Tanzplagen was a rock band formed in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Georgia, in 1980 by

Michael Stipe John Michael Stipe (; born January 4, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and artist, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of alternative rock band R.E.M. He is known for his vocal quality, poetic lyrics and unique stage presence. Pos ...

(vocals farfisa organ), David Pierce (drums), Neil McArthur (Bass) and William Lee Self (Guitar).

History

The band's name (meaning "

dancing mania Dancing mania (also known as dancing plague, choreomania, St. John's Dance, tarantism and St. Vitus' Dance) was a social phenomenon that occurred primarily in mainland Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries. It involved groups of people da ...

s" in German) came about by randomly pointing to words in a German dictionary, the same technique Stipe had employed to find the

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...

moniker (except with an English dictionary). The band toured the U.S. southeast and recorded a single for David Healy's Dasht Hopes label.Grey, David: ''It crawled from the South'', Da Capo, 1997, p. 221 In his book "It crawled from the South", Marcus Grey writes: "Determined to pursue his art-noise interests parallel to his more conventional activities with

, Michael hooked up with William Lee Self, Neil McArthur and David Pierce in Tanzplagen. The connection was strengthened when

Oh-OK Oh-OK was an American musical group from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1981 with singer/lyricist Linda Hopper, bassist/vocalist/lyricist Lynda Stipe, and drummer David Pierce. Other members later included drummer David McNair and guitarist Matthew Sw ...

Lynda Stipe Lynda L. Stipe (born September 30, 1962) is an American singer and bass guitarist. She is best recognized for her involvement in the bands Oh-OK, Hetch Hetchy and Flash to Bang Time. She is the younger sister of R.E.M.'s lead singer Michael S ...

and

Linda Hopper Linda Elizabeth Hopper is the vocalist for the Atlanta, Georgia-based rock group Magnapop. Her pop punk/power pop vocal style helped to define the band's sound and she has co-written their minor hit singles " Slowly, Slowly" and " Open the Door" ...

contributed backing vocals at a

40 Watt Club The 40 Watt Club is a music venue in Athens, Georgia. Along with CBGB, the Whisky a Go Go, and selected others, it was instrumental in launching American punk rock and new wave music. The 40 Watt Club was the primary performance space for numero ...

appearance that was taped to provide a rough-and ready three track demo. It includes the Self compositions 'Living By the Neck' and 'Peter Pan', and the Stipe-Self song 'meeting'. In addition to further occasional appearances in town and one short local tour Tanzplagen even got as far as recording tracks for a single, intended for release on David Healys ill-fated Dasht Hopes label. The studio chosen was Bombay in Smyrna where back in February

had made its first recordings. Neil McArthur had left by the time of the session, and so William Lee Self, the groups real leader, doubled on bass while

supplied vocals. However it is Michaels contribution to the two songs recorded ('meeting' and Self's 'treason') that Producer Joe Perry remembers: 'Micheal would sing and bang on a Farfisa organ creating a large explosion. It was a different time. Experimental stuff'". Soon later,

were signed to

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...

and released the

Chronic Town ''Chronic Town'' is the debut EP by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on August 24, 1982, on I.R.S. Records. Containing five tracks, the EP was recorded at the Drive-in Studio in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in October 1981, eig ...

EP (which had been recorded for Healy's label's debut release), but the Tanzplagen single went unreleased until 1991 when Strangeways Records brought it out as their inaugural release. The CD includes a duet with Stipe and his sister Lynda and some improvised live recordings that include Linda Hopper, her bandmate at the time in the band

. Self describes the contents of "The Lost Single and Live at the 40 Watt club, Athens Georgia 1981": "thus I wrote the song 'Living By The Neck' but had no title for it, Stipe came up with the title only meaning 'living by the guitar neck'. We also intentionally booked all our in town shows on full moon nights - this truly made a drastic but wonderful difference in the atmosphere and audiences behaviour." Tanzplagen dissolved in late 1982 when Self relocated to Germany. David Pierce went on to form Buzz Of Delight with Mathew Sweet. Neil McArthur continued his studies at the University of Georgia. In May 2013, the German label Space Bee Records released a digital version of the "Dasht Hopes Single" along with live recordings from a

appearance.

Discography

* The Lost Single & Live 40 Watt Club 1981 (Strangeways, 1993) * The Dasht Hopes Single // Live 40 Watt Club 1981 (Space Bee Records, 2013) (digital re-issue)

References

{{Reflist

External links

R.E.M. Timeline - 1980/81 Concert Chronology
Rock music groups from Georgia (U.S. state) Musical groups from Athens, Georgia