Floh de Cologne (a wordplay on Eau de Cologne and floh meaning 'flea') was a German band, active from 1966 to 1983, regarded as a pioneer of krautrock and musical political satire. After some success at the beginning of the 1970s, the band separated finally in 1983.
Founding members
Gerd Wollschon (lyrics, vocals, keyboards) until 1976, died September 9, 2012 Markus Schmid (lyrics, bass guitar, guitar, vocals, keyboards, composition) until 1974 Britta Baltruschat (vocals) until 1968 Short-term founding members in the initial phase: Jürgen Alef (management) Udo Weinberger (vocals, spoken word)
Other members
Hans-Jörg "Hansi" Frank (drums, keyboards, vocals) since 1966 Dieter Klemm (percussion, speaker, management) since 1967 Dick Städtler (bass guitar, guitar, vocals, composition) since 1969 Theo König (saxophone, clarinet, harmonica, vocals) since 1972, died July 20, 2017 Vridolin Enxing (keyboards, bass guitar, guitar, cello, vocals, composition) since 1973
History
The group was formed in 1966 by a group of radical theatre students from the University of Cologne. The band originated from the Cologne APO (extra-parliamentary opposition) around the SDS (Socialist German Student Union), and their political orientation shifted over the years towards a dialectical-Marxist position.
Independently of one another, the band members joined the DKP (German Communist Party) between 1970 and 1973. Their first album, Vietnam, released in 1968, is a fierce criticism of the war in Vietnam. The profits from this album were donated to a Vietnamese charity. They satirised consumer society and sought to take their message to young workers and apprentices. Impressed by their music and especially their lyrics, Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser decided to produce their next two albums: Rockoper Profitgeier (1971) and Lucky Streik (1972).
On 6 September 1970, the group performed at the Fehmarn Festival, following Jimi Hendrix. In 1973, Floh de Cologne performed as part of a West German delegation at the 10th World Festival of Youth and Students in East Berlin. After Gerd Wollschon's departure in 1976, the group increasingly collaborated with the lyricist Peter Maiwald, who contributed important songs for their stage shows and LPs. From 1980 onward, members of the band (Vridolin Enxing as chairman) were active in Rock gegen Rechts; in the same year, the group received the German Cabaret Prize with Gerhard Polt.
After more than 3,000 concerts in Germany and Europe, Floh de Cologne disbanded in May 1983 following a farewell tour. The farewell concert at the Cologne Sports Hall had 6,000 spectators and lasted 14 hours, featuring numerous musicians such as Hannes Wader, Dieter Süverkrüp, Franz-Josef Degenhardt, Hanns-Dieter Hüsch, Die 3 Tornados, Wolfgang Niedecken (BAP), and Ina Deter.Barry Graves, Siegfried Schmidt-Joos: The New Rock Encyclopedia. Volume 1, 1990, p. 284Michael Frank: "Letzter Seufzer bei gehobener Stimmung". In: Süddeutsche Zeitung, 18 May 1983, S. 3; retrieved 25 June 2018. In 2023, the band received the Holger Czukay Honorary Award from the City of Cologne for their lifetime artistic achievements.
Their musical style is considered to be krautrock.
Cabaret, beat, rock After the originally conventional cabaret group Floh de Cologne experienced underground bands like the Mothers of Invention, the Fugs, and the Edgar Broughton Band at the Essen Song Days in 1968 – where the group itself performed two special programs – they stylistically reoriented themselves with their album 7. Programm, combining agitational texts with beat music and a stage show to create so-called "agitation revues"Theaterlexikon 1, rowohlts enzyklopädie, 2007. and developing into one of the leading political rock bands.
In 1970, Floh de Cologne signed an exclusive record deal with the label Ohr/Metronome for the production Fließbandbabys-Beatshow and other releases. Metronome producer Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser was instrumental in the development of the so-called krautrock scene of those years. In 1971, Floh de Cologne created Profitgeier, the first German-language rock opera. In the three-movement Geyer Symphony of 1973, the band incorporated original excerpts from political speeches given at the funeral of the German industrialist Friedrich Flick into their music.
With the cantata for rock band Mumien ('Mummies'), the band responded to the 1973 coup in Chile, including a musical setting of the last speech by the ousted president Salvador Allende. That same year, the group collaborated with Hans Werner Henze on alternative settings of the Chilean anthem (Dieser chilenische Sommer war süß; 1974), with lyrics by Rudi Bergmann (born 1950). The premiere took place on May 31, 1974, in Essen (Grugahalle: memorial concert for Víctor Jara, also a solidarity event for the resistance in Chile).plaene-records.de: Konzert für Chile (Web archive), de
Their collaboration with Mauricio Kagel at the "Cologne Courses for Political Music" (1975) also transcended national borders. In the rock opera Koslowsky, for which the band had researched on location for a year, Floh de Cologne traced the fate of a worker from the Ruhr area who comes to Bavaria to work at the Maxhütte steelworks in 1980.
Theater Less well-known, but essential for the band's development, were their works for the theater. These included collaborations with Roberto Ciulli at the Cologne Schauspielhaus: Ein Neuer Florentinerhut (A New Florentine Hat) after Eugène Labiche (published by Hartmann & Stauffacher, Cologne); with the Markgrafen-Theater Erlangen and the Staatstheater Wiesbaden: Rotkäppchen – ein Märchen mit viel Rock und Pop und Rumtata(Little Red Riding Hood – A Fairy Tale with Much Rock and Pop and Rumtata) after Yevgeny Schwartz (published by Hartmann & Stauffacher, Cologne). Further works followed with a smaller lineup after the band's dissolution (Dick Städtler, Theo König, Vridolin Enxing): at the Grillo-Theater Essen, together with David Esrig, a new version of Carlo Goldoni's Der Krieg (The War) (1984, Sessler-Verlag, Vienna); Babette oder peu à peu with Helmut Ruge at the Markgrafen-Theater Erlangen (Babette or Little by Little) (1986); and also there: Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern (The Little Match Girl) (1986).
Stage programs Each Floh de Cologne stage program was accompanied by a programmatic poster. The back contained the complete text of the program and, where applicable, "instructions" for action and references to literature for further "private revolutionary activity." The front was designed by friends such as HR Giger, Dieter Süverkrüp, Stefan Siegert, and Wolfgang Niedecken.
These posters and the LPs were sold by the group themselves after the performances, just as they did everything else themselves; there were no professional roadies. It was part of the group's code of honor to do their own work whenever possible, thereby keeping ticket prices low so that their target audiences (apprentices, young workers, students, and schoolchildren) could access the shows as easily as possible. A quote from a 1983 program booklet:Floh de Cologne: Last Chronicle, 1983 in the archive of Vridolin Enxing Floh de Cologne, that's no gold record and no easy money, no place in the charts or prime-time television, no art or cultural prize, and no subsidies. That's just bad luck.
Individual shows for the stage
Vor Gebrauch Kopf schütteln 1966Press review by Margot Schuchardt: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, January 26, 1966. Tra-Ri-Tra-Ra, die Pest ist da 1966Press review by HB: NRZ (Neue Rheinische Zeitung) SimSAlabimbambambaSAladUSAladim 1967July 8, 1967 Performance at the Essen Cabaret DaysPress review by Heiko R. Blum: Süddeutsche Zeitung, February 11, 1967. Zwingt Mensch Raus 1968Press review by Klaus Budzinzki: Münchner Abendzeitung August 21, 1968. 7. Programm 1969Press review by E.G. Schäfer: Reutlinger Generalanzeiger, March 24, 1969. Fließbandbabys Beat Show 1969Press review: Kölner Leben, October 18, 1969. Rockoper Profitgeier 1970Press review by Eva Ortstein: NRZ, December 14, 1970.Press review by Gerhard Ritter: Frankfurter Rundschau, December 16, 1970. Rock-Jazz-Rakete Lucky Streik 1972 Geier-Symphonie in Rock-Dur 1973 Mumien, Kantate für Rockband 1974 Rock-Show TILT 1975 Rock-Revue Profitgeier & Co. 1976 Prima Freiheit 1978 Rockoper Koslowsky 1979 Faaterland 1982
Filmography and radio works Year Title Media / genre Notes 1967 The Floh de Cologne sketch "SPDeia" Television Cut from a broadcast about the Essen Cabaret Days. 1969 Zwingt Mensch raus Television Production canceled by WDR due to alleged "hardcore pornographic tendencies." 1970 Das wunderbare Geträume von Taifun-Willi Radio play Music for the play by Dick Higgins. 1970 Fließbandbaby Television/Concert Live broadcast planned by Radio Bremen; canceled two days prior. 1971 Profitgeier Television Production canceled by WDR directors Scholl-Latour and Höfer. 1971 (Unnamed program) Television Canceled by ORF; fee successfully claimed in court. 1971 Schlußwort and Schlußwort 2 Radio play Music for the plays by Richard Hey. 1972 Ende gut, alles schlecht Radio musical Music for the work by Richard Hey. 1973 Das Kraftwerk Radio play Music and songs; written by Jens Hagen and Günter Wallraff. 1973 Das Trauerspiel TV film Music and lyrics; directed by Peter Voigt. 1975 Die Aufsteiger-Saga TV film Music and title song; directed by Rolf Schübel. 1975 Grüße aus Neckarsulm Film Music; directed by Hannes Karnick and Wolfgang Richter. 1975 Good bye, GI Radio ballad Music and lyrics; co-authored with Jens Hagen. 1975 Die Gruppe Floh de Cologne TV film Participation in the film by Peter Voigt. 1976 Südfrüchte aus Oberndorf TV film Music; directed by Wolfgang Landgraeber. 1977 Das Betriebsjubiläum TV film Music and title song; directed by Rolf Schübel. 1978 Panteon Militar TV film Music; directed by Wolfgang Landgraeber. 1978 Dreizack TV magazine Regular contributions to the political satire magazine on WDR. 1979 Ein Mann von Gestern TV film Music and participation; directed by Tom Toelle. 1980 Koslowsky TV film A WDR television production. 1980 Das Land der Rosen und Nachtigallen TV film Music; directed by Yoash Tatari. 1981 Mitbestimmung im Visier TV film Music; directed by Yoash Tatari.
In 1977, DEFA filmed a two-part documentary about the group (directed by Rainer Ackermann, cinematography by Thomas Plenert).
In 2019, Part 1 of the US DVD series Krautrock, titled Romantic Warrior IV, was released. The series presents extensive videos and interviews with representatives of the German Krautrock scene. Part 1 covers the Düsseldorf and Cologne groups, including CAN, Kraftwerk, and Floh de Cologne.
In 2023, OK Projekt Berlin produced a visualization of the Chilean cantata Mumien and in 2025 of Fließbandbaby's Beat-Show. That same year, Caro Gubig created a video for the ballad Ballade von Samstag auf Sonntag from the rock revue Faaterland.
The 2025 film Köln 75 uses the song Sei Ruhig Fließbandbaby from Fließbandbaby's Beat-Show in its entirety.
Discography