Das Madonna Hip Hop Massaker - Lost In Music

I found an old video..

Well.. it's not THAT old. It's from 2001 but that already seems like a light year away. I found it on a CD that I have from my old band Madonna Hip Hop Massaker - when I put the CD into my laptop, a video icon also popped up and there it was: Big Mistake, The Trash House Remix Video. The last hurrah of my band before we split up. Our record company didn't trust the original 'indie rock' mix and got some hip remixer in to deliver the goods.. but no big radio hit - again.

Oooops.. It all started so well in 1995. During the 'Bands From Berlin Hype' of the mid-90s we managed to get signed by a major record label and produced our first record in a rancid Hinterhof studio in Berlin Kreuzberg. The 1st single Super Pop Peepshow [an ironic comment about the state that we were suddenly in] sold more than 10,000 times in Germany and a lot of other European countries and for a year or two we were one of the next big things.

From there we recorded 3 albums, played more than 250 gigs all over Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy since 1994, shared festival stages with KISS, the Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth and many more, went through more arguments and fights than Oasis, wasted 6 drummers, 3 producers, 3 keyboarders and 2 managers ..and did a lot of crazy regional radio and TV.

Rob Zoom, Miss Megatrance & myself

In the end it was too much Spinal Tap and not enough record sales to keep us going financially. Time for the burn out.. the end was near. There are some more interesting videos on the still existing Madonna Hip Hop Massaker website. Here's a song from the last record Radical Romance:

You can buy our first two albums on iTunes - What happened to the third album.. I don't know. It's not even on iTunes. We still owe two record companies money because they gave us advance cash that they never really recouped. I lived through the whole of the 90s just by playing a bit of guitar and arguing with producers and A&R managers. My main goal - a Japan tour - never came through but, hey, if all dreams would come through, there wouldn't be any dreams left. Rock'n'Roll & Vollgas baby!

Live is where the heart is: