Willkommen bei RENFT!
Instead of running on the treadmill this morning, I decided to walk at a fast pace on an incline. Then I could get some reading done at the same time. I still put on the iPod and listened to some "workout" tunes - Metallica, AeroSmith, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and the like. With these tunes in the background, I started reading a chapter from my book, "Stasiland; Stories From Behind the Berlin Wall." The chapter that I happen to be on was about the music scene in East Germany after WWII and a man named Klaus Renft, an East German rock star.
Renft was referred to as "the bad boy of East German rock'n'roll" and the Klaus Renft Combo "the wildest and most popular rock band in the GDR(German Democratic Republic)." Some of his band's music was original but a lot of it he copied from the West, from bands like: the Rolling Stones, Steppenwolf, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.The group learned about "this decadent Western filth" phonetically by taping Rias (Radio in the American Sector) broadcasts, however the funny thing is that they didn't even speak English.
Of "Satisfaction", Renft explained, "We didn't know what it meant." These songs rallied the people of East Germany and the concerts were always to sold out crowds. In 1965 his band and him were banned from performing. Authorities did not lift the ban until 1967. Then on 22 September 1975, the group was called before the authorities to be told that they didn't exist any longer. Renft had had enough foreign currency to buy a cassette recorder and he taped the interview. He later let on that the incriminating tape was in West Berlin. Overnight, gigs stopped and Renft vanished from the music scene. Two of his band members were thrown in prison and died later of cancer due to radiation poisoning.
Amazingly, Renft reached West Berlin in 1975, finding employment with the radio station Rias. He later toured, revisited old material and recorded new material.
Renft definitely earned his spot as a European rock legend.
After reading this fascinating chapter while listening to several of the bands mentioned, I could not help but wonder if these bands (Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones etc.) had any idea of the impact their music was making in a little walled-off country. A place where people had little freedom. Where they were venting their frustrations through this music. What an awesome story. The author of the book did say that after the wall fell, Renft instantly was the most famous musician in East Germany because he was the only thing they had left that was their own.
