The original lineup, which consisted of Beate Bartel, Gundrun Gut, Blixa Bargeld, and N.U. Unruh, used to play at the venue Moon Club in Berlin. After the two females in the group, Gut and Bartel, left the group and drummer F.M. Einheit was added, the band collaborated on an LP, released in November 1981 under the title “Kollaps” or “Collapse” in English. The musical alias “Einstürzende Neubauten” translated to English means “Collapsing New Buildings,” an appropriate description of the abrasive sounds that make up the band’s music.
Neubauten’s third album “Halber Mensch” or “Half Man” which was released in 1985, showed the band’s growth with more structured songs and coherent lyrics. This breakthrough occurred after the louder, more experimental sophomore album “Zeichnungen des Patienten O.T” or “Drawings of Patient O.T.” in 1983. Einstürzende Neubauten supported “Half Man” by touring in the U.S. and Canada, showing up with unexpected and new performance ideas from pyrotechnics to destruction of metal objects on stage. The band received a following in Asia, especially Japan and their fourth and fifth albums “Fünf auf der nach oben offenen Richterskala” (Five on the open-ended richter scale) and “Haus der Lüge” (house of the lie) brought their bizarre industrial sound to the mainstream.
Some of Einstürzende Neubauten more experimental songs that have become well known include “Armenia,” “Yü-Gung (Fütter mein Ego),” “Z.N.S.” and “Feurio!” Lead singer Blixa Bargeld is one of the more active members of the group, having also sung simultaneously in the band Nick Cave and the Band Seeds for a period of time. Einstürzende Neubauten has celebrated over 30 years of music with both studio and live-recorded albums.
I was lucky enough to see Einsturzende Neubauten’s first UK gig supporting the Birthday Party at the London Lyceum in 1983. It was a ‘year zero’ moment and one of the most intense and thrilling 20 minutes of live music I’ve ever experienced. You could feel the expectation in the audience as various metal instruments/sculptures were constructed on stage alongside the usual backline of amps. A large metal spring loomed menacingly over the stage and everything was bathed in a dark metallic blue light. Then it happened – Mufti walked on and began pummelling the living daylights out some poor defenceless hollow metal object; Unruh followed a few seconds later and began scraping and bashing his “instrument” in counterpoint to Mufti’s jackhammer rhythms; the void within the clatter of metal was suddenly filled with a low frequency white noise as Marc Chung walked on stage, picked up his bass guitar and strummed all four strings as fast and as furious as humanly possible. Finally, Blixa wandered up to his microphone, alien hair all in/out of place, and began screaming and wailing. For the next 20 minutes I was on a total high and shaking like a leaf by the end. This was a life changing experience and one I would never forget - as I said, a year-zero moment. How could anything beat that? Well, the following year I witnessed the ‘Concerto for Voice and Machinery’ at the ICA involving several Neubauten members and Genesis P-Orridge playing various instruments usually found on a building site, accompanied by Frank Tovey on ‘vocals’ who made a sound akin to a chicken being strangled. This strange ensemble was ‘conducted’ by someone in traditional coat tails – at least he tried to conduct them for the first 5 minutes or so, after which he gave up and joined one of the others (I think Mufti of Neubauten) in using a pneumatic drill to tunnel through the floor. The whole affair lasted 20 minutes or so – It was incredibly loud and a totally thrilling experience. If this is what the end of the world looks and sounds like then I hope I’m around to enjoy the moment. Unlike others I managed to escape unscathed from the flying glass regurgitated from the miked up concrete mixer and the road drills chewing up the floor inches from the audiences feet - oh, those were the days when you really did fear for your life at a gig!
Going to a Neubauten gig in the 80’s was both exciting and dangerous. Einsturzende Neubauten are also one of the reasons my ears are now irreparably damaged. I have only myself to blame …