German Band Brings Big Hair Back into Music

Susan Harmon
Managing Editor

Courtesy of Amazon.com

   With unique black anime hair and androgynous looks, 19-year-old Bill Kaulitz from the German alternative rock band Tokio Hotel, also delivers surprising lead vocals.

   If Bill Kaulitz does not raise your eyebrows, his identical twin brother, guitarist Tom, makes fans look twice with reciprocal deadlock hair and saggy blue jeans. Their uniqueness in appearance can only be outweighed by their expressive 80s style rock lyrics.

   Tokio Hotel’s first English album, "Scream," found its way to music stores in May.  The "Scream" album contains English versions of selected songs from previously released German albums "Schrei" and "Zimmer 483." Tokio Hotel’s 2005 German hit "Schrei,"was also recorded in English and released to iTunes in early March.

   Their “1,000 Hotels” European tour took off in March, but during a concert on March 14, Bill experienced major vocal inconsistencies. Forced to cancel the remaining European and North American tour, Bill Kaulitz faced surgery to remove a cyst on his vocal chords. After surgery and three weeks of silence, Tokio Hotel continued its tour in May.

   Bass guitarist Georg Listing and Drummer Gustav Schafer supply strong rhythms to the band. As the oldest member of Tokio Hotel, 20-year-old Listing previously attended music school with Shafer. Listing and Shafer attended the Kaulitz brother’s concert and met with them  backstage and formed the band Devlish. With all four members in place, Devlish expressed its music at talent shows.

    In 2003, Bill Kaulitz participated on Star Search and, despite his loss in the quarter-finals, found himself discovered by music executive Peter Hoffman. At this time, Devlish switched their name to Tokio Hotel. In German, Tokyo is spelled Tokio, and seeing as the band loved Tokyo, Japan, the guys stuck with the first name. The second-half of their name, Hotel, comes from their constant traveling.

  Tokio Hotel’s 2005 European album, "Schrei", sold more than half a million copies worldwide. Their second European album "Zimmer 483" and first English album "Scream" helped Tokio Hotel win their first MTV European Music Award in 2007.

 While becoming widely known in the United States, Tokio Hotel received an award for Best New Artist at the MTV Music Awards on Sept. 7. Even more recently, Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in Berlin immortalized Tokio Hotel’s Bill Kaulitz in a wax figure. The wax figure sported Kaulitz’s eccentric style by displaying a chain link and leather choker, black fingernails and a cropped leather jacket. Tokio Hotel’s stage presence, unusual fashion sense and new age music leaves American rockers left wanting.

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