B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin

- Germany! " Are you okay?

Germany!

Germany!

Has he been run over?

Germany! - Come on, get up.

Germany! - Come on, get up.

Terrible.

You are listening to the news broadcast Berliner Rundfunk.

The celebrations of the 32. anniversary

of the German Democratic Republic began with a parade

of the National People's Army in Berlin.

Fucking is fun! - Spastic! Go and wank yourself off!

Turn off the fucking camera!

Ok, my name is Silke

and I was born in the East but now I live in West Berlin.

"Property of class 10 B."

And now your first view of the Berlin Wall, which is right in front of us.

Behind the Wall is the Berlin TV tower, the fourth highest in the world.

The Wall is 45 kilometres long within Berlin

and extends for a further 115 kilometres around Berlin.

In most places it's 3.5 metres high and has one-meter-deep foundations.

We will not be able to guarantee your safety if GDR border officials intervene...

Leave the territory of the German Democratic Republic at once!

DIRECTOR FASSBINDER DEAD IN FRONT OF TV

Today I want a fix as well! - Wrong question.

I don't believe there's a real difference between a snort and a fix.

Sure is. Afix is like an explosion...

Can I use your needle?

What's wrong, have you run out of cans?

We're not New Wave and we're not a punk rock group,

and we're not... What are we?

We don't want to pigeonhole ourselves, we play the music...

...that we like, regardless of what's fashionable.

Although Joy Division are really in, we don't play like them.

At that time I was working at Zensor in Schöneberg,

where I sold records.

And Joy Division were the absolute megahit, of course,

and that really got on my nerves.

They all wanted Joy Division and nothing else.

It was a bit like selling Madonna in that little shop.

I couldn't stand Joy Division anymore and I was really pissed off.

It was much too popular, but it was great, of course.

They were the heroes of the scene back then.

I sang in English at first.

It's easier because you can hide behind words like "baby" and "ooh ah".

You're more naked and direct in German because everyone understands every word.

You have to use body language. The audience know if you're faking it.

SQUATTED AND RENOVATED

Please get back behind the barrier. Get back behind the barrier, please.

Just a moment! - Get back behind the barrier, will you?

Pursued by the police, the crowd ran towards Potsdamer Strasse,

where the traffic was still flowing.

Klaus-Jürgen Rattay, 18 years old, was hit by a bus and fatally injured.

MURDER

FIRST FATALITY

WE DON'T JUST WANT A PIECE OF THE CAKE WE WANT THE WHOLE BAKERY

What's wrong?

Mark Reeder was our manager. What do I mean by manager?

It wasn't professionalized back then.

He was English, knew his way around in the music world,

and the scene was small.

He was full of energy, he thought we were great, and he helped us.

He didn't want to be referred to as our manager, but he was.

We always said: "Mark Reeder is our manager." It sounded better.

When we started we just thrashed away and made noise.

Then we kept listening to the cassettes we'd recorded

and started trying to develop our own special sound.

Initially a lot of people came because we were girls, but they didn't like the music.

We make much harder music than any boy would.

Our music is much more brutal, people find it brutal.

At the moment I enjoy working with girls much more than I do with boys.

Boys always want to tell you what's right and what's wrong,

but I think I know myself what's right and what's wrong.

The sun's shining, the birds are twittering, the world is beautiful, people are good.

West Berlin was a very strange little creative island

but it was also my yardstick for normality.

Everything else was different to West Berlin.

Rents were way below those in West Germany.

It was possible to survive on next to no money in West Berlin.

At the same time, the whole situation, the atmosphere there, caused many people,

not just from West Germany but from other countries, too, to stay in West Berlin.

Hold on a sec. Mark!

Exactly.

What are you doing here? - What I'm doing?

What do you want to do? - God! I live here.

Yes, sure.

What did she just ask? - How do you see Berlin?

The "real" Berlin. - It's the most interesting city.

ANYONE WHO FOLLOWS COMMERCIAL MUSICAL TASTE SERVES THE REACTIONARIES

I asked myself: What is my authentic situation in life?

What is my personal environment,

for me as a West Berliner, without an ID card, without an address, without a job,

without any income, without qualifications?

Then I was in one band after another

and one of them was Einstürzende Neubauten.