German Bands & Singers

Hi everyone, Thought listening to German music might help me improve and I was hoping someone might be able to point me in the direction of some good German speaking (or should I say singing) artists or bands? Thanks, Rosie :)

Interesting approach. I don't know if it would work or not. Personally, I find song lyrics harder to understand. Many times, I can't even understand the words of English songs which is my native language. I'm not familiar with German bands but you could probably find them on the web. Good luck, Byron

Hi Rosie, It is a good idea to vary your learning. You can practice listening and pronunciation by singing along. There are so many German musicians in every music genre for every taste. I can recommend you Annett Louisian. She has a soft voice and might be easier to understand as she sings really clearly. Roger Cicero is a jazz vocalist. A lot of songs are available to watch on youtube with the music videos. Fans often post videos with the song lyrics displayed synchronously. 'Clueso' has a lot of albums since he is making music since 1995. I would recommend you his albums 'so sehr dabei' and 'Clueso & Stüba Philharmonie'. Maybe not for practicing understanding but for insight into German culture I recommend Max Raabe who performs in English and in German in the style of German music of the 1920s and 1930s. It also worth listening to his interpretation of Britney Spears song 'Oops I did it again'. Have a look online for Max Raabe + Palast Orchester. 'Die Fantastischen vier' if your German is quite advanced and if you like pop music. Herbert Grönemeyer who writes quite poetic lyrics but you might need to look for the written lyrics as well as he stretches words often. If you found a musician you like first listen to a song repeatedly and try to pick up more and more words you understand. Than look for the lyrics and read them while listening to the music. This way you should already understand a lot more, especially as you learn the text by heart very easily. You will also notice you remember new vocabulary way easier if it is connected with a sentence. Viel Spaß beim Singen! Grüße Paul

Danke Paul. I'll give them all a listen. I found a couple of musicians yesterday and could understand a few of the words, so it was fun to try and guess what the sentence was and then check it against the lyrics. Rosie

Hi Rosie, I love learning new words with music! Here is a list of some of my favorite songs from my favorite bands: "Junge" by Die Ärzte "Ich Komme Nicht Mit" by Madsen "Alles Neu" by Peter Fox "Lila Wolken" by Materia, Yasha, Miss Platnum "OK" by Farin Urlaub Racing Team "Einmal um die Welt" by Cro If you like song parodies (silly stuff like Weird Al) check out the Ytitty channel on YouTube. They have the lyrics for their parodies in the info box. My favorite Ytitty parody is "Gotye- Somebody That I Used To Know". A German friend of mine also just introduced me to the band "Glasperlenspiel". I simply love them! Their songs are sparse on Youtube but you can visit their website and listen. Liebe Grüße, Mae

Hello Rosie, To add a couple more names/styles to the list, if you like rock/punk, try "Die Toten Hosen." Yes, that does pretty much translate to "The Dead Pants." Also, you might have some success with the music style "Schlager." This is sort of a folksy or even a Lawrence Welk-ish style of music that is very popular in Germany. Both men and women are big starts. Look for Helene Fischer, Andrea Berg, Hansi Hinterseer for starters. Hope I spelled all the names correctly. Also, if you really want to test yourself, try Hubert von Goisern. He's Austrian, and most of my German friends have difficulty if not complete incomprehension of what he's singing due to his accent."Brenna Tuat's Gurt" was a big hit a couple of years ago.

This is excellent! I tried learning by getting some of my favorite movies in German. Problem was that my dvd player won't play them! This sounds like a much better option for me.

Hansi Hinterseer is my favorite.

Hi All, I found this particular page quite useful for a few songs with their lyrics. Already knowing the tunes of the English versions of 99 Luftballons and Gibt Mir Deine Hand helps a bit too! http://www.uwec.edu/germanclub/study_corner/music.html

I've always liked the 99 Luftballon song by Nena.

Also,  Rammstein is a great band. 

If you're looking for something spiritual, give JW.ORG a go.  Go to the music section down the bottom links. For full disclosure, I am a Jehovah's Witness or Ich bin ein Zeuge Jehovas and just letting you all know, JW.ORG is the most translated website in the world by a mile. (Not that we have the site or anything else to break records mind you) I really love "Singt Lieder für Jehova" and I find it a lot easier to understand than pop, rock etc

I like die Toten Hosen and AnnenMayKantereit.
Annenmaykantereit most of the songs I heard of theirs are very easy for me to understand the words spoken in them.