Friday, August 09, 2019

ERIC HYSTERIC & THE ESOTERICS - Drive You Crazy 1981

Pretty rough debut from Eric Hysteric & The Esoterics on Wasted Vinyl Records and the band consisted of Sam & John (vocals), Andy (bass), Eric (guitar), King Bee Jones (drums), Ricky (guitars/bass/vocals). In addition to his work as a solo artist (since 1971) Hysteric was a member of S.C.U.M (1978-1979), the Vomit Visions (1979-1982) and the Frankfurt riot combo Der Durstige Mann (1982-1995). In addition, Hysteric wrote for several Frankfurt fanzines, including "Same Old Song" and "Ultra Hard Core Punk Sounds," and was notorious (among others, the English Zig Zag Magazine and the German music magazine Sounds) for his letters to the editor. The first public project of Hysteric was the punk band S.C.U.M (Löhnberg/Gießen). After a disastrous appearance in the Jugendzentrum Gießen - acclaimed by art students - Hysteric emigrated to London. During sporadic visits to the ancient homeland, he took with the Vomit Visions, which in June 1979 from the remains of S.C.U.M. emerged, various songs on, and provided the punks at the Frankfurt flea market with the latest records from the UK and the US.

In London, Hysteric went to the studio in 1980 with Andy Groome and Leigh Kendall from the Australian punk pioneers Last Words. The result was the album "Drive You Crazy" released under the name Eric Hysteric & The Esoterics. "The Esoterics LP DRIVE YOU CRAZY is one of the most misunderstood masterpieces of pop music. Not a single weak song, uncompromisingly performed, heart-touching "(Karl Bruckmaier, Bayerischer Rundfunk March 14, 1990).

In 1982, Hysteric returned to Germany and founded under the motto: "Who takes us seriously, it is your own fault" together with the (already then) legendary chain spunk Markus Monoton, who had been a member of the Frogs und den Elbseglern, the riot combo Der Durstige Mann. While the German music critic ignored DDM, who initially also included Oskar (drums) and Marcel Roth (guitar), Due to the hairstyles of Monoton and Oskar, who had turned into skinheads around 1980 in protest against the punk turned fashion punk Barney Hoskyns in the New Musical Express (January 8, 1986) understood the DDM philosophy expressed in the programmatic title "This Is Frankfurt Not Boston (Fuck Off L.A.)" and was thrilled, Der Durstige Mann is a filthy sound far removed from our own (american) punk rock, which is extremely conservative, hedged behind allotments of slogans, etc. (...) Two of them are skins, slouching outside public lavs, the other two walled lingering in front of boutiques in grotesque young-men-wear modeling poses. I guess this makes you kid of the cheap trick of Frankfurt punk. M. Monoton (sing) and Eric (guitar) say: "I whistle on London and LA, and they are right."

After the radical trash aesthetic of the first two EPs surprised the thirsty man, now shrunk to the duo Hysteric/Monoton, 1984 with the 12'' "Saufen Ohne Ende" and the album "Bier 4 Tot", of which the single "Bier Nix Gut!" was decoupled. Tesco Vee: "Here are the guys who are really sounding slick enough to enter the world of commercial jingles and the like. Do not get me wrong. It's still boss, the bossest. "The highlight of this pop-phase was the 1985 single" Im Winter Whiskey Im Sommer Pernod".

After reviews and reports in the Bravo, a re-release of "Bier 4 Tot" by Rock-O-Rama and a placement in the WOM sales charts threatened commercial success. Hysteric responded with a radical change of course: Der Durstige Mann found back to his roots with the album "Himmel & Hölle". On the solo albums "The Crazy King (A Fairy Tale)" and "Für Dich" developed Hysteric his "difficult idiosyncratic, but highly sensitive music" on. Eric died on January 20, 2016.

here

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