What the kids are listening to.
I work next door to the Irving Plaza, one of the largest concert venues in New York. Snaking around several city blocks today is the longest line I’ve ever seen for a concert there, so it must, I thought, absolutely must be some band I’d heard of. I’m not so old that I wouldn’t have heard of the biggest band ever omg (as one girl in line told me) …right? Well, not quite. The band: Tokio Hotel.
Tokio Hotel, according to Wikipedia, is “a German rock band” fronted by extremely young, clearly non-identical twin brothers. (Wikipedia didn’t say all that.) They were going nowhere until their lead singer was discovered on German Star Search; now they are BIG and have several songs produced by the guy who produced Pat Benatar.
Tokio Hotel is, according to three girls I talked to on the sidewalk, “everything,” “the truth,” “what it feels like to be me,” which is either heartening or terrifying depending on whether or not someone should embody “Der Letzte Tag” (The Final Day), one Tokio Hotel’s big hits. Their fans had kind of a goth sensibility, though in a decidedly less attractive way than 90s goth which I still fetishise adored. The kids in line were roughly as … er … attractive as the band. Also they were wearing lots of suspenders. Maybe Germans wear suspenders? I don’t know. I just know that I am very, very, extremely old and I know little of German pop.
Anyway, you can watch the very dull video below (which has … 14 million hits on youtube!!!) and decide for yourself.
[UPDATE: Okay okay I got so many comments and emails from Tokio Hotel fans - with such speed - that I was impressed. You impressed me. So: I went to their myspace page. (See, I'm not that old.) I listened. Monsoon won me over. Also I liked all the frozen hands, closed eyes, darkness and general angst in Love Is Dead. If Tokio Hotel was an American band I still might think they were kind of cock-rocky. But since they're German I find them progressive and kind of cute instead. Tokio Hotel wins.]
About The Author - Ben Wyskida is a writer, activist, conscientious hedonist and political communications strategist living in Brooklyn. Formerly a co-conspirator at Philadelphia's design firm for the people, Design for Social Impact, and then the Communications Director at Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Ben is now Publicity Director for the Nation Magazine. Ben's work has been published in Mother Jones, Yes Magazine, Fret Magazine and others. Ben has a remarkable gift for writing in the third person only when appropriate. - Visit Ben's site.
If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles sent to your feed reader.
Comments
YAY! If you get a chance, check out 1000 Meere on Youtube. It is their latest. It is only in German so far, but they are working on an English version, I think for radio play in France.
Bill and Tom are identical to a girl I dated in highschool. What, if anything, does that say about me?
I’m glad that you gave the band a second chance, because (as you realized) they deserve it! Tokio Hotel often get dismissed as just a gimmick or a passing fad, but I think that they really are something special— after all, they inspired this much to-do in the US without any promotion, let alone the backing of the Disney star machine or anything of that type. I hope that you will continue to keep an eye on the band, because that huge line at Irving Plaza? That’s only the beginning.
[...] now the annoyance that is Tokio Hotel is starting to attract a following of confused, pimply teenage girls here in the [...]
If you bother to look closely you will see that Bill and Tom, althoughy very differently styled, are in fact identical.
OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG <3 tokio hotel!!!!!!!!!! they are my fav band ever. i no every song by heart. I was at tokio hotel concert on feb 18 not the 19th. i went to see them at bamboozle and i have meet them!!!! they are soo sweet. bill signed 2 things for me!!!!
They are identical. you can find pictures of them morphed. like half bill and tom. it is so scary how much they look alike. Faces are the sameeee. crazy.
actually most TH fans are not goth or emo. for some reason TH fans are reeaaaaly nice. and a lot are preetty. at NYC concert and bamboozle i saw no goth/ emo people. European fans are not goth or emo at all.
BILLL IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!! half there fans only like them because of there hottness. you like there hottness first then comes the music. TOMMM is hott to, but billll wayyyyyy moreeeeeeeee hotttttttttt. he is so sexy.
and i dont havve pimples by the way. and not ugly either.
stop sterotyping TH fans as 14 teen year old ugly pimply girl with cameras. there are that type of girll in every band. bands attract all type of people. at NYC concert there was a girl behind me who was 17 (we talked for a while and she told me.) i saw no alot of girls wearing ambercrombie and hollister to. not only goth and hot topic.
[...] few months ago I wrote a post about the awesome and heavily hair-ironed band Tokio Hotel. Much to my surprise it probably remains the most trafficked Pinko post ever, largely because many [...]
I think Tom is pretty cute, but I feel guilty about it… maybe its the fact that although he is “legal” he looks to be like 15 lol! hes still a cutie though 
I love the band,starting to be a huge succes here, I hope they come to Argentina sometime!
Bill is soo sexy
Loading ...
You haven’t seen the last of them. They will be back outside your door tomorrow night!
You should go! I think there are tickets left for the second show!
DO IT! Go!
And Bill and Tom are identical.
Fun, isn’t it?