Kollaps

oufff, j'ai passé au travers... Vraiment pas mon genre et pour vrai, ca sonne comme rien... ou bien comme un set de drum qui tombe dans les escaliers ou mes enfants qui joue dans le tiroir a casserole. Tout de même, il y a certain bout ou je ne détestais pas trop.. 1.75

I tried, multiple times, It just didn't stick. Hard to listen to for any length of time.

alright

Fuck no

Oy. I like some weird stuff, but this is really pushing the limits.

I did listen all the way through this one, and I hate try not to give albums a 1 star rating because there should be some value to listening to all of them on here, but this German industrial noise punk was actively hard to listen to. maybe that's the point but I would have a hard time recommending this to anyone. there were a couple cool parts in there but nothing memorable enough to give more than 1.5 stars and since this is out of 5, I have to round down.

Goal achieved and argument won – this the most unlistenable album ever.

No. No no no. Horrifying messy unlistenable garbage. Definitely not something anyone needs to hear, ever.

epic noise

Cold, harsh and anxiety inducing. Don’t think I’d listen again soon but deffo an experience. Would deffo listen over U2

I thought, that that would be the first album that I wouldn't listen to it whole. But it was easier than some that I already did.

Noise

2.5 It was better than expected. Never heard of them or listened to anything quite like it before. I'd listen to it again, but not sure it is something I would listen to regularly.

German factory ambiance music.

I went into this knowing it’s the lowest rated album on the list but honestly, while it isn’t pleasant or easy to listen to I was okay with it. I’m not a big punk guy but this was so deconstructed it was unique. In reality I’m guessing this was a bunch of college kids smashing pieces of metal together and if I spoke German I feel like I’d probably roll my eyes at the lyrics, but for some reason it was clicking with me. It’s by no means good but not deserving of being the worst. Also, I learned while deep diving on this album that the lead singer became the guitarist for nick cave and the bad seeds which is an insane piece of music trivia I can’t share with anyone ever because no one listens to nick cave anymore let alone a German experimental band

It’s discordant and absolutely horrible to listen to. But it does interest me. I don’t speak German so whilst listening I’m googling what this album is about. I wouldn’t listen again and I had to sit in discomfort to get through it all but that’s not to say that what it is trying to achieve (depictions of war and pain) is not effective

I can't believe they picked this one over Halber Mensch.

No

I was almost 100% sure this was getting a one the moment I saw it. I already knew what it was, and I didn't think it would come for me so soon. This is the kind of music that makes me feel like I'm dying. There were multiple times I thought my smoke alarm was going off during this album, but no, that was just how the song sounded. I could not bare to listen to this with headphones. It did help to drown out the other people in my house though, and I appreciate that. I understand how this was influential for industrial music, but I find that I'm not the biggest fan of industrial music. I hope these guys had a lot of fun making this album, because it sounds like they did. My favourite songs were Vorm Krieg and Rohrbombe.

Probably the best 2 star album I’ll review.

To be fair, you do need an incredibly high IQ to understand the nuance and depth to this album

Interesting…….

If you like pneumatic drills, the sound of a 4 year old hitting some railings with a stick and Hitler shouting at you for 40 mins then this album is for you. Its not for me. Art statement 5. Enjoyment factor. 0.

If Doodle Bob had a band, this would be the album. Perfect for any haunted house, artsy horror film or torturing your neighbor. Have a Godzilla like monster? Mikrobendub. Deranged dentist turned torturer? Steh auf Berlin. Scene with a NY street performer? Rohrbombe. Doodle Bob does the Bubble Bowl? Vorm Krieg. For house security, play Gasterbeiterdub on repeat while you’re away from home. Passerby will think you’re jamming out and building your new IKEA furniture. The weak hearted should skip the first seven songs and head to the more palatable second act starting with Kollaps. Sado-Masodub is an absolute banger that ends just as it’s getting good. A marvel for its time that is now blended into whacky sound effects on keyboards and Ableton push sound packs.

Gotta be honest it takes a lot of balls to record something like this and release it. The whole time listening to it all I could think about was them in the studio recording it and it made it a little easier to listen to. The back half of Helga was my favorite part. This album would make a great horror movie soundtrack. Terrible music though I recognize they perfectly executed what they were going for

Uhhh... All I can say is that some parts were almost listenable. Most were not! I guess it's cool that they found a bunch of pots and pans to bang on in 1981, don't know if anyone had done that yet? But past that the whole time I was thinking "why is someone doing this to my ears?" Also why did it have to be so long? I actually liked Sado-Masodub. But that was literally the only moment on the album that I thought was kind of cool. Maybe I don't get it! But I'm just glad I never have to listen to this whole thing again.

For these 1001 albums I’m giving myself a pass to abandon one album before finishing it. This is that album. I can’t do it! This music is trying to murder me. On the bright side this really makes every other song I’ve ever considered inaccessible or grating sound like singing in the rain. Props to the band for really blurring the line between what is music and what is a mean, robot weasel who wants to kill.

Among the “1 Star Album Club,” some space must be reserved for bold, exciting ideas which have been ruined by their execution. I actually enjoy a lot of the experimentalism on this album, and I want reward any and all artists willing to go out on a limb. You can hear some nightmarish— but somewhat enticing— sounds on the second half of this record. Almost a more homespun, industrial version of the Raymond Scott/Manhattan Research tapes. Little ideas made from experiments, and some are pretty neat. That’s the instrumental second half of the album. Unfortunately for Eunsturzrnde Neubauten, most of us start our albums at the beginning, and the beginning of this album is absolutely unlistenable, and it is entirely up to the screaming, frightening vocals. Comparisons have been made to the sound of Hitler screaming one of his speeches while giving you a root canal. I think that’s not at all unfair. I can’t hear anything redeeming in those first three tracks, and that’s a lot of time to lose someone. If Neubauten was really going for this, and they actually want me to turn my mind to the dark, repressed memories of my last dentist appointment, then “Steh Auf Berlin” is a stunning achievement. And so it is with all of the good ideas on this album: ruined by horrific vocals. I’m so repulsed by them that anything else redeeming on this album is forgotten. I was going to write an unserious review, but halfway through my second go-round I realized that this band is actually deadly serious, and so they deserve to be more than just slagged off. 1 star for me.

If you're idea of a good time is listening to someone banging and pounding on chunks of metal, repeatedly over and over and over again, I have an album for you! Quite literally, this is what "real" Industrial music sounds like. This is scary shit, this is what nightmare soundtracks sound like and really is there any redeeming qualities to this "music"? I have to admit, I got used to it after a while and I did in fact listen to the whole thing which is an accomplishment because during the first track, I didn't think I could. I thought the percussion rhythms generally worked and I'm rating it higher than 1 star, because I didn't hate it, but then again there wasn't much to love.

I listened to a single song and that was pretty much enough to determine this album is not good

Just too difficult for poor old me to get to grips with.

Well.i got more feeling from this than i dod the stevie wonder i had yesterday... but equally, it was a hard listen. Quite a tricky one to rate.

I like to try give everything a chance on this generator but this was not worth the pain

Probably the wierdest album I have ever listened to. Not the worst - that is still Nico - but very odd, with unusual instrumental choices. I had no real idea what to expect, and don't want to spoil the surprise for anyone else!

This is a hard one... it very clearly wasn't intended to be thought of as music; it's more performance art than anything. Some of it ever-so-vaguely resembles the industrial vibe that turns up in music that I really like (Ministry, Fear Factory, KMFDM etc) but that's where any real connection to music here ends. It has that "ha ha, this is fucked up" edge in the lyrics, which combines well with the utter sonic despair they're paired with and that gets it an extra point, but I am also being pretty generous there. 2/5.

Gross

😒

2.6 - This sounds like a sample catalog for industrial music, or the soundtrack for a sub-genre of pornography you wish didn't exist.

Le meilleur moment était la reprise de Gainsbourg :)

ma machine à laver a encore fait des siennes.....

Non è per me. Solo Kollaps mi è piaciuta

Dannati geni.

Quando si parla di industrial non mi aspetto rumori di trapani e urla di gente schiacciata sotto alle presse idrauliche. Ho resistito per tre brani.

Listened before? N What a wild album! For being such an early industrial work, it sure is more complex and layered than most modern industrial stuff (which seems to just be metal for people who can't play string instruments). It ranges from songs that are a few seconds long, to the monster 8-minutes Kollaps. What a roller coaster. An absolute pioneer in their field. Added to Library? N Songs added to playlist: Sado-Masodub

I thought that Germany was out of the "crimes against humanity" business... + 1 star for sheer audacity, and the final few tracks which veered toward being tolerable.

How to review an album that wasn't meant to be "enjoyed"? I tried thinking of it as visiting a performance art piece (which I gather is how the band started). But even then I found it hard going, intriguing at times but never really engaging - hampered no doubt by me not understanding German (and not finding translations in the time available). All along, I'm thinking fondly of times with Simon and Jeremy (RIP), who cited this band as a key influence they wanted to bring into our band, and of course then into Kinderschmerzen. In the end, I'm going to rate it as usual: how much did I enjoy/appreciate it, and would I come back for more? Having dipped quickly into some later albums where they mixed the industrial noise with more melody, groovier rhythms, and discernable song structures, I'm sticking with my original rating: two stars, the second being due more to the memories than to the recording itself.

At my age, life’s too short for this. I did enjoy all 1:25 of the Jetaime cover & Negativ Nain was amusing. Other than that, it’s all I could do to ward off a headache. I think the nearest we ever had to a band like this in Sydney was SPK. Mind you, I did enjoy that one of the tracks was titled Schmerzen.

Around 1990-91, I was a volunteer at 2SER student radio. Mostly, I did technical work helping my mate, Tim, who hosted 'Monday Night Football', a music program that ran from 1-3am on Thursday nights. Panelling, editing, that kind of thing. In 1991, Einsturzende Neubauten were touring Australia and there was an offer to do a radio interview with 2SER. I could actually pronounce “Einsturzende Neubauten” and knew a little bit about the band, so it was decided that I would do the interview. Interviewing was not really my thing, but it came with perks; tickets to their show at the Phoenician Club and a copy of the Strategies Against Architecture LP, so I said OK. I knew the legendary Blixa Bargeld has a reputation for not suffering fools, so I tried to prep questions that were interesting. So, on the day of the show the plan was to go down to the club after soundcheck and interview Blixa. It was a bit intimidating. I mean, EN were one of the world’s most dangerous bands and Blixa also played in the Bad Seeds, which made him an underground legend. Tim and I were in the equipment room gathering up a portapack and mics and whatever else we needed, when someone comes running in the room whispering “There’s a vampire in the lobby, and he’s looking for you!” And sure enough, there in the lobby, stands Blixa in full stage outfit, pale as death, six foot six in Cuban heels and his hair teased up and 100lbs wringing wet. He has a bottle of schnapps and a filthy look in his eye. He’s staring death at everyone. And then I hear my name called. Standing next to this imperious vision in black is a smiling Japanese man in bright green overalls with a flower appliqued on the front. His voice is oddly familiar; it is Rick Tanaka, former presenter of 'The Nippy Rock Shop', an experimental collage-style radio show from Triple J in the 80s. I was a fan. Turns out, he is the road manager for this EN tour, and he is asking for me. He hands me his business card: Rick Tanaka, Private Guy. We hurriedly shuffle Rick and Blixa into a meeting room and turn on the recorder, and I attempt an interview. It did not go well. Blixa did not want to be there, was much smarter than me, and was not very patient with my attempts at questions that were more engaging than the usual stereotypical “who gets to go to the junk yard to get scrap metal for your stage show?” Eventually, Blixa just started ignoring me and chatted to Rick. Tim and I kept the tape rolling for their conversation, and afterwards edited it up into something resembling proper radio. And then they left. Tim and I packed up and then walked down the road to the Phoenician Club. En route, we bumped into the Beasts of Bourbon, who were playing support. Tex and Kim were intensely focused and wouldn't say hello, but we chatted to Spencer for a bit. They clearly knew what was coming and were determined to put on a good show. They were the best I ever saw them play that night; tight, ferocious and angry, showcasing material from their Low Road album, that was not yet released. And then on came Einsturzende Neubauten. It was possibly the most intense, frightening show I ever seen. I confess I was a little freaked out by my encounter with Blixa and not really prepared for the experience of an EN show. By the end of their set, I was pressed up against a wall with my fists clenched and my eyes shut. The sound from the stage was so brutal and overwhelming. I can’t recall much of what went on, except for a bit with shopping carts with contact mikes crashing into each other repeatedly. It was really loud. I know I left the venue about 11.30pm. At 2am, I turned up at my girlfriend’s house, tapping on her window. I assume I spent the intervening hours walking the streets in a daze, but not really sure of what I did in that time. She yelled at me for a good 15 minutes for waking her up, but I was unable to put a sentence together, let alone explain what had just happened to me. It was a heavy, really heavy, performance. Ok, so given that background of my relationship with EN, what do I think about this album? I have listened to it once or twice before. EN is really influential on me. I love noisy things, really noisy things. I played in industrial bands through most of the 1990s. And this is like the ur-text for much of what industrial music became. It still sounds frightening and surprising now. That said, this is a massively difficult listening experience. I am reminded of Brian Eno talking about Steve Reich (I think), and how hearing one of his early tape pieces was massively influential, but he never listened to it again. Early EN (and this album in particular) is like that for me. It opened up a world of possibilities to explore, but I don’t need (or probably even want) to listen to it much. I certainly was much more enamored of their early 1990s material, which contains actual songs, rather than just this scary barrage of crashing rhythms and screaming. Kollaps is an important record for me, but I would not recommend it.

It was horrible drivel

Ouf... bof

Interesting but…

What the hell is this? Power tools and someone screaming in German? This is absolute garbage. If I could give negative stars, I would. I thought Limp Bizkit was the worst this list had to offer, but boy was I wrong. I owe Mr. Durst a heartfelt apology. This is literally the worst thing I have ever heard. Imagine you're outside on a busy street standing next to someone jackhammering the sidewalk, so you're wearing headphones that are just playing static to try and cover up the construction sounds, but you can't quite get the volume high enough. Then out of nowhere an angry German dentist tackles you and starts giving you a root canal while yelling in your face. Then someone in the building next door sees what's going on and starts throwing random drums and chains out the window onto the street. Now imagine that but worse. That's the kind of thing we're dealing with here. So I say to you, Mr. Einstürzende Neubauten, BOOO! BOOOOO!!!

Don't listen just give it 1 star and skip it, it's not worth the pain

Industrial. Horroroso.

56 minutes of this shit? Hell no. …Haus Depöt lol

I sure didn't expect that! Very different kinda music, if you can call it music.

Extra star for being different and challenging, but listening while working can't deal with this.

Gotta go full grandad on this one and say "that's not music". Trent Reznor clearly owes the man a pint but nothing sounds finished here. The few atmospheric parts were totally acceptable but the hitting a railing with a stick and shouting in German parts were unbearable. Next!

I do get what they are doing here and I appreciate it. They’ve got a cover of a Serge Gainsbourg tune here, too, which is an excellent homage. Love the album art. Not something I’ll come back to but I absolutely understand why we need to include it on this list.

It's October and I now have the perfect album to play while handing out goodies on Halloween. Excellent! But there's no way it's getting rated higher than 1.

I was looking forward to hearing this because I wanted to see if it was as unlistenable as I remembered it. Confirmed. It's interesting that their name means "Collapsing New Buildings". Some tracks remind me of the collapse, others of the aftermath. This LP has taken over the #1 spot for the lowest rated 1001 LP. Throbbing Gristle is a close second. Industrial Noise is sweeping up!

There sure is a lot of hate for this record, so much that it's the lowest rated song on the entire list. I think that's a bit overstated as this isn't a "bad" record per se, it's definitely challenging though and it will necessitate that you adjust your expectations of what "music" is. IMO there are a lot of more unlistenable albums on this list, eg Black Death Metal. I found the second side with the instrumental songs without any vocals to be the most interesting. Particularly the 7 songs that end in "dub", with the best being Gastarbeiterdub with some very interesting percussive beats. I probably wouldn't seek this out to listen to it but I found it to be quite interesting.

Grew on me. Not sure I'd listen again though.

I am someone who is a lover of noise, static and jarring music. I couldn’t find a way in to enjoy it and I couldn’t get anything out of it apart for the thought that this was just a load of crap.

Looking forward to Jon's review of this. I wish my German was better, I'd love to know what they are singing/shouting about. Borderline unlistenable of course. Not as bad as Soungarden.

It’s like when you visit an art gallery and there’s a video instillation. The video is shot on Super 8, and features broken mirrors, religious imagery, and a good deal of nudity. This album would be the soundtrack. You stand at the back of the darkened gallery just long enough to prove you aren’t scared/confused/shocked by it, then politely edge your way out to go and find something by Banksy, whose book you have on the coffee table at home. Giving it 2 stars. If you gave it 1 star, it would mean you didn’t ‘get it’ … and I definitely ‘get it’. 100% ‘get it’. It’s just I prefer stuff by Radiohead, or Banksy.

My god what will this do to my Spotify recommendations???

Probably won’t be listening to this again

Music is context specific right. And my current context is really jarring with this. This ISN'T work background music. But, there's something that's made me curious. I like the textures. The drums on Steh auf Berlin sound similar to a Woodkid track (you know the one trending on TT right now). There must be some techno remixes of these songs playing at Berghain right? U-Haft-Muzak has a really interesting intro, and not surprised to read one of the band members joined Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. Can hear how Nine Inch Nails have been influenced by them. Apparently the band threw fire at their audiences and damaged venues. Hmmm, that sounds like really shitty behaviour IMHO.

Listened to clips from most of the songs and that was enough. I can imagine this being popular with people who enjoy tearfully masturbating to the Hostel movies.

I just don't vibe with the atonality and bizarre aspects of experimental music

Not bad background music except for it feeling like I was being shouted at by Hitler the entire time

Not sure how this would fair in an ‘ask’ poll rather than some editors’ picks. A tough listen in any language

unfortunately could not finish, which might seem unfair to rate it so low. it was a sensory nightmare for me though, and felt more like rhythms and beats with extra noises. not my cup of tea

Pretty tough to listen to but it definitely has a place in music history given that it paved the way for other industrial music. A bit too experimental for me.

Noise

Could only listen to the first three "songs" before I had to give up. Came back to listen a few other tracks which turned out to be easier on the ears. Still have to say that this music is not for me.

Uf...

Some songs were definitely listenable. Others were sound collages put together. Not a very cohesive album, maybe that’s the point?

Som experimental, não muito agradável

This was weird. I listened to the whole thing but did not enjoy much of it.

Found sounds galore! This one has me looking around the house wondering "can I make music with that?"

Pretty much endured this. I’m a generally open to the idea that I’m not getting something weird and could be brought around to appreciation but This one I thought was a load of BS.

Unlistenable…but that’s probably the point.

If you have a headache and would like to worsen your headache, this is the perfect album for you. Let's just say...interesting does not equal listenable.

Really solid creatively and certainly the most deserving of the label industrial, but not the EN album I would’ve picked for a “must listen.”

A band and album that is so hard to properly describe. I got into Neubauten through listening to the Bad Seeds and I was lucky enough to see the play in 1991. It was like visiting hell, am I mean that as a compliment to the unabashed fury on display that night. Cut pieces of shopping trolley raining over the audience and sparks from angle grinders adding a sense of danger that they may just set the venue alight. This album doesn't even come ose to capturing that but it still gets five stars as it is still on a whole other level to most of the albums on this list

Knowing German did not make this any better, honestly might've been more tolerable if I didn't know it.

Trash

I didn’t listen to this album because I’m not into German music.

This should be everyone's selection on April 1st, because it being included on the list has to be a joke. Worse than awful.

This is a joke, right? No way this is real. These guys took mics to Haus Depöt and started recording everything on the plumbing aisle. This shit sounds like a “10 HOUR INDUSTRIAL BLACKSMITH FACTORY AMBIENCE” youtube video. Honestly though, I can dig abstraction and distorted electronica, but you always need something for the audience to latch on to. At times this is cool, but if this plays at the discotheque, I’m leaving because you can’t even try to dance to this shit

Not my thing. Awful

noise music, very much not my thing