Anniversary: 20 years “through the Monsun”: The hype around Tokio Hotel

“The new super band”: In July 2005 the youth magazine “Bravo” overwrites a double page over four school friends from Magdeburg. The focus: a 15-year-old with a black emo hairstyle. At that time almost nobody knows the band name Tokio Hotel. Because the first single “Through the Monsun” should only appear on August 15 – and trigger a real hype.

“If you look at German pop history since the 1960s, then” through the MONSUN “definitely belongs to the canon of the largest German pophits,” says music expert Alex Gernandt (59). At that time he was the deputy editor -in -chief and talent scout of the “Bravo” and became aware of the band very early. He meets singer Bill, twin brother and guitarist Tom, bassist Georg and drummer Gustav for the first time in a Munich studio.

“The band made a great impression on me. They were only 14 or 15, but had played together for several years before. That was a well -rehearsed band.” Of course, Frontmann Bill’s unusual look also fell into the eye immediately. “I already thought:” This is very interesting. Nobody has someone like that in their class. He has star potential “.”

A double page for newcomers

In the editorial conference, Gernandt is committed to dedicating a double page to the newcomers before the single was published. “That was totally unusual for” Bravo “at the time. But I said:” Here we have to go full throttle, the boys are great “.” Shortly after the issue was published, letters and calls were flooded.

No wonder that the unusual band quickly gets a big fan base, especially young girls. Shortly after the first “Bravo” story, the hype is so big that the debut single “from the Monsun” lasts five weeks from the end of August. In Austria, France, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands, too, it becomes a top 10 hit. The album “Schrei” sells around 1.5 million times.

And that has to do with the music manager Peter Hoffmann (71). He became aware of the young Bill in 2003 by the Sat.1 casting show “Star Search”. After the success of real (“Everything will change when we are big”), Hoffmann is looking for another school band and drives to Magdeburg to meet the rest of “Devilish” (in German: “Devilish”) – as the friends called each other at the time.

“Without overdoing: From the first second I knew exactly that they would go through the ceiling completely. There was no such thing at the time.” With his company partners, he takes the four boys under his wing, coaches them and writes the rock song with them in 2005, which should change their lives.

“The idea behind it is that most things are finally and that we have to push through the forces of nature. Then one word showed the other, that was really quick.” It remembers a very intensive afternoon in his studio in Vögelsen near Lüneburg.

“The song and its style fit exactly in this emo time spirit at the time. That was a meeting of happy moments,” says Hoffmann today. In addition, German pop rock experienced a high-altitude flight through Silbermond, Revolverheld or July.

After the monsoon the hurricane comes

After the “Monsun”, a hurricane sweeps through the four students from Magdeburg: You can no longer take a step without bodyguards, you jetten from TV appearances at Viva to “Bravo” super shows and also play concerts in European countries. At some point it will be too much for the two Kaulitz brothers and they flee to Hollywood – where they still live.

“If you are such a high -flyer, take place on all platforms and are as young as Tokio Hotel back then, then you cannot be prepared for it. It is difficult to cope with,” says music journalist Gernandt. “I would say Tokio Hotel is the last German act that” Bravo “made big.”

The band still has a remarkable and international fan base for 20 years and six studio albums later, but the big hype has subsided. According to Hoffmann, too, because at some point the musicians decided to sing in English.

For a few years now, at least the striking twins – now 35 years old – have been on everyone’s lips again. With their joint podcast “Kaulitz Hills” and the Netflix documentary “Kaulitz & Kaulitz”, they have established themselves as an entertainment brand. In addition, the married life of Tom and Heidi Klum regularly ends up in the gossip press.

Today the Ballermann celebrates “through the Monsun” today

Her debut hit, which has also been available in English since 2007, also lives on. “Everyone knows this song. He was deep in the heart of the fans for a long time and the emotional one remains,” says co-author Hoffmann. Even today, young and old celebrate “through the Monsun” – even on the Ballermann in Mallorca. “This song always goes, every day, every time. Everyone simply knows the text and the people graze the complete chorus,” explains Bierkönig-DJ Domy Berger.

Exactly 20 years after the release, Tokio Hotel will give a big anniversary concert in the Berlin Waldbühne on Friday. They still love to play their first and biggest hit, said Bill in the last year of the German Press Agency. “There are many artists who don’t like their biggest hit or have the feeling that they are only reduced to it. So I’m glad we have the song.”