In einer Gesellschaft, in der man bunte Uhren trägt,
in einer Gesellschaft wie dieser bin ich nur im Weg
In a society that worships coulored watches,
in a society like this I'm just in your way.
Tocotronic represent a time and style in german music that was unrepresented before. Things they express are teenage angst as well as more complex matters of the human mind. They became the voice for a whole generation, and are still a main figure of counter culture.
In fact, they sing about a lot of things, like the overwhelming influence of mass-consumerism on out lives (Digital ist besser), as well as about relationship problems (Ich mag dich einfach nicht mehr so) and youth culture (Ich möchte Teil einer Jugendbewegung sein). Sometimes, you read one of their songtitles, and it sounds like an intelligent remark, or a joke, but the song behind it is in fact a gem of society-mockery (Diverse Menschen deiner Stadt).
.
Back in 1994, when their music started to become popular all over Germany and german speaking countries, they made rather straight-edge music - plain, unedited guitar/bass/drums rock, but that changed over their years. Their present, self-entitled album is much more polished and musically refined that their previous work, yet still keeping the lyrical power of their songs. Maybe just the theme changed a bit. From the annoyed anger of a teenager the lyrics evolved into pieces of poetry packed into songs.
Although there isn't a lot of sense if you don't know german, I may recommend a couple of songs that just plainly rock:
- Ich möchte Teil einer Jugendbewegung sein
- Du und deine Welt
- Digital ist besser
- This boy is tocotronic