I started taking German classes in eighth grade. At first, I just wanted to get the language requirement out of the way and I was vehemently against taking another two years of Spanish. I suffered through enough Spanish in elementary school to last me a lifetime, so German was the obvious choice for me.
It still shocks me to this day how much I’ve come to love everything about German. I feel more connected to my great grandparents now because they all came to America from German-speaking countries. My grandpa and I are always euchre partners now because we can table talk in German and nobody else can understand what we’re saying. I love the countries that speak German, the cultures surrounding the language, and the food. Oh dear god, German food is the actual love of my life. Give me a Weißwurst mit Süßem Senf und Brezel Frühstück mit ein Apfelschorle right now and I would be the happiest girl on the planet. Germany really did steal my heart in ways I never saw coming in eighth grade.
The one thing I didn’t expect to love was German music. All of the exchange students from a German-speaking country who I’ve spoken to about German music all say it’s absolute trash, so naturally I was never motivated to listen to it outside of the occasional Helene Fischer song Herr Smith played in class. There is some truth to the trash statement. Some German pop music is so unbelievably terrible. My main experience with German music until recently was learning the dance to “Der Rote Pferd” with my friends and trying to keep up with the many, many lyrics of “Schnitzelbank” at family parties. Side note, go do yourself a favor and google these songs. You absolutely will not be disappointed. I swear on all the Weißwurst in the world, and I don’t throw that phrase around lightly.
That being said, Bruckner brought all those negative preconceived notions of German music crashing to the ground around me. Bruckner is a German band of two brothers from Regensburg, Germany who make incredibly mellow music which I have been vibing to really hard lately. They write music about their home and life experiences and each song speaks to my soul in ways I never expected. I listened to their song “Ich und deine Freunde” for the first time as an exercise in German class, and I haven’t been able to stop streaming all their music since then.
I guess this story has two morals. One, buy yourself a plane ticket and fly to Munich. Buy yourself a Weißwurst mit Süßem Senf und Brezel Frühstück mit ein Apfelschorle. It’ll honestly change your life. You deserve it, queen. Second, German music isn’t all that bad. Never let your preconceived notions cloud your potential experiences. You might just be missing out on something that will change your life for the better.
