Maybe the Germans just don't believe that.

That a German single about the fall of the Iron Curtain to the soundtrack of the fall of the Wall has now been streamed a billion times.

That a couple of long-haired people from Hanover regularly sell out Madison Square Garden in New York and are heroes from Japan to Malaysia.

And that these leather guys in their mid-seventies are still making concert halls explode.

Phillip Krohn

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

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So also on a mild summer evening in Strasbourg.

The Zenith is packed when Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs storm the stage with the message "Let's play it louder" from their new song "Gas In The Tank".

It doesn't take four tracks for band founder Schenker to pump out his riffs on his V-shaped guitar in the sea of ​​spectators.

An explosive light show captivated fans.

Jabs played a virtuoso talkbox/guitar solo.

Mine proved that his voice reaches remarkable heights at 74.

Then, back-to-chest in a quartet with bassist Paweł Mąciwoda, they hurl the infernal power chords of their classic instrumental “Coast To Coast” out of three guitars like they own the world.

This is the same band that people in Germany are a bit ashamed of because "Wind Of Change" is such a shallow sing-along.

In the record store, young people tend to browse through their compartments with embarrassment, because the taste police have set the rule that rock music should be ironic and discursive instead of loud and straightforward.

And who, with their internationally acclaimed albums from the most productive phase such as "Lovedrive", "Blackout" and "Love At First Sting" from 1979, did not even qualify for a lower rank in the list of the 50 best German records of the music magazine "Rolling Stone". .

Last but not least, photos with figures from the Hanover connection made an impression: Maschmeyer.

verres

Schroeder.

gabriel

my smiles

beret cap.

Sunglasses.

rocker greeting.

The relationship between the Germans and their biggest band is complicated.

Now that's no different than with their lesser-known pioneers like Can, Faust or Neu!, who also hardly get any credit.

The ranking of German pop heroes is still determined by their success on their home market: Lindenberg, Grönemeyer, Westernhagen, Ärzte, Hosen.

And the universally revered Neue Deutsche Welle, with which even the dullest of wedding parties can be revived.

And the discourse pop from Hamburg, the identity-forming shielding music of intellectuals under fifty.

Just ask on the street: "Do you know Distelmeyer?"

But you don't just want to think about it.

So happy about the invitation to the Peppermint Park Studios in Hanover at the beginning of August.

Whichever phase of the career we are talking about, the focus, discipline and motivation of the formation become clear.

They already knew their goal when they recorded their first record in 1972 with producer Conny Plank, another hidden German pop giant.

"Conny laughed at us: 'Guys, America, really?'

It was a crazy dream,” says Meine with a grin.

Today he wears a cap instead of the iconic beret.

The photos with the Hanover Connection?

“Folklore is a good word for it.

It was all a long time ago, but it's always warmed up," says the singer.