World-class Belgian pop songs: up until 1994, these were Jacques Brel's breakup ballad "Ne me quitte pas" and the dance classic "Nah neh nah" by Vaya Con Dios.

But since the beginning of the 1990s, a scene of young unconventional musicians, not limited by any genre boundaries, had formed in the diverse port city of Antwerp, who were gradually ripe for an international career.

Philip Krohn

Editor in business, responsible for "People and Business".

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The focus was on dEUS, for which the label alternative rock, which said a lot and little, was still the best label for a drawer, because other terms didn't fit.

In the early days, it wasn't easy to get their creators' uncategorized music to fit into British music formats.

For a time it was referred to as Art Rock.

But what was heard ranged from American independent music such as Pavement, Nirvana and Pixies to experimental pop by Zappa, Captain Beefheart and Tom Waits and noise attacks à la Sonic Youth.

The influences of the five band members ranged from folk to house, from jazz to progressive rock.

They lure you down the wrong path

On the band's first three albums, the two songwriters, guitarist Tom Barman and bassist Stef Kamil Carlens, formed the field of tension.

Their musical preferences between alternative and experimental rock were repeatedly renegotiated in the most important songs of dEUS.

Guitar layers were superimposed and increased to sound infernos - sometimes after light folk arrangements laid a completely wrong track.

Songs like "For the Roses" or "Instant Street" get their attraction from the fact that the listener is euphoric that the band can always go one step further.

Other highlights of the band's catalogue, such as "Little Arithmetics" or "Disappointed in the Sun", thrive on the fact that they bring together the most diverse influences through coherent songwriting and unmistakable melodies and that at some point they still have a barb ready.

But the smash hit of the Belgian alternative band is and remains their first single "Suds & Soda", with which they once went on the search for a record label.

In a way it is the Belgian "Smells Like Teen Spirit" - a song that captures the atmosphere of the mid-nineties, has always electrified the audience, and is the highlight of every concert by the band.

It is also the central star of their debut album "Worst Case Scenario", which also contains other classics such as "Hotellounge" or "Via".

In addition to the interaction between Carlens and Barman, another band member comes to the fore: the violinist Klaas Janzoons, who at the beginning provides a motif that runs through the song and, in contrast to the violins, creates an enormous tension that is reflected in the chorus ( "It is always something in the Air...") and dissolves in the instrumental freak-out and builds up again.

The loudest, wildest, most driving rock you've heard since musicians wore T-shirts and flannel shirts instead of fake costumes and makeup.

The most common word in the song is "Friday".

In the transcriptions of the text it is usually only mentioned towards the end.

Like the violin motif, it is a second style-defining element of the composition: the first evening of the weekend is almost conjured up.

The song is about going out, possibly the moment dEUS became what they are: a band that absorbed all the influences around them and fused them into consistent works of art.

The Friday evening as an initiation to become an artist, to experience music, art and community.

"Teen Spirit" in Antwerp.

But also with communication problems.