The story of the band Kahlkopf began in Bad Homburg in 1981. Curly (guitar), Tim (bass), Krupp (drums) and Toni (guitar) decided to make music themselves on the spur of the moment.
Their equipment was anything but professional: a tube radio, a plastic bass and vocals. But full of enthusiasm, they got started. After they had their hair cut and the skinhead scene became their new “family”, Curly came up with the idea of calling the band “Kahlkopf” – a name that perfectly matched their new identity. A short time later, THE Kahlkopf voice, Lutz, joined the band and completed the line-up.
First recordings with controversial lyrics
They made their first recordings by simply making music, singing lyrics and recording them. The lyrics were about drinking, fighting and expressing the frustration that had accumulated in their lives – such as the initial stress with foreign citizens and whatever else was going on in the scene. You have to remember that a lot of things were different in 1983. The band released a self-produced demo tape in those years.
Contacts with the Frankfurt skinhead scene
As a band from the Frankfurt area, they naturally socialized a lot with the local skinheads in the 80s, including the Böhsen Onkelz. It was a contact like many others from the scene – no more and no less. Kahlkopf and the Onkelz made their first appearance at a skinhead meeting in Lübeck. Apparently the Onkelz sensed competition and distanced themselves from them from then on, according to Kahlkopf in an interview with the right-wing rock magazine RockNORD in 2002.
Rock-O-Rama Records discovers Kahlkopf
After Kahlkopf played at the “Rock gegen Links” festival in Lübeck on August 17, 1985 in front of around 600 skinheads (alongside Indecent Exposure, Die Hards and Böhse Onkelz), Herbert Egoldt from the Cologne label Rock-O-Rama Records became aware of the young Hessian band. He recognized the potential of Kahlkopf and their unconventional mix of Oi!, punk and metal influences, and promptly signed them to a contract. For the musicians, this was a great opportunity to grow beyond the boundaries of the skinhead scene.
Debut album “Der Metzger” becomes a cult hit
That same year, 1987, Kahlkopf’s debut album “Der Metzger” was released on Rock-O-Rama Records. The title track quickly became one of the band’s best-known and most controversial songs. With its drastic metaphors and sometimes aggressive lyrics, the song “Der Metzger” became a real battle cry. The controversial lyrics on “Der Metzger” revolved around left-wing violence, criticism of German immigration policy, drinking and having fun – topics that Kahlkopf had already dealt with on their first demo tapes. However, the release via an established label such as Rock-O-Rama Records gave the Bad Homburg band’s music a much wider reach.
Kahlkopf becomes the figurehead of “Oi! Metal”
With “Der Metzger” and the follow-up albums “Soldat” (1990) and “III” (1993), Kahlkopf established themselves as one of the most important and polarizing bands in the German right-wing rock scene in the late 80s and early 90s. Their lyrics were branded radical and lacking in empathy by critics, while their followers celebrated them as the mouthpiece of their “way of life”. Regardless of whether you shared their views or not, with “Der Metzger” Kahlkopf had finally made a name for themselves as a figurehead of the up-and-coming right-wing rock genre. The success of the album marked the band’s transition from the skinhead scene into the commercial realm and the beginning of the controversial part of their career.
Kahlkopf: Fallouts and the last album “III”
After the success of “Der Metzger” and “Soldat”, things seemed to be going uphill for Kahlkopf. But behind the scenes, the band was seething. In 1990, shortly after the release of the album “Soldat”, singer Lutz left the group. According to rumors, there were disagreements with bandleader Curly and producer Ingo Nowotny, which is said to have led to the singer’s departure.
Contacts with “Metal Enterprises”
In the early 90s, Kahlkopf made contact with the Berlin producer Ingo Nowotny. Nowotny had a branch of his label “Metal Enterprises” in Usingen, Hesse, and was regarded as an influential personality in the metal sector with good contacts to the Frankfurt distribution company “Ballaphon”. Between 1987 and 1990, Nowotny produced four studio albums and a picture LP with the Böhsen Onkelz. The collaboration with “Metal Enterprises” resulted in the last official Kahlkopf studio album “III” in 1993, which was released on CD. Many fans and critics regarded “III” as the band’s most authentic and hardest work. Although the lyrics fell short of expectations overall, the album was nevertheless the result of consistent musical development. This was reflected not least in the very professional sound of the production.
Kahlkopf “III” – The end of an era
With “III”, Kahlkopf closed the chapter of their core line-up around Curly, Tim and Krupp. The line-up was joined by Hamers on vocals, who had already sung in previous line-ups before the “Lutz era”. The hard rock songs with their blatant directness and (political) incorrectness became the finale of the Hessian cult band. After the quarrels surrounding Lutz’s departure, the death of guitarist Toni and the friction with Nowotny, Kahlkopf were unable to recover. Three more albums were subsequently released, which were marketed under the band name Kahlkopf, but had absolutely nothing to do with the original band. “III” marked the beginning of the end of one of the most charismatic and polarizing formations in the German skinhead scene.
Discography
Demo-Tape, 1985, Eigenproduktion
Der Metzger, LP, 1987, Rock-O-Rama
Demo-Tape, 1986 + 87, Eigenproduktion
Nasse Katze, 7″ Vinyl, 1989, Street Rock’n’Roll
Soldat, LP, 1990, Rock-O-Rama
III, CD, 1993, Notwotny’s Noize