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The Week in Germany: Culture January 5, 2007 Exhibit at the Kronprinzenpalais Rocks Berlin
“More and more, I realize that teenagers all over the world get their kicks from the same things”, Elvis Presley told his German fans in the teen magazine Bravo in 1957. The King’s message of international understanding through youth culture still resonates in the exhibit “Rock! Youth and Music in Germany”, which came to Berlin’s Kronprinzenpalais last month. The exhibit tells another, related story, as well - the story of rock music as a vehicle and fuel for protest and self-expression at the intersection of young and old, left and right, East and West. The exhibit looks at rock music’s early history through the fractured lens of a divided Germany. After the Beatles launched their campaign of world conquest from Hamburg’s Reeperbahn, the SED regime in the East declared the provocative import from the West a decadent byproduct of capitalism and launched a ham-handed campaign to create an ideologically acceptable substitute in the form of the “Lipsi” - a would-be teen dance craze that never caught on. Later, western rockers like Udo Lindenberg battled with the SED for a chance to perform in the East, and iconoclastic easterners like Klaus Renft struggled for the right to rock at all. And, of course, when the wall fell, Gerhard Schröder’s favorite band, the Scorpions, were there to set the joy to music. Visitors will have a rare opportunity to hear the walz-like tunes that accompanied the ill-fated Lipsi or the sounds of Renft. Memorabilia from international rock icons like the Beatles and Elvis will also be on display along side more specifically Teutonic delicacies: a steel drumset used (and likely abused) by the industrial pioneers Einstürzende Neubauten, Can’s studio set-up, and outfits worn at the Love Parade. The exhibit, sponsored by the Federal Center for Political Education and the House of History in Bonn, will remain in Berlin until early March. Links:
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