwall (two cities infamous for their Hooliganism); we had a tendency towards cruelty. That’s how it was. This was war!

We all come from the Street, not from the hair salon. And that's a good thing. From today's perspective, I am totally happy that some of my former enemies are nowadays very good friends of mine, healed from the wounds I helped inflict on them, and able to enjoy life.

I realize that I can’t please everyone with this book. But honestly, I don’t really give a fuck. People will always criticize, no matter what you do. Even if you buy the whole world a free beer…

Another reason to write this book, was that although there are many books about bands, musicians, etc., very few have been written from the perspective of other participants: spectators, companions or eyewitnesses. So-called No-Names have maybe written Punk novels – but that’s all...

And also my two friends T. Winter and Chaos, which at that time were on the other side, have written about that time from their perspective, and in my opinion, did a damn good job. So that gave me another reason: to show the situation from the point of view of Punk Rockers, to describe the “brutal, despised” Bremen.

I was unfortunately always too dumb to play an instrument, or even to growl into the microphone, although unbelievably many thought I played in bands. Let's hope that at least my scribbling sounds a bit more interesting.

Dedicated to myself, my daughter Cheyenne, my wife Sarah, my sister Pedy Peng Peng and all my countless great friends. For those that share my life, and those who are sadly no longer with us.

The list is endless!