My generation of 1970 Germany was not the first to become addicted to devouring the weekly BRAVO magazine, and it would not be the last. One of the unique accomplishments of the editors of the magazine five years before I was born was to organize, stage and market The Rolling Stones first tour of Germany and Austria ever, in 1965.
One of earlier the accomplishments of the magazine and one of the notable instances where the Beatles actually did something after The Rolling Stones, brought The Rolling Stones to Germany in 1965. Bravo Magazine organized the much more well known “Beatles Bravo Blitztournee” in 1966 and had contacted Brian Epstein to talk about their proposal only after the Stones had already toured the country. “Blitztournee” seems an interesting Juxtaposition to “Blitzkrieg”, given that both the Stones and the Beatles were spearheading what was already being called the “British Invasion”. That being said Rock n Roll coming to Germany is certainly preferable over V1 rockets going the other way.
While albeit only available in German, the following derogatory and polemic TV footage from 1965 by reporter Peter Scharf truly deserves a full translation for its comical and manipulative nature:
Here is an English transcript of what is being said:
[Scharf to footage of the Stones on an airfield]: “(The Rolling Stones) Is the ugliest Beat Group in England. They look like uncombed, longhaired and unwashed cave people, which only recently emerged from the Ice Age. And they make noises that, according to many, seem to stem from a when was customary to proclaim one’s love with stone clubs or maces.
[Scharf to the footage of girls in ecstasy]: “Now what would you expect from German girls?”
[To footage of the good people of the pretty town of Münster]: “The first to be invaded molested turned upside down and intoxicated, was the particularly conservative city of Münster, a recognized moral stronghold. A communion between Mick Jagger, the spokesperson of the 5 English millionaires and his underage victims.
[Scharf To the song of “Satisfaction”]: Jagger rummages through his experiences with young girls as first inhibitions fall. Observers note mental absences but not yet unconsciousness.
[Footage of the song of “Paint it Black”]: Then the fans blacked out. “
[Footafe of the Berlin Concert]: 21,000 fans of the Waldbühne (Berlin) that exploded like a barrel of gun powder as thousands of followers of beat music fell into mass psychosis and whiplashed by the hammering rhythms lost all sense of what they were doing.
The report continues with Scharf Interviewing unknown older Gentleman
Interview partner: “I was hoping that at the Waldbühne [an outdoor venue] with all that fresh air and hopefully some rain, things might be a little more civilized”
[Scharf to images of a water cannon dispersing crowds]: ‘We could have helped the rain a little, could we not.’’
[Scharf to footage of the Waldbühne concert getting significantly out of control]: Up until the appearance of the Stones on the stage, security staff was able to keep the stage clear. Then, as The Stones took the stage, the staff was overwhelmed by the mob, the stage was taken and the police got involved. During the performance of the Beat group, there was an outright triumph of rage and destruction by completely disinhibited youth.
Asked about his thoughts on German teenagers, the star “Mike Jäger” said:
“I don’t know too much about them, but from what I have heard about them, they seem to be rather nice”
The TV broadcast ends with footage of rubble, trash and destruction.
While the Stones concert did leave the Berlin Venue in complete rubble, the fans of course had a different recollection of events and many seem to have loved the experience. One did describe the security guards as both well nourished and grim looking and others speak of deliberate agitation by agent provocateurs in an attempt to discredit this and other politically undesirable youth movements of the time.
The clash of cultures and generations was a worldwide phenomenon, but it may be considered particularly severe in post-war Germany, where many of the protagonists and beneficiaries of a totalitarian system that violently suppressed all deviations of a state norm were at the time raising teenagers.
Arved Deecke is founder of the Danish / Mexican Loudspeaker company KVART & BØLGE that makes audiophile quarter wave loudspeakers and sound systems at a price anyone can afford. In his free time he blogs about all things related to sound, music and audio.
