Musical Traits, Lyrical Themes and Influence
Ton Steine Scherben were pioneers in German music culture. Their style has been described as rock with a "renegade stance, what in later years would be dubbed 'punk'."
Their lyrics were at the beginning anti-capitalist and anarchist. They didn't think the socialism of the Soviet Union was anywhere near real socialism, and had connections to the squatter scene (e.g. Rauch-Haus-Song) and the German Red Army Faction terrorists during the time before the latter turned to violent crime and murder. Later Ton Steine Scherben toned down on political issues and explored more personal themes like freedom, love, drugs, and sadness. They also contributed to two full-length concept album about homosexuality which were issued under the name Brühwarm (literally: boiling warm) in cooperation with a gay-revue group.
All their albums were self-published and promoted. Revenues from the albums were slim and the band was often expected by other leftists to give free "solidarity concerts" at political events, both of which contributed to the band's perpetually poor financial situation and its eventual dissolution. Only few singles were released, which rarely received commercial attention. The Scherben were also on so called "black lists" due to their perceived left extremism, and were thus not played on Germany's public radio stations of the time (private radio was only legalized in Germany in the late 1980s, after the band's dissolution).
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