Look up -ist, -ist-, IST, or ist in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Ist or IST may refer to:

Places[link]

• The IATA code for Istanbul's Atatürk International Airport
• Ist (island), an island in the Adriatic Sea
• Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey
• InterSwitch Trunk, Avaya enhancement to Link aggregation

Schools and organizations[link]

• Institute of Science & Technology, in West Bengal, India
• Institute of Science and Technology, in Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Institute of Space Technology, in Islamabad, Pakistan
• International Socialist Tendency, an international grouping of Marxist organisations adhering the ideas of Tony Cliff
• Instituto Superior Técnico, a Portuguese school of engineering at the Technical University of Lisbon
• Institute for Simulation and Training, at the University of Central Florida
• International School of Tanganyika, an international school in Tanzania
• International School of Tianjin, in Tianjin, China
• International School of Toulouse, a school in the south of France
• Iraqi Special Tribunal, a special court set up in Iraq for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity
• Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology, in Pennsylvania, USA
• Institute for Software Technology, at the Technical University Graz
• International Spartacist Tendency

Networking[link]

Science, technology, and mathematics

• Inappropriate sinus tachycardia, an uncommon type of cardiac arrhythmia
• Information Society Technologies
• Information systems and technology
• Insulin shock therapy, a form of psychiatric treatment
• Inverse scattering transform, a method for solving some non-linear partial differential equations
• .ist, the file extension for files created by the now-obsolete Adobe ImageStyler

Set theory

• Internal set theory, an axiomatic basis for part of non-standard analysis
• Intuitionistic set theory
• Intuitive set theory

Time zones[link]

• Indian Standard Time, the time observed throughout India and Sri Lanka
• Iran Standard Time, the time zone used in Iran
• Irish Standard Time, the official English-language designation of summer time in the Republic of Ireland
• Israel Standard Time, the standard time zone in Israel

Other[link]

• Incompetent to stand trial, legal slang
• Ist (band), an English band
• Ist (disambiguation), National University, Bangladesh
• Toyota ist, a subcompact car made in Japan by Toyota

See also[link]

• Society for Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T), a research and education organization in the field of imaging

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Einstürzende Neubauten
Einstürzende Neubauten live at "Casa da Música" in Porto, May 2008
Background information
Origin	Berlin, Germany
Genres	Dark ambient Post-industrial Avant-garde Experimental rock Industrial music (early)
Years active	1980–present
Labels	ZickZack Mute ROIR Potomak Nothing (briefly)
Website	neubauten.org
Members
Blixa Bargeld Alexander Hacke N.U. Unruh Jochen Arbeit Rudolf Moser
Past members
Beate Bartel Gudrun Gut F.M. Einheit Mark Chung Roland Wolf

Einstürzende Neubauten (German pronunciation: [ˈaɪnˌʃtʏɐtsəndə ˈnɔʏˌbaʊtən], "Collapsing New Buildings"^{[note 1]}) is a German industrial band, originally from West Berlin, formed in 1980. The group currently comprises Blixa Bargeld (lead vocals, guitar, keyboard), Alexander Hacke (bass, guitar, vocals), N.U. Unruh (custom-made instruments, percussion, vocals), Jochen Arbeit (guitar and vocals), and Rudolf Moser (custom-built instruments, percussion, and vocals).

One of their trademarks is the use of custom-built instruments, predominantly made out of scrap metal and building tools, and noises, in addition to standard musical instruments.

History[link]

Early years[link]

On April 1, 1980, Einstürzende Neubauten made their first appearance in the Moon Club in Berlin.^[1] This first line-up featured Beate Bartel and Gudrun Gut, Blixa Bargeld, and N.U. Unruh. The two female members, Bartel and Gut, left the band after a short period of performing and founded Mania D. Alexander Hacke (alias Alexander von Borsig), a sound technician and multi-instrumentalist who was fifteen years old at that time, joined the band and became a long-time member.

In 1981, the percussionist F.M. Einheit (from the Hamburg band Abwärts) joined Einstürzende Neubauten and they released their first LP Kollaps (English: "Collapse"),^[1] a mixture of rough punk rock tunes and industrial noises. The industrial noises were obtained from self-made music machines, electronics, and found objects such as metal plates. The live performances with FM Einheit in the 1980s, which became legendary, included lots of metal banging and destruction on stage.

During their first German tour, Mark Chung (previously the bass player with Abwärts) joined the group of musicians.^[1] This line-up lasted for nearly 15 years.

In 1983, Einstürzende Neubauten recorded their second album Zeichnungen des Patienten O. T. (English: "Drawings of Patient O.T.").^[1] The title came from a 1974 book by Leo Navratil, describing the drawings of Oswald Tschirtner.

Also in 1983, Bargeld joined the band The Birthday Party (featuring Nick Cave and Mick Harvey) as a guitarist. This group was disbanded shortly after, but Bargeld became a long-time member of one of the bands that sprang from The Birthday Party – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (again featuring Nick Cave and Mick Harvey). Bargeld remained a full-time member of both bands, Einstürzende Neubauten and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, until 2003, when he quit the Bad Seeds in order to focus on Einstürzende Neubauten.

1984 also saw the first release of a best-of and rarities compilation, Strategies Against Architecture 80-83.

1985–1989[link]

The band's next album, Halber Mensch ("Half Man") in 1985,^[1] may be seen as a developmental breakthrough. Musical structure became more evident, and Bargeld's lyrics and, especially, his singing changed. He moved from shouted words and phrases toward organized, poetic melodies.

The band played a show in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to kick off their third North American tour. The performance was sponsored by the German Goethe Institute as part of the German contribution to Expo 86. Also scheduled to appear were Test Dept and Skinny Puppy, though not everyone was able to play.

On the tour, the group's experimental and improvised live performance style occasionally caused difficulties with venue management and law enforcement. A performance at The Palladium in Manhattan ended 30 minutes into the set after an improvised pyrotechnics display. The band ignited lighter fluid in a couple of metal pans, and management stopped the performance and cleared the venue.^[2][3]

The one-hour film Halber Mensch (1986) by Sōgo Ishii documents Einstürzende Neubauten's visit to Japan in 1985. The next two albums, Fünf auf der nach oben offenen Richterskala ("Five on the open-ended Richterscale") in 1987^[1] and Haus der Lüge ("House of the Lie") in 1989,^[1] were great successes in the United States and Japan.

1990–1995[link]

In 1990, the band tried something completely new, recording the soundtrack for East German playwright Heiner Müller's play Die Hamletmaschine ("The Hamlet Machine") for East German radio Rundfunk der DDR.^[4] The band image of Einstürzende Neubauten changed: Blixa Bargeld, formerly wearing punk/industrial style clothes, appeared at the live concerts in a suit.

1991 also saw the release of the double album, a best-of and rarities album, Strategies Against Architecture II. This collection included a musical setting of Heiner Müller's piece "Bildbeschreibung" ("Explosion of a Memory" or "Description of a Picture" in English).

In Vienna, May 1992, Einstürzende Neubauten performed at The Academy of Fine Arts' 300th anniversary in a show by Erich Wonder, Das Auge des Taifun ("The eye of the typhoon").

The next album Tabula Rasa (1993)^[1] was an important turning point in the band's history, their music becoming softer and containing more electronic sounds.

In 1993, they were booked to support U2 during their European leg of the Zoo TV Tour, but were thrown off the stage and off the tour when a band member threw an iron bar into the booing crowd.^[5]

Mark Chung left the band in 1994 after the recording of Faustmusik for Werner Schwab's play, and made a career in the music industry. F.M. Einheit, who contributed much to the music and sound of the band, left the band a short time later in 1995, during the recording of the Ende Neu album, at least partially because of a conflict with Bargeld. The last Einstürzende Neubauten track Einheit worked on was "Was ist ist".^[6] Roland Wolf replaced them on bass guitar and keyboards only a short time before dying in a car accident in 1995.

1996–1999[link]

A short time later, the band released the album Ende Neu ("Ending New") in 1996.^[1] The album title is an example of word-play on the band's own name (i.e. "Einstürzende Neubauten"). The song "Stella Maris" – a duet between Bargeld and Hacke's then-wife, singer Meret Becker – became quite famous; a world tour followed the release. During this time, Jochen Arbeit and Rudi Moser (both members of Die Haut) joined the band: Arbeit on guitar, and Moser on drums, with Hacke switching to bass guitar. This line-up, accompanied by Ash Wednesday on keyboards for live concerts, has held ever since.

In 1997, the album Ende Neu Remixes was released, which featured remixes of the songs from Ende Neu by artists such as Barry Adamson, Pan Sonic and Darkus (alias Mark Rutherford); Darkus' remix tracks, with others not included on Ende Neu Remixes, were made available separately in the same year on The NNNAAAMMM Remixes By Darkus release.

2000–2001[link]

Live at "Tollhaus" in Karlsruhe, May 2000: Alexander Hacke (left) and Blixa Bargeld (right)

From March 27 to May 23, 2000, Einstürzende Neubauten celebrated their 20th birthday with a "20th anniversary tour", playing in the Columbiahalle, Berlin on their exact birthday, April 1, and released the album Silence Is Sexy,^[1] followed by a world tour. 2001 also saw the release of another double best-of and rarities album, Strategies Against Architecture III.

Since 2001, Einstürzende Neubauten albums and web projects have been partially produced and supported by Bargeld's wife Erin Zhu, who also serves as webmaster of the official Einstürzende Neubauten website.

2002–2004[link]

In 2002, Einstürzende Neubauten began work on a new album without the backing of a record label, relying instead upon fan ("supporter") participation in an experiment of a type of Street Performer Protocol combined with an internet community and touches of the patronage system. An exclusive Supporter Album No. 1, and the Airplane Miniatures EP following, were made available in 2003.

Bargeld left Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in 2003. In order to go on tour, the band reneged on the idea of creating a supporter-only album, and cooperated with Mute Records to go on tour and release Perpetuum Mobile in 2004.^[1] Air sounds, such as blowing the plastic pipes with an air compressor, were greatly explored and used for this album: the working title of the album was, for a long while, Luftveränderung ("Change of air"). A half an hour long documentary about the supporters project entitled 'Traumfestival' was made by Ste van Holm and Dihcar. The film is now available on YouTube.

The live shows of the Perpetuum Mobile Tour were recorded by the band's sound engineers, then burned on CDRs with individual pictures of each show taken by Danielle de Picciotto and sold directly after the concerts to the visitors; numerous "official" live albums were created during this tour as a result.

In November 2004, the band went on a mini-tour, which included a supporters-only performance at Berlin's Palast der Republik. The performance was filmed and coordinated by Danielle de Picciotto and Ian Williamson and was released on the exclusive supporter's DVD at the end of Phase II.

2005[link]

The band also started a new project called Musterhaus in early 2005. The first CD Anarchitektur was sent out in May 2005, and was also available for download to Musterhaus subscribers. The Musterhaus project was a "line of releases intended to give the band an outlet for more experimental impulses and exploration." Musterhaus albums were released roughly every 3 months.

The second Musterhaus CD Unglaublicher Laerm ("Incredible noise") was finished on August 15, and shipped out (as well as posted for download) shortly after.

Phase II of the Neubauten Supporter's project finished in August 2005, and the official site was taken down on September 20. The supporter album Grundstück ("Floor-piece") and DVD (containing footage from the November 2004 Grundstück performance in Berlin) was shipped in early October 2005.

Musterhaus #3 Solo Bassfeder ("Solo bass-spring"), released December 8, is a collection of bass spring compositions by the individual members of Einstürzende Neubauten.

2006[link]

Phase III of the Supporter's project started on February 10. On February 25, the fourth part of the Musterhaus series, called Redux Orchestra versus Einstürzende Neubauten was completed. One of the new additions to Phase III started in March 2006 was a piece-by-piece album called Jewels, finally finished in August 2007.

Danielle de Picciotto, Alexander Hacke's wife and long time companion released the DVD documentary "Einstürzende Neubauten - On tour with neubauten.org" which describes the supporter project in detail, having interviewed international supporters during the Perpetuum Mobile tour in 2004.

Musterhaus #5 Kassetten ("Cassettes"), finished May 15 with release scheduled for May 31. At the same time, Alles was irgendwie nützt ("Everything of any use"), an album that had been in the work since Phase 2, were completed. The album consists of rare live tracks, handpicked by 6 supporters of Phase 2 and mixed by Boris Wilsdorf. This was quickly followed by Musterhaus #6 Klaviermusik ("Piano music"), released on August 31.

In October, Neubauten released a public DVD, the recording made at Palast der Republik.

Musterhaus #7 Stimmen Reste ("Voice Remainders") was released on December 2, consisting of vocal experiments, vocal recordings, and manipulations of voice recordings, enriched with leftover instrumental tracks made with polystyrene, electronic pulses, hammond organ, bass guitar, and metal percussion.

2007–present[link]

It was announced on the band's website that they would be undertaking a "small (mostly) UK tour" in April 2007, playing in Hannover on April 22 beforehand. Musterhaus #8 Weingeister ("Wine spirits") was released on April 6, forming the final instalment of the Musterhaus series.

A new commercial album was made available later in the year,^[7] the first release since 2004's Perpetuum Mobile. The new album, Alles wieder offen ("All open again"), was released in 2007^[1] without the backing of a label, a move the band had intended to make with Perpetuum Mobile. Fans who were part of the paid EN community at neubauten.org received access to an album with the same tracks plus a number of extra songs, and an optional DVD about the making of the album. The band also filmed a video for "Nagorny Karabach".^[8] They spent the first half of 2008 touring for the album, playing 32 dates in 19 European countries.

Live at "Berns" in Stockholm, April 2008: Blixa Bargeld (left) and N.U. Unruh (centre-left)

Einstürzende Neubauten celebrated their 30th anniversary in 2010 with a tour through Europe. An American leg was also planned, however on November 29, 2010 the band announced the cancellation of all their U.S. dates due to visa scheduling problems.^[9]

Silence Is Sexy was reissued on July 1, 2011.^[10]

Members[link]

• Blixa Bargeld: lead vocals, guitar, keyboards. (real name: Christian Emmerich, original member)
• Alexander Hacke: bass, guitar, vocals (also known as Alexander von Borsig, since 1980)
• N.U. Unruh: special built instruments, percussion, vocals (real name: Andrew Chudy, original member)
• Jochen Arbeit: guitar, vocals (since 1997)
• Rudolf Moser: special built instruments, percussion, vocals (since 1997)

Other personnel[link]

• Ash Wednesday: keyboards, electronics (touring member since 1997)
• Boris Wilsdorf - sound engineer
• Erin Zhu - executive producer, webmaster of neubauten.org and wife of Blixa Bargeld. Erin is a graduate of Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was a Sloan Fellow. Erin Zhu and Blixa Bargeld are featured in Designing Media, a 2010 Bill Moggridge book about 37 of the most influential people in the media industry.^[11]
• Ari Benjamin Meyers - frequent collaborator, with Redux Orchestra and on piano
• Danielle de Picciotto - documented the Perpetuum Mobile and Grundstück tours and Palast der Republik performance, coordinated Jewels documentation and released a documentary "Einstürzende Neubauten -On tour with neubauten.org"; also the wife of Alexander Hacke

Previous members[link]

• Beate Bartel: bass (original member, only in the band for a short time in 1980)
• Gudrun Gut: keyboards (original member, only in the band for a short time in 1980)
• F.M. Einheit: percussion, vocals (real name: Frank Martin Strauß, 1981–1995)
• Mark Chung: bass, vocals (1981–1994)
• Roland Wolf: keyboards, bass (replaced Mark Chung in 1995, died in a traffic accident short time later)

Band name[link]

The band name is usually translated into English as "Collapsing New Buildings". Neubauten ("new buildings" in English) is a general term referring to buildings constructed in Germany after 1945. These are often regarded as cheaper, flimsier, and less aesthetically attractive than Altbauten, or pre-1945, especially pre-modernist buildings. Due to the extensive destruction throughout Germany during the Second World War, and the extensive rebuilding thereafter, Neubauten constitute a very familiar element of German cities.

The band's name attracted unexpected attention when on 21 May 1980, not two months after the band's forming, the roof of the Berlin Congress Hall famously collapsed, killing one person and injuring many. The resulting media attention surrounding the collapse of the German-American icon gave the meaning of their name a new dimension.^[12]

Band logo[link]

The Einstürzende Neubauten's logo can be described as a human symbol with two arms, two legs (one much shorter than another), thin body and big round head with a circle in its middle. It was not created by or for the band, but is a cave drawing of probably Toltec origin.

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Stahlmusik (1980)
• Kollaps (1981)
• Zeichnungen des Patienten O. T. (1983)
• Halber Mensch (1985)
• Fünf auf der nach oben offenen Richterskala (1987)
• Haus der Lüge (1989)
• Tabula Rasa (1993)
• Ende Neu (1996)
• Silence Is Sexy (2000)
• Perpetuum Mobile (2004)
• Alles wieder offen (2007)

EPs

• Thirsty Animal, (Einstürzende Neubauten & Lydia Lunch), 1982
• Interim (1993)
• Malediction (1993)
• Total Eclipse of the Sun (1999)

Singles

• "Für den Untergang" (1980)
• "Kalte Sterne" (1981)
• "Thirsty Animal" (1982) (with Lydia Lunch & Rowland S. Howard)
• "Yü-Gung" (1985)
• "Das Schaben" (1985)
• "Feurio!" (1989) (3-inch disc)
• "Nag Nag Nag/Wüste" (1993) (3-inch disc available only with book Einstürzende Neubauten)
• "Stella Maris" (1996)
• "NNNAAAMMM - Remixes by Darkus" (1997)
• "Total Eclipse Of The Sun" (2000)
• "Perpetuum Mobile" (2004) (download-only release)
• "Weil Weil Weil" (2007) (download-only release)

Collections

• Stahldubversions (1982)
• Strategies Against Architecture 80-83 (1984)
• Tri-Set (1994)
• Ende Neu Remixes (1997)
• Strategies Against Architecture II (1991)
• Strategies Against Architecture III (2001)
• Kalte Sterne -early recordings- (2004)
• Strategies Against Architecture IV (2010)

Live albums

• 1981/1982 Livematerial (1982)
• 2X4 (1984) (live album)
• 09-15-2000, Brussels (2001)
• Gemini (2003)
• Perpetuum Mobile Tour (2004)
• 04-01-2004, Amsterdam (2004)
• 10-29-2004, Reggio Emilia (2004)
• 25th Anniversary Tour (2005)
• 04-07-2005, Brussels (2005)
• 04-22-2007, Hannover (2007)
• Palast der Republik (2007)

Neubauten.org Supporters Project

• Supporter Album No. 1 (2003)
• Airplane Miniatures (2003)
• Grundstück (2005)
• Alles was irgendwie nützt (2006)
• Jewels (2006–2007)

Musterhaus Series

• Anarchitektur (2005)
• Unglaublicher Laerm (2005)
• Solo Bassfeder (2005)
• Redux Orchestra versus Einstürzende Neubauten (2006)
• Kassetten (2006)
• Klaviermusik(2006)
• Stimmen Reste (2006)
• Weingeister (2007)

Soundtracks and Plays

• Die Hamletmaschine (1991)
• Faustmusik (1996)
• Berlin Babylon (2001)

Appeared on:

• Hardware (movie) (1990)
• Heat (soundtrack) (1995)
• The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996 film)
• Inglourious Basterds (soundtrack) (2009)

Videos

• Halber Mensch (film) (1985)
• Liebeslieder (1993)
• Stella Maris (1996)
• 20th anniversary concert (2000)
• Listen With Pain: 20 Years of Einstürzende Neubauten (2000)
• On Tour With Neubauten.org (2004)
• Grundstück DVD (2005)
• Palast der Republik DVD (2006)
• Elektrokohle (Von Wegen) (2009)

See also[link]

• Industrial music
• Industrial percussion

Notes[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Jennifer Shryane (2011): Blixa Bargeld and Einstürzende Neubauten: German Experimental Music. Ashgate. http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781409421566
• M. Bullynck and I. Goerlandt: "The Semiotics of Einstürzende Neubauten's 'X'". In: Philament 7 (2005), pp. 1–8. [1]
• A. Spencer: "Einstürzende Neubauten und Heiner Müller: 'Kopfarbeit' or The Theatre in Your Head". In: Amsterdamer Beiträge zur neueren Germanistik 48 (2000), pp. 203–222.
• Dax, Max and Defcon, Robert. Nur was nicht ist, ist möglich/No Beauty Without Danger.
• Maeck, Klaus (1989). Hör mit Schmerzen/Listen with Pain. EME, Bonn, Germany. ISBN 3-88030-028-3
• Maeck, Klaus (1997). Hör Mit Schmerzen/Listen With Pain: Einstürzende Neubauten, 1980-1996 (Paperback). Gestalten Verlag, Berlin, Germany. ISBN 3-931126-09-9.
• Bargeld, Blixa (1997). Headcleaner: Text Fur Einstürzende Neubauten/Text for Collapsing New Buildings (Paperback). Gestalten Verlag, Berlin, Germany. ISBN 3-931126-12-9.
• (1993). Einstürzende Neubauten (Paperback includes 3" CD). Stampa Alternativa/Materiali Sonori, Italy. ISBN 88-7226-101-5.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Einstürzende Neubauten

• Einstürzende Neubauten — official website
• Blixa Bargeld — official website
• Alexander Hacke — official website
• F.M. Einheit — official website
• Ash Wednesday — official website
• Einstürzende Neubauten archives
• Stahlmusik — German fansite about Einstürzende Neubauten band members
• Einstürzende Neubauten discography on Discogs
• Einstürzende Neubauten — a discography webpage
• Potomak Label — official website
• Potomak Label official page on MySpace
• Collapsing Again by Travis Jeppesen
• Doing the unspeakable — 25th anniversary interview with Alexander Hacke by Max Dax
• Alexander Hacke and Blixa Bargeld — 30th anniversary concert in Berlin, Germany

This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (November 2010)

Tokio Hotel
Tokio Hotel, 2010. L-R: Georg Listing, Bill Kaulitz, Tom Kaulitz, and Gustav Schäfer
Background information
Origin	Magdeburg, Germany
Genres	Pop rock,[1][2] alternative rock,[3] emo,[4] glam rock,[5] power pop,[6][7][8][9]
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Universal Music Germany, Cherrytree, Interscope
Website	www.tokiohotel.com
Members
Bill Kaulitz Tom Kaulitz Georg Listing Gustav Schäfer

Tokio Hotel is a rock band from Germany, founded in 2001 by singer Bill Kaulitz, guitarist Tom Kaulitz, drummer Gustav Schäfer and bassist Georg Listing.^[10] The quartet have scored four number one singles and have released three number one albums in their native country, selling nearly 5 million CDs and DVDs there.^[11] After recording an unreleased demo-CD under the name "Devilish" and having their contract with Sony BMG Germany terminated, the band released their first German-language album, Schrei, as Tokio Hotel on Universal Music Germany in 2005. Schrei sold more than half a million copies worldwide^[12] and spawned four top five singles in both Germany and Austria. In 2007, the band released their second German album Zimmer 483 and their first English album Scream which have combined album sales of over one million copies worldwide and helped win the band their first MTV Europe Music Award for Best InterAct. The former, Zimmer 483, spawned three top five singles in Germany while the latter, Scream, spawned two singles that reached the top twenty in new territories such as France, Portugal, Spain and Italy. In September 2008, they won in the US their first MTV Video Music Award (VMA) for Best New Artist. In October 2008, they won four awards including Best International Artist and Song of the year at Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica (MTV Video Music Awards Latin America) held in Mexico. Tokio Hotel became the first German band ever to win an award at the MTV VMAs and also at the MTV Latin America Awards. They also picked up the Headliner award at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008 held in Liverpool on November 6, 2008 and the Award for Best Group on November 5, 2009 at the MTV Europe Music Award (EMA) held in Berlin. They won an Award for Best World Stage Performance on November 7, 2010 at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Madrid. In July 2011, they became the first German band to win an MTV Video Music Awards Japan (VMAJ). And won MTV's 2012 Musical March Madness.

History[link]

[edit] Formation (2001 - 2004)

Tokio Hotel by vocalist Bill Kaulitz and guitarist Tom Kaulitz, who are identical twin brothers, drummer Gustav Schäfer and bass-guitarist Georg Listing. The four met in 2001 after a live show in a Magdeburg-Club, where Listing and Schäfer, who knew each other from music school, watched from the audience while Bill and Tom Kaulitz played on the stage.^[13][14] Under the name Devilish, the band soon began playing in talent shows and small concerts.^[15] After Bill Kaulitz's participation in a children's Star Search in 2003 at age thirteen (which he lost in the quarter-final), he was discovered by music producer Peter Hoffmann. Devilish changed their name to Tokio Hotel: "Tokio", the German spelling of the Japanese city Tokyo, due to a love of the city, and "Hotel" due to their constant touring and living in hotels.^[13] Soon after Sony BMG took them under contract, Hoffmann hired David Jost and Pat Benzner into the team of creators and authors, and had them give the teens instruction on songwriting and instrument playing; most of the songs of the first album were written by Hoffmann, Jost and Benzer (including the singles "Scream" and "Rescue me" which were completely written by them), only the single "Unendlichkeit" was written completely by Tokio Hotel themselves. Shortly before release of their first album, Sony terminated their contract. The band is now one of the biggest modern acts from Germany and the biggest in 20 years.

[edit] Schrei (2005 - 2006)

Bill Kaulitz performing in Hessisch-Lichtenau, Germany in 2006.

In 2005, Universal Music Group took Tokio Hotel under contract and developed a marketing plan. Their first single, "Durch den Monsun" ("Through the Monsoon"), quickly rose in the charts, appearing on the German official Media Control single chart at #15 on August 20, 2005 and eventually reaching #1 on August 26, 2005; it also reached #1 on the Austrian singles chart. Their second single, "Schrei" ("Scream"), climbed to the #5 position in the German charts. These two songs were written by singer Bill Kaulitz together with their group of producers Peter Hoffmann, David Jost, Pat Benzer and Dave Roth. Their debut album, Schrei, was released on September 19, 2005, and was certified triple gold by the BVMI in 2006 for selling over 300,000 copies in Germany.^[16] In 2006, a third and fourth single, "Rette mich" ("Rescue Me") and "Der letzte Tag" ("The Final Day"), were released; both reached #1 as well. "Der letzte Tag" contained a B-side called "Wir schließen uns ein", which was also accompanied by a music video.

[edit] Zimmer 483 (2007 - 2008)

The first single off their second album Zimmer 483 (Room 483), called "Übers Ende der Welt" (later re-released in English under the name "Ready, Set, Go!"), was released on January 26, 2007 and quickly reached #1 in Germany and Austria, and #2 in France. Zimmer 483 was released in Germany on February 23, 2007, along with a deluxe edition of the album containing a DVD. The album's second single, "Spring nicht" ("Don't Jump") was released on April 7. The tour accompanying the release of the album, The Zimmer 483 Tour, was scheduled to start in March 2007, but was delayed by two weeks because the band members wished to have a different stage design. A third single, "An deiner Seite (Ich bin da)" ("By Your Side"), was released on November 16. The single contains the B-side "1000 Meere" ("1000 Oceans"), for which a music video was also produced. On April 28, 2008 Tokio Hotel released their single "Heilig" but no music video for the single was released, because of the tight schedule they had.

[edit] Scream (2007 - 2008)

Tokio Hotel's first English language album, Scream, was released on June 4, 2007 throughout Europe. In Germany, the album was released as Room 483 in order to emphasize the continuity with their last German album Zimmer 483. Scream contains English versions of a selection of songs from their German-language albums Scream and Zimmer 483. "Monsoon", the English-language version of "Durch den Monsun", was the first single from the album. "Ready, Set, Go!" (the translation of "Übers Ende der Welt") was released as the album's second single and "Don't Jump" (the translation of "Spring nicht") as the third single. A video for "Scream", the English-language version of their 2005 hit "Schrei", was also recorded, and was released to the iTunes Store in early March 2008.

Tokio Hotel gave their first concert in the United Kingdom on June 19, 2007. "Ready, Set, Go!" was released in the UK as the band's first single on August 27, 2007. The song reached #77 in the UK Singles Chart.

Tokio Hotel won an MTV Europe Music Award for Best InterAct on November 1, 2007 and were also nominated for Best Band. They performed "Monsoon" at the event.

Tokio Hotel released their first US single, simply called "Tokio Hotel", in late 2007. The single contains the tracks "Scream" and "Ready, Set, Go!", and was available exclusively at Hot Topic stores. Their second US single, "Scream America", was released on December 11, 2007. The single contains the track "Scream" and a remix of "Ready, Set, Go!" by AFI's Jade Puget. In February 2008, the band toured North America for five dates starting in Canada and finishing up in New York.^[17] After appearing and performing live on MuchMusic, while touring in Canada, "Ready, Set, Go!" entered the MuchOnDemand Daily 10, a countdown of videos chosen by viewers. It remained there for over a week, then returned to the top of the MOD Daily 10 chart on April 8. "Scream" was released in Canada on March 25 and in the US on May 6. The "1000 Hotels" European Tour began on March 3, 2008 in Brussels and continued to locations including The Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Scandinavia, and was scheduled to finish on April 9; during the concert in Marseille, France on March 14, Bill started to experience vocal problems.^[18] He let the audience sing more frequently than normal and instead of the original 21 songs that were on the set list, they only played 16 songs. Bill apologized, in German, for his bad singing and explained that he was sick. Two days later, the band canceled Lisbon, Portugal concert minutes before it was supposed to commence. The rest of the "1000 Hotels" Tour and a scheduled North American Tour were cancelled following an announcement in Bild by the band's manager that Bill Kaulitz had to undergo surgery to remove a cyst on his vocal cords.^[19][20]

Bill Kaulitz had been putting strain on his voice after playing 43 concerts in the 1000 Hotels tour without vacation.^[21] He had to undergo Larynx surgery on March 30 to remove a cyst that had formed on his vocal cords.^[22] The cyst was the result of a throat infection that went untreated.^[23] Following his surgery, Bill was unable to speak for twelve days, and had four weeks of vocal rehabilitation.^[24] If Bill had continued singing the rest of the tour, his voice would have eventually been permanently damaged.^[18][25] Tokio Hotel started performing again in May 2008^[26] and after that they embarked on a 2nd part of their 1000 Hotels European Tour adding many Open Air concerts and wrapping up the tour on July 13 in Werchter, Belgium.

[edit] North American Tours and Humanoid (2009 - 2010)

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Tokio Hotel embarked on a second tour of North America in August 2008, which included a performance at the Bamboozled festival in New Jersey. The band's music video for "Ready Set Go!" was nominated for Best Pop Video at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards,^[27] where they also won the award for Best New Artist.^[28] They returned to North America again in October 2008 for a month long tour of concerts and record store signings. In December 2008, a behind-the scenes DVD called Tokio Hotel TV – Caught on Camera was released. It contains footage from Tokio Hotel TV and backstage feature stories of the previous year on disc one entitled "History – The very best of Tokio Hotel TV!". A deluxe edition contains a second disc entitled "Future – The road to the new Album!" which features footage of the band on promotion tours and preparing for their third studio album.^[29]

In between the North American tours, the band returned to their record studio in Hamburg to record their third studio album, Humanoid, which, according to their producer David Jost, is currently set for release on October 2 in Germany & October 6, 2009 in the U.S.^[30][31][32] This is despite earlier statements predicting a March/April 2009 release or a May/June 2009 release.^[33][34][35] The album was recorded in both German and English with both versions were released simultaneously worldwide.^[34][35]

On August 10, it was announced on MTV news that the first German single would be "Automatisch" and its English counterpart, "Automatic", would also be released as a first single in the United States. On August 20, MTV Buzzworthy released a video which previewed "Automatic" and Cherrytree Records announced that the English version of the song would be released in the US on September 22.^[36][37] Nevertheless, the video for the single was released on September 3.

On November 2, it was announced on Tom's Blog that the second English single would be "World Behind My Wall" and its German counterpart, "Lass uns laufen", would be the second German single.^[38] The music videos for both versions were released on December 14 and December 15.

On June 24, the live music video for their single, "Dark Side of the Sun" was released on the band website.

On July 20, 2010 they released their second live album Humanoid City Live from Milan, Italy On November 22, 2010, their new song "Hurricanes and Suns," premiered on the Greek radio station Mad Radio. It was included in the bonus track on all versions of "Tokio Hotel: Best Of," a compilation album of their most successful songs. As well as the single for the 'Best of' release. The album will also include "Mädchen aus dem All", the first song the band recorded in a studio.

On December 14, 2010 their 'Best of' was released. December 2 was the World Premiere of the video for "Hurricanes and Suns" on their Official Website. On April 28, 2011 they received the "Fan Army FTW" award at the MTV O Music Awards, the networks first online award show. A clip of Bill and Tom thanking their fans was played after the winner was announced.

Tokio Hotel performed their first concert in Asia (excluding their concert in Israel) at the Audi Showcase in Singapore, followed shortly by the TM Connects With Tokio Hotel event in Malaysia, promoting the sales of their album Humanoid. They concluded the series of mini-concerts with Taiwan. They returned to Malaysia a couple of months later to perform at MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia 2010. They performed in Tokyo on December 15, 2010, after their South American Tour concluded in Distrito Federal, Mexico on December 2, 2010. In February, 2011 Tokio Hotel travelled to Japan to complete a second promo tour. A number of TV appearances and media interviews took place between February 8 and February 11.

On June 24, 2011 Tokio Hotel performed in Japan at “The Next Premium Night Tokio Hotel in Tokyo". The event was presented by Audi A1 and 150 fans were chosen to win tickets to attend the show. The event was the band's first acoustic performance in Japan. On June 25, 2011 the band performed live at the MTV Video Music Aid Japan in Tokyo. The show, which was formerly called the Video Music Awards Japan, was used as a music benefit to raise money for the Japanese Red Cross in order to help those who were affected by the recent earthquake.

Modeling and commercials[link]

This section is outdated. Please update this section to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (January 2010)

On January 19, 2010, lead singer Bill Kaulitz teamed up with twins Dean and Dan Caten of DSquared to walk the runway at a fashion event in Milan.^[39] Kaulitz made two appearances, as he opened and closed DSquared's Menswear Autumn/Winter 2010 show to Tokio Hotel song "Screamin".^[40]

Car maker Audi hired the two frontmen to star in their new advertising campaign to attract the younger generation. They were featured in an episode of Tokio Hotel TV (on Tokio Hotel's website) and also in a commercial.^[41]

On August 4, 2010, Tom Kaulitz got his own Reebok shoe commercial.^[42] Reebok signed the 20-year-old Tokio Hotel guitarist and sneaker addict to model shoes for the company. "At home, I created a little room like a little storage room," he said of his sneakers. He also said that he gets 10 new pairs a week.^[42]

Best Of Tokio Hotel (2010)[link]

At 13th December in Germany and 14th December internationally Tokio Hotel released their first compilation album named "Best Of". It comes in two languages: english and german. It contains the most popular songs from all the previous albums and two new songs: "Hurricanes and Suns" (was recorded for Humanoid but not included in it) and "Mädchen aus dem All" (was recorded for Schrei but not included in it).There is a deluxe edition too which comes with both german and english versions of album and a bonus DVD with all Tokio Hotel's music videos and "making of" scenes.

[edit] New album and duet with Far East Movement (2011 - present)

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After finishing "Welcome To Humanoid City Tour" Bill and Tom with their manager David Jost moved to Los Angeles and still are living there. They said they are working on the new album, which will be released in the late 2012. Paparazzies caught Bill, Tom and Gustav in a shop in Los Angeles. MTV said the new album will be named "Dark Anthem".^[43]. Bill and Tom released an app named "BTK Twins" for iOS (16 January 2012),^[44] and Android(19 December 2011),^[45] for keeping in touch with their fans. Here Bill and Tom post their photos, videos and text messages, and fans can leave messages for posts. Bill and Tom answer to these comments very often. The app costs 2.99$, and if a user wants to leave comments besides watching only he must pay 0.99$ a month. Tokio Hotel launched a service named "VIP Call".^[46] Fans may pay 4.99 Euros for a month or 3.49 Euros for 3 months and Tokio Hotel call them and leave audio messages. Fans can even ask them questions and Tokio Hotel will answer to them. On 18 May 2012 Far East Movement released an album named "Dirty Bass". In it there is a song named "If I Die Tomorrow" which is a duet with Bill. Far East Movement accepted there will be a music video released for "If I Die Tomorrow" soon. Bill Kaulitz will take part in shootings too.

Band members[link]

• Bill Kaulitz - lead vocals
• Tom Kaulitz - guitar, piano, backing vocals
• Georg Listing - bass, keyboards, synthesizers, backing vocals
• Gustav Schäfer - drums, percussion, backing vocals

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Schrei (2005)
• Zimmer 483 (2007)
• Scream (2007)
• Humanoid (2009)
• Best Of (2010)

Awards[link]

Since the release of the "Durch den Monsun" single in 2005, Tokio Hotel have gone on to win 104 awards in various categories and countries.

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tokio Hotel

• Official site
• Cherrytree records profile
• Interscope records profile
• Tokio Hotel on MySpace
• Tokio Hotel on Facebook
• Tokio Hotel on Twitter
• Tokio Hotel on MTV