Einstürzende Neubauten

1980s On 1 April 1980, made their first appearance, at the Moon Club in West Berlin. This first lineup featured Beate Bartel and Gudrun Gut, Blixa Bargeld, and N.U. Unruh. The two female members, Bartel and Gut - who had also been members of the underground band Mania D - left after a short period, founding Liaisons Dangereuses and Malaria! respectively. In 1981, 15 year old sound technician and multi-instrumentalist Alexander Hacke (alias Alexander von Borsig) and percussionist F.M. Einheit (from the Hamburg band ) joined , and they released their first LP, ("Collapse"), 1984 also saw the first release of a best-of and rarities compilation, ''Strategies Against Architecture '80–'83''. The band's next album, ("Half Man") in 1985, The one-hour film Halber Mensch (1986) by Sōgo Ishii documents 's visit to Japan in 1985. The next two albums, ("Five on the open-ended Richterscale") in 1987 The band image of changed: Blixa Bargeld, formerly wearing punk/industrial style clothes, appeared at the live concerts in a suit. 1991 also saw the release of the double album, a best-of and rarities album, Strategies Against Architecture II. This collection included a musical setting of Heiner Müller's piece ("Explosion of a Memory" or "Description of a Picture"). In Vienna, May 1992, performed at The Academy of Fine Arts' 300th anniversary in a show by Erich Wonder, ("The eye of the typhoon"). The next album, Tabula Rasa (1993), Mark Chung left the band in 1994 after the recording of for Werner Schwab's play, and made a career in the music industry. F.M. Einheit, who contributed much to the music and sound of the band, left the band a short time later in 1995, during the recording of the album, at least partially because of a conflict with Bargeld. The last track Einheit worked on was . Roland Wolf replaced them on bass guitar and keyboards only a short time before dying in a car accident in 1995. A short time later, the band released the album ("Ending New") in 1996. In 1997, the album Remixes was released, which featured remixes of the songs from by artists such as Barry Adamson, Pan Sonic and Darkus (alias Mark Rutherford); Darkus's remix tracks, with others not included on Remixes, were made available separately in the same year on The NNNAAAMMM Remixes By Darkus release. 2000s , May 2000: Alexander Hacke (left) and Blixa Bargeld (right) From 27 March to 23 May 2000, celebrated their 20th birthday with a "20th anniversary tour", playing in the Columbiahalle, Berlin on its birthday, 1 April, and released the album Silence Is Sexy, the first release since 2004's Perpetuum Mobile. The new album, ("All open again"), was released in 2007 They spent the first half of 2008 touring for the album, playing 32 dates in 19 European countries. 2010s and 2020s celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2010 with a tour through Europe. An American leg was also planned, but eventually cancelled due to visa scheduling problems. Silence Is Sexy was reissued on 1 July 2011. In November 2014 the group released album Lament, a studio reconstruction The album Alles in Allem was released in May 2020 as the group's first full-length release of new material since 2014. A tour dubbed The Year of the Rat Tour was planned for 2020 to support the album's release, but was postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, being renamed The Year of the Tiger Tour. The tour's names were based on the animals associated with the tour's year in the Chinese calendar. In January 2023, the group announced the Rampen Phase of its Supporter's project on its website, introducing the idea of repurposing improvisations from the previous tour into a full album. The album was originally planned to release in autumn of the same year, but was officially announced to release in the spring of 2024 on 24 December 2023. The album was released in early April 2024. The single Ist Ist was also released prior to the album and the autumn 2024 alien pop music tour was announced, with concerts in Europe scheduled. On April 25 2025, long-time member Alexander Hacke announced that he had left , citing differences in "basic standards, personally and professionally" between the band's members. On March 24 2026, a post pronouncing Josefine Lukschy as the new bass player of the band was published on the band’s official Instagram account. The post stated that the band personel welcomes her and showed a clip of Lukschy playing a bassline of Die Befindlichkeit des Landes song, first published in 2000. ==Band name and logo==

The band name is usually translated into English as "Collapsing New Buildings". ("new buildings") is a general term referring to buildings constructed in Germany after 1945. These are often regarded as cheaper, flimsier, and less aesthetically attractive than , or pre-1945, especially pre-modernist buildings. Due to the extensive destruction throughout Germany during the Second World War, and the extensive rebuilding thereafter, constitute a very familiar element of German cities. The band's name attracted unexpected attention when on 21 May 1980, not two months after the band's forming, the roof of the Berlin Congress Hall famously collapsed, killing one person and injuring many. The resulting media attention surrounding the collapse of the German-American icon gave the meaning of their name a new dimension. The Einstürzende Neubauten logo is an appropriation by the band of an archaic ideogram or petroglyph. It appears to be a stick figure with a circled dot or sol () as its head. The provenance of the logo has been attributed to the sacred ring of Stonehenge, or possibly to an Olmec Native American cave, and most directly in one source to ancient Chinese origins. based on a petroglyph cave drawing The logo is placed on all of the band's official products, such as vinyl/CD/DVD covers, posters, artwork, and memorabilia. The logo is copyrighted by the band. Blixa Bargeld said that by re-purposing a Toltec petroglyph, whose meaning was purposefully undefined, as their band logo, it would be "filled" with meaning later. ==Influences and legacy==

Einstürzende Neubauten are regarded as industrial pioneers due to their harsh, Noise-influenced sound. The band was heavily influenced by the Krautrock movement of the early 70s in Germany, specifically Can, Neu! and Kraftwerk, as well as the German rock band Ton Steine Scherben, who Bargeld cited as, "The only true German rock band." The band has been regarded as or directly cited as an influence on Ministry, Swans, and KMFDM. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails cited the group as a notable influence, while they have been cited as an influence on Depeche Mode's adoption of industrial influences on Construction Time Again. The band's song Armenia would later be used in the films Heat and The Insider. ==Members==

Current members • Blixa Bargeld – lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, organ, piano, custom-made instruments • N.U. Unruh – drums, percussion, backing vocals, custom-made instruments • Jochen Arbeit – guitars, backing vocals, custom-made instruments • Rudolph Moser – drums, percussion, backing vocals, custom-made instruments • Josefine Lukschy – bass guitar, backing vocals, custom-made instruments Current touring musicians • Felix Gebhard – keyboards (2014–present) Former members • Beate Bartel – bass guitar (1980) • Gudrun Gut – keyboards (1980) • Mark Chung – bass guitar, vocals (1981–1994) • Roland Wolf – keyboards, bass guitar (1995; his death) • F.M. Einheit – percussion, vocals (1981–1995) • Alexander Hacke – bass guitar, guitars, vibraphone, vocals, custom-made instruments (1981–2025) Former touring musicians • Ash Wednesday – keyboards, electronics (1997–2013) Other personnel • Boris Wilsdorf – sound engineer • Erin Zhu – executive producer • Ari Benjamin Meyers – frequent collaborator, with Redux Orchestra and on piano • Danielle de Picciotto – filmmaker Timeline ==Discography==

Cassette • (1980) Studio albums • (1981) • (1983) • (1985) • (1987) • (1989) • Tabula Rasa (1993) • (1996) • Silence Is Sexy (2000) • Perpetuum Mobile (2004) • (2007) • Lament (2014) • Alles in Allem (2020) • Rampen (apm: alien pop music) (2024) EPs • Thirsty Animal ( & Lydia Lunch), 1982 • Interim (1993) • Malediction (1993) • Total Eclipse of the Sun (1999) Soundtracks • (play, 1991) • (play, 1996) • Berlin Babylon (documentary film, 2001) Singles • (1980) • (1981) • Thirsty Animal (1982) (with Lydia Lunch & Rowland S. Howard) • "Yü-Gung" (1985) • (1985) • "Feurio!" (1989) (3-inch disc) • "Nag Nag Nag/Wüste" (1993) (3-inch disc available only with book ) • "Stella Maris" (1996) • "NNNAAAMMM - Remixes by Darkus" (1997) • "Total Eclipse of the Sun" (2000) • "Perpetuum Mobile" (2004) (download-only release) • "Weil Weil Weil" (2007) (download-only release) • "Ten Grand Goldie" (2020) (download-only release) • "La Guillotine de Magritte" (2020) • "Ist Ist" (2024) Collections • Stahldubversions (1982) • ''Strategies Against Architecture '80–'83'' (1984) • Tri-Set (1994) • Ende Neu Remixes (1997) • Strategies Against Architecture II (1991) • Strategies Against Architecture III (2001) • Kalte Sterne -early recordings- (2004) • Strategies Against Architecture IV (2010) • Greatest Hits (2016) Live albums • 1981/1982 Livematerial (1982) • 2X4 (1984) (live album) • 09-15-2000, Brussels (2001) • Gemini (2003) • Perpetuum Mobile Tour (2004) • 04-01-2004, Amsterdam (2004) • 10-29-2004, Reggio Emilia (2004) • 25th Anniversary Tour (2005) • 04-07-2005, Brussels (2005) • 04-22-2007, Hannover (2007) • 04-24-2007, London (2007) • Palast der Republik (2007) Neubauten.org Supporters Project • Supporter Album No. 1 (2003) • Airplane Miniatures (2003) • (2005) • (2006) • Jewels (2006–2007) • (2018) Musterhaus Series • (2005) • (2005) • Solo Bassfeder (2005) • Redux Orchestra versus Einstürzende Neubauten (2006) • Kassetten (2006) • (2006) • (2006) • (2007) Appeared on • Hardware (1990) • Heat (1995) • The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) • The Life of David Gale (soundtrack) (2002) • The Collector (soundtrack) (2009) Videos • Halber Mensch (1985) • Liebeslieder (1993) • Stella Maris (1996) • 20th Anniversary Concert (2000) • Listen with Pain: 20 Years of Einstürzende Neubauten (2000) • On Tour with Neubauten.org (2004) • Grundstück (DVD, 2005) • Palast der Republik (DVD, 2006) • Elektrokohle (von wegen) (2009) ==See also==