''Geräusch'' ("Noise" or "Sound") is a studio album by German rock band

Die Ärzte Die Ärzte (; ) is a German rock band from Berlin. The band has released 14 studio albums. The group consists of guitarist Farin Urlaub, drummer Bela B and bass player Rodrigo González. All three write and perform their songs. History Ea ...

. The album was sold on two

CDs The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

that look like LPs. The package is designed, using upside-down techniques, to make it difficult to decide which of the covers is the front. It's also the first album of the band that tuned their instruments (guitar and bass) a half step down from the standard tuning, leaving them on

E♭ tuning Guitar tunings are the assignment of pitches to the open strings of guitars, including acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and classical guitars. Tunings are described by the particular pitches that are made by notes in Western music. B ...

onwards.

Track listing

''Schwarzes Geräusch'' ("Black noise") # "Als ich den Punk erfand..." ("When I invented punk...") (Felsenheimer, Urlaub) – 1:53 #*"Hände innen" ("Hands inside") (Urlaub) is hidden in the

pregap The pregap on a Red Book audio CD is the portion of the audio track that precedes "index 01" for a given track in the table of contents (TOC). The pregap ("index 00") is typically two seconds long and usually, but not always, contains silence. Po ...

of this song, starting at -3:59 # "System" (Urlaub) - 2:44 # "T-Error" (González/González, Blitz) – 3:37 # "Nicht allein" ("Not alone") (Urlaub) - 5:19 # " Dinge von denen" ("Things of which") (González/González, Blitz) - 3:57 # "Der Grund" ("The reason") (Felsenheimer) - 2:54 # "Geisterhaus" ("Ghost house") (González/González, Blitz) – 3:49 # "Ein Mann" ("A man") (Urlaub) – 2:18 # "Anders als beim letzten Mal" ("Different from last time") (Urlaub) – 4:17 # "Ruhig angehn" ("Takin' it calmly") (Felsenheimer) – 3:24 # "Jag älskar Sverige!" (Swedish: "I love Sweden!") (Urlaub) – 3:40 # "Richtig schön evil" ("Really quite evil") (Felsenheimer) – 3:21 # "Schneller leben" ("Live faster") (Urlaub) – 3:03 ''Rotes Geräusch'' ("Red noise") # "

Unrockbar "Unrockbar" is a punk song by German band Die Ärzte. It's the first track on CD2 and the first single from their 2003 album ''Geräusch''. The title is a self-derived German word which can be translated as "unrockable", "unable to rock", or "un ...

" ("Unrockable" (rough translation)) (Urlaub) – 4:01 # " Deine Schuld" ("Your fault") (Urlaub) – 3:35 # "Lovepower" (González/González, Blitz) – 2:32 # "Der Tag" ("The day") (Urlaub) – 3:48 # "Die Nacht" ("The night") (Felsenheimer) – 5:02 # " Nichts in der Welt" ("Nothing in the world") (Urlaub) – 3:47 # " Die klügsten Männer der Welt" ("The wisest men in the world") (Felsenheimer) – 3:58 # "

Piercing Body piercing, which is a form of body modification, is the practice of puncturing or cutting a part of the human body, creating an opening in which jewelry may be worn, or where an implant could be inserted. The word ''piercing'' can refer to ...

" (González/González, Blitz) – 4:17 # "Besserwisserboy" ("Knowitallboy") (Urlaub) – 3:41 # "Anti-Zombie" (González/González, Blitz) – 4:09 # "Pro-Zombie" (Urlaub) – 2:08 # "WAMMW" (short for "Wenn alle Männer Mädchen wären" - "If all men were girls") (Urlaub) – 1:51 # "NichtWissen" ("NotKnowing") (Felsenheimer) – 4:59

Lyrical meaning and song notes

Als ich den Punk erfand...

Bela recounts the absurd tale of him inventing punk rock, and subsequently

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

System

The song juxtaposes the banal daily life of a number of people in the verse against a call to rise up against an oppressive regime during the chorus. Both verses and the chorus following them use the multiple meanings of a single German word ("stehen" and "setzen") differentiating them by context. The second verse is also consequential to the situations in the first verse.

T-Error

Sung from the perspective of a stalker who harasses his target with phone calls. The obsession quickly turns to desire for vengeance when the calls are being ignored. The name of the song is punctuated to resemble the logo of the

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...

Nicht allein

Farin asks a number of rhetorical questions to the listener about the frustration presumably experienced, subsequently reassuring the listener that he or she is not alone in feeling this way.

Dinge von denen

Rod recounts his experiences of being bothered by chatterboxes and other annoying people.

Der Grund

The song describes multiple people (one a would-be-protester, the other a company president) trying to do good, only to be distracted from their goals by a not explicitly named reason.

Geisterhaus

The singer attempts to warn people from their mindless consumerism, only to be ignored.

Ein Mann

Sung from the perspective of a typical

macho Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1930s and 1940s best defined as hav ...

, self-righteous, arrogant and obsessed with sex.

Anders als beim letzten mal

The singer experiences an abrupt but subtle change in a relationship and airs his desire to return to a previous state of it.

Ruhig angehen

Advises the listener to not stress himself and approach things slowly and calmly.

Jag Älskar Sverige

The song praises the culture and environment of Sweden, though the song is actually talking about Brazil.

Richtig Schön Evil

A song listing a number of perverted or disgusting ideas, countered by the chorus telling the listener to not take it so seriously. In the last part of the song, Bela describes Farin and his solo project as terrorism and a threat to society to a policeman, also referencing the cover of ''

Endlich Urlaub! ''Endlich Urlaub!'' is the first solo album from the German musician Farin Urlaub (guitarist of Die Ärzte), released in 2001. It features the typical humour and overall music style fans of Die Ärzte are used to but is more diverse and experiment ...

''. The song closes with a phone call of Bela to Rod, acknowledging that they are working together to get rid of Farin.

Schneller Leben

An advice to the listener to die as early as possible in order to escape the tribulations of aging. The song also counts up a number of famous people that died early (

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that ...

and

Kurt Cobain Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994) was an American musician who served as the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona ...

) and also mentions that it is too late for the singer, Farin. The track is titled "Oje, was singen Die denn da? AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHH" (''Oh dear, what are they singing?'') in

CD-Text CD-Text is an extension of the Red Book Compact Disc specifications standard for audio CDs. It allows storage of additional information (e.g. album name, song name, and artist name) on a standards-compliant audio CD. The specification for CD- ...

Unrockbar

Farin sings to his girlfriend, who he is forced to break up with over differences about their taste in music.

Deine Schuld

The song tells the listener that while there are problems in this world, it's not his or her fault. However, they would be at fault if it remained that way. Thus the song calls for the listener to change things.

Lovepower

The narcissistic singer praises the looks of his image in the mirror.

Der Tag

In a duet, two former lovers quarrel over their past love and their current disgust with each other, proclaiming that the day they miss each other has yet to come. They are however forced to deal with each other, due to an unintended pregnancy.

Die Nacht

A song praising the mystery and lack of inhibition during nighttime.

Nichts in der Welt

A lover's lament about a recent break-up.

Die Klügsten Männer der Welt

A sarcastic song of praise to the political leaders of the world.

Piercing

Rod describes a recent episode in which he had his penis

pierced Body piercing, which is a form of body modification, is the practice of puncturing or cutting a part of the human body, creating an opening in which jewelry may be worn, or where an implant could be inserted. The word ''piercing'' can refer to ...

for his girlfriend, though the couple broke up soon after (before the swelling went down) and advises the listener to not follow the same path.

Besserwisserboy

A song describing the hatred for a local know-it-all.

Anti-zombie

The

zombie apocalypse Zombie apocalypse is a genre of fiction in which society collapses due to overwhelming swarms of zombies. Typically only a few individuals or small bands of survivors are left living. In some versions, the reason the dead rise and attack hum ...

broke out and the band is fighting for their lives and relishes the destruction of the undead. The beginning and the end of the song contain samples of the German dub of '' Dawn of the Dead''.

Pro-Zombie

Farin describes his desire to become a

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in whic ...

and live a carefree life.

WAMMW

The singer tells how great a world would be in which all people are women. Stereotypically, all women are sensitive and respectful to each other and thus the problems and social evils present in the modern world would be nonexistent. His ulterior motives are revealed at the end of the song, with him being the only man.

Nichtwissen

A song about the desire to ignore worldly problems and social evils while occupying oneself with inconsequential trivialities.

Singles

* 2003: "

" * 2003: " Dinge von denen" * 2004: " Nichts in der Welt" * 2004: " Deine Schuld" * 2004: " Die klügsten Männer der Welt"

Personnel

Farin Urlaub Jan Vetter (born 27 October 1963), better known as Farin Urlaub. (from the German ''Fahr in Urlaub!'', "Go on holiday!"), is a German singer, guitarist and songwriter. He is best known as the guitarist/vocalist for punk rock band Die Ärzte. He ...

- guitar, vocals *

Bela Felsenheimer Dirk Albert Felsenheimer (born 14 December 1962),''Die Ärzte. Ein überdimensionales Meerschwein frisst die Erde auf'', p. 80 better known under his stage name Bela B (formerly Bela B.), is a German musician, songwriter, actor and author, b ...

- drums, vocals * Rodrigo González - bass guitar, vocals * Celina Bostic - additional vocals on 4 (CD2) * Gunter Gabriel - additional vocals on 9 (CD2) * Martin Klempnow - additional vocals on 10 (CD2)