Schrei nach Liebe

When Die Ärzte released this single in September 1993, it was their first record after a five-year break and their first openly political song. Germany was reeling from violent attacks on foreigners in places such as Rostock, Mölln and Solingen. The band had previously avoided politics to keep their distance from earnest protest rock, but they wanted no doubt about where they stood, so Bela B. wrote most of the verses and Farin Urlaub the chorus. The song berates a fictional neo-Nazi in the verses, then seems to pity him in the chorus, suggesting his violence is really a silent plea for affection from parents who never had time for him. The sympathy collapses at the end of each chorus into a one-word insult, Bela B.'s idea. Their label wanted a more marketable track as the comeback single, but the band insisted. Many radio stations refused to play it because of that swear word, until Hessischer Rundfunk editor Lidia Antonini wrote to colleagues urging them to air it anyway. It reached number nine and sold 450,000 copies, against 40,000 for their earlier hit "Westerland". In the summer of 2015, as refugees faced racist riots, music teacher Gerhard Torges launched a social media campaign to push the song back into the charts. The band backed it and pledged the proceeds to the charity Pro Asyl. On 11 September 2015, 22 years after its release, it reached number one in Germany for the first time, and it remains one of the country's best-known songs against the far right.