visions
| Visions on Alphaville´s music
by Alphaville, from various sources: Prostitute (album 1994) An interview with Marian about the songs Paradigm Shift (Moonpaper from 1995) What does the ´holistic movement´ in ´Paradigm Shift´ mean ? "In order to analyse with clarity, the things which we want to understand, we have the tendency of seperating these things from everything else. This way of thinking formed, for the most part, the behaviour and history of mankind. In the meantime (e.g. by observing chaos research) it has been shown, that everything relates to everything else and that one can´t seperate the individual things from their context (holistic) in order to understand them. Life is a giant net of connection and feedbacks. Tiny events can be the cause of immense process. A favorite illustration of this: a butterfly´s beating wings causing a tornado. Nice." Fools (Moonpaper No. 3+4/94) We think that it´s easy to write a ´protest´ song, denouncing political or social injustice. Anyone can say: ´That´s wrong and so is that´. Were the references to the Bible in ´Fools´ used in order to get around using a simplified rhetoric ? Or did you use them to point out, that problems like this don´t necessarily depend on the present situation, but are inherent to the human race in general ? Could you explain them ? "The Bible sums it up. The quatations are from Revelations(in German, apocalypse), the last book of books. Here the End of man´s world and the return of God´s rule is revealed. The ´7 seals, the ´7 trumpets´, the ´7 plaques´, the ´7 bowls of anger´, the ´7 angels´, the ´scarlet dragon´, the ´whore of Babylon´, and the white knight´, whose name is ´faithful and true´, these are all signs of the Judgement Day, the end of the world, which will signs before this happens. I quoted these lines, because I believe that mankind is in the process of fulfilling these lines with stupid perserverence. But that has always been the case, the problem of the human race in general. That is why Alphaville didn´t succeed in giving precocious answers to any possible clever questions Don´t we live in an era, in which everything is clear, everything revealed, in truly biblical times ? We know that it is idiotic and unnecessary to fight wars, to let people starve, to pollute the air, oceans and land, to slaughter whales, to be against sensible population-control politics. And it´s also idiotic to drive your car to the supermarket on the corner, to throw away batteries in your garbage can, to laugh at racist jokes and to lie to one´s self that there aren´t any good answers anymore. We all more or less know what is wrong and what is right. Yes, we are really living in biblical times. But it´s no use complaining about the idiocy of mankind as unchangeable. It comes down to the individual. That is in the Bible. So give yourself the answers that you need (you have them) and act accordingly if you can. There is always someone out there...and forget that about mankind. Furthermore I don´t think it´s at all easy to write a ´protest´song, no matter how stupid it is." Beethoven (Moonpaper from 1995) ´Democracy is just a lie´- doesn´t this contradict the message of ´Beethoven´ ? I think democracy is the only alternative against racism. "The only solution to racism is anti-racism." Beethoven (Moonpaper from 1995) ´The blind leading the blind´: Shakespeare says in ´King Lear´: ´Tis the time´s plaque, when madmen lead the blind´. Were you thinking of Shakespeare when you wrote this line in ´Beethoven´ ? Is there a difference for you between madmen and blindmen, is worse for you if the blind lead the blind instead of the madmen leading the blind ? "There is nothing worse than madmen leading blindmen (see Nazi Germany). In ´Beethoven´, I meant ´blind´ in the sense of being blinded (as by light) by the extreme madness of racist, sick fantasies. In normal language, this kind of madness is also known as the legendary expression ´ignorance´." Beethoven (12/1996 German fc ´Faithful & True´ website) The lyrics of the album "Prostitute" are very earnest, also about Germany . Why do you think so hatefull about Germany? "I hate this country, I mean I love this country. If I wouldn`t love the country I couldn`t hate it. If you don`t love something you cannot hate it. So I love it, because I was born here. And I hate it, if I must see, how they burn down houses or asylums. That`s not so sick in other countries like in England. During my time in England I also had problems with natives. Surely not everybody is harmony,happieness, omelette, but it`s never so sick. If you get problems than because of being german. Althought that`s imbecile, it`s not our generation`s fault. Allright, it`s german history and everybody should know about it. But it`s stupid to say you`re an imbecile, `cos it is not your and mine fault.On the whole I like Germany." Ascension Day (Moonpaper from 1995) ´We gonna live the dreams that we seek´: What does this mean ? Does it mean that people like Mercury, Kennedy etc. continue to live thanks to their ideas that they´ve left mankind ? "It means dreams come true." Ivory Tower (Moonpaper No. 2+3/95) ´In the event that I don´t return...´ What do you mean ? I fear you mean, ´in the event that we stop to make music´. "Considering what happens in reality, it may be that we lose our capacity to retreat to our idyllic fantasies and dreams. But we live in both worlds, on the border. We have to combine these 2 worlds inour lives, the reality and the dream. It would be illusiory to deny either of these. There are people who through their dreams lose touch with reality and those who are stuck in reality and forget that there are dreams. ´Ivory Tower´ is about the consequences of this self-deception. Considering what happens in reality, it may be... By the way, we are already working on a new album." Ivory Tower (German fc Faithful & True website) As I see it the lyrics in Ivory Tower are very nostalgic and about some end, like Alphaville leaving the market? "Not at all. It's more like a confrontation between fantasy and reality. We've lived in a kind of Ivory Tower over the years and Prostitute marks the point when we went out of the tower. We went back to reality and left all our mysteries and fairytales and stuff behind and went into the real world. We went into Germany and we found a unified Germany with Nazis running officially on the streets and foreigners getting burned and killed, you know. That's what Ivory Tower is about." Iron John (Moonpaper from 1995) Who is Iron John ? "Read the fairytale ´Eisenhans´." Some People (Moonpaper No. 2+3/95) Do you identify yourself with any of the groups of people in ´Some People´? "I can only write about what I know. And I know about myself." Euphoria (French fc ´Streetside Romeos´ fanzine #1) "The next song is a long farewell. I wrote it in ´89 (this Version is on DS, bearing the title "Waves"), then changed the chordstructure with Rick in ´93 till it became the song we know as "Euphoria". It´s probably the sequel to "In the Mood", but this time, it´s about rebellion against fear (of existence). My observation is that many people have really bad problems in letting go their past. They cling to it like drowning men. I deeply believe in the art of leaving. I mean, leaving when something is over. Accepting it. Searching for new grounds instead of slowly going down with the rotten interior of your past." Apollo (Moonpaper No. 2+3/95) Why are the lyrics missing:´But I hate to wake upon this grave yard, documenting life in garbage city makes me so sick and tired (Apollo-3´10). "These lyrics were recorded but then omitted in the mix in order to create space for Jocelyn and Gundula´s backing vocals. The combination of the two was ungroovy. One Thing (Moonpaper No. 2+3/95) What does the female voice in the background say in ´One Thing´? When we were producing ´The 1 Thing´, a live radio report about the racial tension in Los angeles was on an English channel (1993). The reporter was talking about the extent of damages to the city, the violence and about the danger of her being there. We recorded this report and used it as a sort of an ´off´ commentary to the song´s lyrics." Apollo (Moonpaper from 1995) You discovered Shakespeare on your way from ´Utopia´ to ´Prostitute´: Why did you choose especially him ? Is it because of the way he describes human life and emotions ? "I assume you´re reffering to the Shakespeare quotation in ´Apollo´: ´And if music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it...´ There is probably nothing in the whole universe, about which Shakespeare has not spoken an equivalently meaningful sentence." Lyrics (Moonpaper No. 3+4/94) Your lyrics now describe more concrete ideas, are more political and sometimes they´re almost cynical. Why ? What are your intentions ? Do you still have a vision, a utopia in spite of this, or have you lost all hope of this ? "I swear: Not one line in ´Prostitute´ is intended to be cynical. In spite of all the ideals and utopias, burning reality causes one to be more focused. That can´t be prevented, or you´d become the ashes of your own ignorance. There are still moments of these old well-known ´Alphaville-Visions´on the new album. Take ´All in the Golden Afternoons´or ´Apollo´ for instance. But you don´t get ´Happiness´ or ´Utopia´ in more than tiny moments. It´s short-lived. And you shouldn´t forget that the journey there is difficult, adventurous and sometimes very dangerous. Especially, when this journey becomes an escape into forgetting, according to the motto: ´All aboard for Fairyland, the cost of admittance is your own mind´." "Of course we still have visions and ideals. But we don´t intend to proclaim the absolute truth (which doesn´t exist) nor do we want to convince everyone of it. We can only describe how we continue to change, in order to pass through the gates of perception and tell you about what we found there: Ship is leaving right on time empty harbour, wave good-bye evacuation of the isle Caveman´s paintings drowning Show me a place that ain´t hell, if there´s space give me room to breath, that´s all I need for this body can´t fail..." Prostitute (Moonpaper from 1995) Most of the songs on the ´Prostitute´ album awaken a positive atmosphere in me. I find this puzzling, because throughout the lyrics there is an emphasis on loss and decay. Can you explain this ? "For me, ´Prostitute´ is the end of a 10 yr. musical development. ´Euphoria´ is a farewell to this cycle, ´Apollo´ anounces a new one. Everything on ´Prostitute´ completes anything even hinted upon on ´Forever Young´. None of us know what next Alphaville album is going to sound like, but one thing´s sure. We´re sailing to new shores." Related songs (Moonpaper No. 2+3/95) Many songs on ´Prostitute´ are related to older songs (sometimes literally):e.g. ´Let´s dance´ is the first line in ´Paradigm Shift´ and in ´Forever Young, the ´yellow man´ appears in ´Beethoven´ and in ´Lassie Come Home´ and ´the next generation´ is in ´Apollo´ and in ´Next Generation´. Is this on purpose or is it coincidence ? "You are right, there is a relation between these self-quotes, musically as well as lyrically. e.g. between Romeo´s and ´Riddles´, between ´Mysteries´and ´Million´, between ´Sensations´ and ´Thunder´, between Forever Young´ and ´Vingt Mill Lieues´, between ´Iron John´and ´12 years´ etc. ´Lets dance´, however is pure coincidence and the ´yellow man´ is once Vietnamese and then not." |