Hier kommt Alex

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"Hier kommt Alex"
Hierkommtalex.gif
Single by Die Toten Hosen
from the album Ein kleines bisschen Horrorschau
Released3 October 1988
Genre Punk rock
Length3:53
Label Totenkopf
Songwriter(s) Andreas Frege
Andreas Meurer
Die Toten Hosen singles chronology
"Alle Mädchen wollen küssen"
(1987)
"Hier kommt Alex"
(1988)
"1000 gute Gründe"
(1989)

"Hier kommt Alex" (Here comes Alex ) is a song by German punk band Die Toten Hosen. It is the first single and the first track from the album Ein kleines bisschen Horrorschau . The song in concept introduces Alex, who is the central character on the concept album, a reference to Alex, the protagonist of Anthony Burgess' novel A Clockwork Orange .

Contents

"Hier kommt Alex" is structurally and musically similar to the last track from the album, "Bye, Bye Alex".

Music video

The video was directed by Walter Knofel.

Inclusions in video games

The song appears as a bonus track in the game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock . It is also available as downloadable content for Guitar Hero World Tour .

It is included in the European release of the game Rock Band , and as a downloadable track on the American version. Due to licensing issues, the song was taken down from DLC services in 2013. [1] The song was available for re-download in Rock Band 4 for those who purchased it prior to this date.

Cover versions

The song has been covered by many artists, among them Samsas Traum on Endstation.Eden, Gatos Sucios on Punto limite, Thomas Baldischwyler for the compilation Pudel Produkte 8, Sonnenbrandt, Scala & Kolacny Brothers on the album Grenzenlos. British punk band UK Subs covered it in English as "Here Comes Alex". In 2020, German medieval rock band Feuerschwanz covered the song with a medieval composition. [2]

Czech rock band Tři sestry covered the song as Já jsem Aleš (I am Aleš).

According to an interview, Die Ärzte had spontaneously played the song on a benefit concert to attract more crowd, because people were leaving after a bad band. [3]

Track listing

  1. "Hier kommt Alex" (Meurer/Frege) – 3:53
  2. "Achterbahn" ( Roller coaster ) (Rohde/Frege) − 3:35
  3. "Zum Chef (Später Dank)" (To the boss (Later gratitude)) (von Holst/Frege) – 2:10
  4. "Jo singt (Das Wort zum Sonntag)" (Jo singt (The word to Sunday)) (von Holst/Frege) – 0:46
  5. "Liebeslied" (Love song) (Breitkopf/Frege) – 3:50

Charts

YearCountryPosition
1988West Germany (GfK) [4] 32

The Return of Alex

"The Return of Alex"
Thereturnofalex.jpg
Single by Die Toten Hosen
from the album Love, Peace & Money
Released1994
Genre Punk rock
Length4:29
Label Virgin Records
Songwriter(s) Andreas Frege
Andreas Meurer
Matt Dangerfield
Die Toten Hosen singles chronology
"Kauf MICH!"
(1994)
"The Return of Alex"
(1994)
"Sexual"
(1994)

There's also an English version of the song, titled "The Return of Alex". This was released as a promo single for UK from the all-English album Love, Peace & Money .

Music video

The video was directed by René Eller and shows the band performing in a black-and-white TV-set.

Track listing

  1. "The Return of Alex" (Meurer/Frege, Dangerfield) − 4:29
  2. "So Long - Good Bye" − 3:13 (English version of "Schönen Gruß, auf Wiederseh'n")
  3. "I Fought the Law" (Sonny Curtis) − 2:35 (The Crickets cover)

2005 unplugged version

"Hier kommt Alex (unplugged)"
Hierkommtalexunplugged.gif
Single by Die Toten Hosen
from the album Nur zu Besuch: Unplugged im Wiener Burgtheater
Released9 December 2005
Genre Punk rock, acoustic rock
Length4:08
Label JKP
Songwriter(s) Andreas Frege
Andreas Meurer
Hans Steingen
Die Toten Hosen singles chronology
"Freunde"
(2005)
"Hier kommt Alex (unplugged)"
(2005)
"The Guns of Brixton (unplugged)"
(2006)

"Hier kommt Alex" was also released as a single from the 2005 unplugged album Nur zu Besuch: Unplugged im Wiener Burgtheater . The song is introduced with the first bars of the second movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.

Music video

The video contains live footage.

Track listing

  1. "Hier kommt Alex" (Meurer/Frege) − 4:08
  2. "Was zählt" (What counts) (Breitkopf, von Holst/Frege) − 4:04
  3. "You'll Never Walk Alone" (Rodgers/Hammerstein) − 2:45

Charts

YearCountryPosition
2005Germany (GfK) [5] 46
2005Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) [6] 57
2005Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) [7] 53

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Die Toten Hosen</span> German punk rock band

Die Toten Hosen are a German punk rock band from Düsseldorf. The name is taken from the German slang idiom tote Hose, which means "nothing happening"; "boring". The band has had an important success through the years, and it has built a loyal following both in Europe and South America, being particularly popular in their home country and in Argentina.

<i>Ein kleines bisschen Horrorschau</i> 1988 studio album by Die Toten Hosen

Ein kleines bisschen Horrorschau is the sixth LP by Die Toten Hosen, released in 1988. This is considered by the band as the best DTH album as of 1988.

<i>Reich & sexy II: Die fetten Jahre</i> 2002 greatest hits album by Die Toten Hosen

Reich & sexy II: Die fetten Jahre, subtitled Ihre allergrössten Erfolge is Die Toten Hosen's second compilation album, named after the first one. It was released as a single- or double-CD, in a digipak. The cover is based on the cover of Reich & sexy.

<i>Crash-Landing</i> (Die Toten Hosen album) 1999 studio album by Die Toten Hosen

Crash-Landing or Crash Landing is the second English language studio album by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen, intended for the Australian market. As on Love, Peace & Money, most of the songs are translated DTH German language songs. Some songs were originally b-sides to various singles.

<i>Opel-Gang</i> 1983 studio album by Die Toten Hosen

Opel-Gang is the debut album of the German punk band Die Toten Hosen. The title is a reference to an article in a Düsseldorf newspaper, where a gang of small-time thieves, who drove self-tuned Opels, were named Opel-Gang, even though the band wasn't initially into car modding. The album took under 10 days to record.

<i>Damenwahl</i> 1986 studio album by Die Toten Hosen

Damenwahl is the third studio album of the German punk band Die Toten Hosen. The term "Damenwahl" appears in "Verflucht, verdammt, gebrandmarkt" and the intro of "Altbierlied". It is regarded by some as the weakest album by DTH.

<i>Bis zum bitteren Ende – Die Toten Hosen Live!</i> 1987 live album by Die Toten Hosen

Bis zum bitteren Ende – Die Toten Hosen Live! or just Bis zum bitteren Ende(Until the Bitter End) is the first live album of the German punk band Die Toten Hosen. It contains songs from the "Ein bunter Abend für eine schwarze Republik" tour. Because of an injury Jakob Keusen replaces Wolfgang Rohde on drums on some tracks.

<i>Reich & sexy</i> 1993 greatest hits album by Die Toten Hosen

Reich & sexy is the first greatest hits compilation by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen. The album is an apparent tribute to Johnny Thunders, as both "Wort zum Sonntag" and "Born to Lose" are included on this album, moreover, these songs come consecutively.

<i>Love, Peace & Money</i> 1994 studio album by Die Toten Hosen

Love, Peace & Money is the first English-language album by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen, not counting the cover album Learning English, Lesson One. It was intended for the Japanese market. Most of the songs are just English versions of other DTH songs.

<i>Im Auftrag des Herrn... – Die Toten Hosen Live</i> 1996 live album by Die Toten Hosen

Im Auftrag des Herrn... – Die Toten Hosen Live or just Im Auftrag des Herrn is the second live album by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen. The album is compiled out of concerts of the 1996 Ewig währt am längsten tour. The title is a reference to the film The Blues Brothers.

<i>Wir warten aufs Christkind...</i> 1998 studio album by Die Roten Rosen

Wir warten auf's Christkind... or Wir warten auf's Christkind is a Christmas album by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen, released under the alias Die Roten Rosen.

<i>Soul Therapy</i> 1998 EP by Die Toten Hosen

Soul Therapy is a promo EP by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen, released to promote the subsequent all-English album Crash-Landing.

<i>Unsterblich</i> 1999 studio album by Die Toten Hosen

Unsterblich (Immortal) is the eighth studio album by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen. The band has stated dissatisfaction with the cover, which is a photo by Johann Zambryski. This album is considered overall one of the more peaceful and quiet DTH albums, although there are some loud songs on the album.

<i>Auswärtsspiel</i> 2002 studio album by Die Toten Hosen

Auswärtsspiel is the ninth studio album by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen. It was released in 2002. This is one of the band's favourite albums. The record is much more personal than previous albums. This is also the last album re-released remastered in digipak, with a new booklet and with bonus tracks along with all the previous major albums in 2007.

<i>Zurück zum Glück</i> 2004 studio album by Die Toten Hosen

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Nur zu Besuch: Unplugged im Wiener Burgtheater or Nur zu Besuch: Die Toten Hosen unplugged im Wiener Burgtheater is a MTV Unplugged album by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liebesspieler</span> 1984 single by Die Toten Hosen

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<i>La hermandad – en el principio fue el ruido</i> 2009 studio album by Die Toten Hosen

La hermandad – en el principio fue el ruido, subtitled En el final fue el silencio is a special album by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen for a release in Argentina. It is marketed as an Argentinian version of In aller Stille, although it also contains remixes from Zurück zum Glück. In addition to 9 original songs from In aller Stille and 6 remixes from Zurück zum Glück era there are also 3 new songs, of which 2 feature lyrics in both Spanish and German and one is purely in Spanish, a cover by Los Violadores, the oldest Argentine punk band. The album will also be available in Germany.

<i>Alles ohne Strom</i> Die Toten Hosen live album

Alles ohne Strom is a live album from the German punk-rock band Die Toten Hosen. It features recordings from two unplugged concerts on July 13 and July 14, 2019, which were titled "Mit Pauken und Trompeten" and were given at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf. The album was released on October 25, 2019 by the label JKP. The songs 1000 gute Gründe, Ohne dich und Feiern im Regen had been released as downloads before as a teaser. On November 22, 2019, a video movie with 10 additional titles was released also.

References

  1. "Rock Band DLC Re-licensing Info - Updated Quarterly". Rockband.com. 4 October 2013. Archived from the original on 13 July 2013.
  2. Napalm Records (27 October 2020). "FEUERSCHWANZ - Hier Kommt Alex (Official Video)". YouTube .
  3. "Freunde des Hauses // Bela B. - Teil 2" [Friends of the house // Bela B - Part 2]. Die Toten Hosen (in German). 31 August 2012. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012.
  4. "Offiziellecharts.de – Die Toten Hosen – Hier kommt Alex" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  5. "Die Toten Hosen – Hier kommt Alex (MTV Unplugged)" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  6. "Die Toten Hosen – Hier kommt Alex (MTV Unplugged)" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  7. "Die Toten Hosen – Hier kommt Alex (MTV Unplugged)". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 8 December 2014.