Todd Rundgren’s concert in Tokyo was absolutely amazing. There were an acoustic set in the middle, an audience participation during “Bang the Drum All Day” (I cursed myself for being too shy to raise my hand when Todd said “Anyone?”… Damn!) and a performance of The Call’s 1981 hit “The Wall Came Down”. It would have been nice if he played “Down With the Ship”, which is my favourite track from Space Force and I have never heard it live, but well, maybe it’s not the right time for the song at the moment.
The recent passing of Wolfgang Heichel (left), a member of German pop group Dschinghis Khan, took me down the memory lane.
I was in my early teens when their song “Moskau” suddenly went viral on the internet. Bear in mind, it was pre-Tiktok or Instagram. All it needed was a Flash animation God-knows-who created, which eventually led to the birth of Japanese fandom, a couple of newly compiled compilation albums and one girl’s obsession with German music.
The fact that you once was mad about this kind of group may be something you want to hide at all cost from your hip music friends. I mean, if you put every camp act around the world into a blender, you get Dschinghis Khan. They were German producer Ralph Siegel’s take on Boney M., except he himself never doubled as a lead singer. A collection singers and musicians across Europe, fronted by a South African born dancer, they were formed for Eurovision Song Contest 1979 and came in fourth place.
Now that’s interesting, because I was thinking early to mid ‘70s. Sparks released No.1 Song in Heaven in 1979. The Who’s Who Are You and Todd Rundgren’s Hermit of Mink Hollow both came out in the year before. Sure, I’m talking about Schlager pop and you can say those bands were ahead of their time, but I’m surprised how old-fashioned Dschinghis Khan sound, even for the ‘70s.
Were they a comic act? I don’t think so. Despite of all the eye-catching costumes, it's not that they were not doing a comedy show. They were not trying to make people laugh - but smile. Check out their videos. It’s impossible not to smile. They’re having a blast!
Funny things about songs of your teenage years is you can still sing them regardless of the language. Although, my German skills have never been above Duolingo level.
I think the best way to put them into words is this: ABBA in excess. Their music is actually, really good. It ticks off everything you need for a catchy song, and how it was presented visually is nothing but fun. You need a certain ability to achieve this. They were just a bit too much.
I’m using past tense here - they were - but who knew they ARE still doing? They reunited in 2005 and later split into several groups. I heard something about legal actions and lawsuits, so things are much messier than it looks, I guess. Sadly, it’s always this sort of thing that wipes the smile off your face.
