Die Ärzte's weird creative album packaging

[originally posted October 22nd 2023 on cohost]

Die Ärzte are not very well known outside of German speaking countries, but over here they are one of the most iconic bands. Starting in the early 80s and going until today through various shifts in style, making massive impacts on the German understandings of punk, pop, rock and everything in between. Ever since the rise of digital music, they have put a lot of effort into making sure that their fans who are still willing to buy physical releases actually get something for their money, and with their fantastic abilities to think outside the box they have come up with some really unique packagings for their albums since. I have the CDs, but all the albums have also been available on vinyl, where the packaging is the same, just bigger.

A little while back I have made a very elaborate post on their CD singles where I also described the packaging quite in detail, but what they're really noteworthy for is the full length album packaging. So that's what this post is.

Already in the mid 90's they have moved away from traditional jewel cases in an effort to avoid producing too much plastic, their albums Planet Punk (1995) and Le Frisur (1996) coming in full cardboard packaging with a small mechanism holding the disc in place. Uncommon, but certainly not revolutionary or particularly flashy. For their next album 13 released in 1998, they have become early adopters of the discbox slider, a full cardboard packacking where the disc tray slides out to the side. These are hardly anything special anymore as they became quite common in the mid 2000s and they unfortunately are quite prone to damage, but this is by far the earliest album with this packaging that I am aware of, so certainly worth pointing out.

Then, it gets weird.

Their album Runter mit den Spendierhosen, Unsichtbarer![1] released in 2000 comes in a bright blue plush sleeve.

Inside, the booklet and a card sleeve to protect the CD from being worn off from the fabric.

I want to emphasise that the plush is super nice and floofy. Even on my very old copy. Very nice to touch or to cuddle in bed at night.

Their next album Geräusch (meaning noise or sound) released in 2003 was a double album (under 50 minutes per disc so the vinyl version is also a double album). While this is, for obvious reasons not a gimmick that translates to the vinyl version, the CDs came in a vinyl-style gatefold packaging, complete with CDs in vinyl look, with grooves and all, and fully in black like Playstation 1 discs.

It is also not clear which disc is the first one, or from which side the gatefold is meant to be opened, as both sides have their own "front" cover that are flipped to be the correct side up and opening on the right depending on how you hold it, with the printing on the inside being matched accordingly. Both sides also have their own booklet. Although I believe nowaways it's the consensus that the front cover with the band photo and the disc starting with Als ich den Punk erfand is the "canonical" beginning of the album, while the cover with the cross and the disc starting with Unrockbar is the second disc, the physical packaging makes this ambiguous.

Then, their next album Jazz ist anders (jazz is different), is a pizza. Like, in a proper pizza box and everything. Here, check it out:

The box opens like a pizza box, and the CD (picture disc for the vinyl version) has a pizza printed on it.

I unfortunately do not have the first edition of this album. My version comes with a cardboard pepper, that has a download code for a 3-track bonus EP (it's actually 4 tracks but don't tell anyone) printed on it. The first edition of the album had an extra 3-inch CD (or 7 inch picture vinyl) that has a tomato slice printed on it.

Then, there's of course the economy version of the album. "The what now?" you may ask. Yes, an economy version. No, it's not a re-release in cheap normal packaging for the more casual consumer who doesn't need all these fancy gimmicks. Don't be ridiculous, this is Die Ärzte, they don't do cheap. The economy version is actually a completely different release that was exclusive to their fan club and the merch table at one or two tours, that's a complete re-recording of the album of very low-effort parodies of their own songs[2]. The packaging is hardly any special, just being a cardsleeve with a crudely handdrawn version of the album cover, but the disc is once again a pizza, just in the spirit of being economical, without toppings. (Ok, maybe they do do cheap. But only if it serves the bit)

Their next album auch (too, also. The adverb)[3] released in 2012, is an equally ridiculously elaborate gimmick. auch comes in a very nice looking box, with an age recommendation of 6 to 66 printed on the side.

When you open the box, you are greeted by, what appears to be the disc, and... bottle caps?

When you take it out, you'll notice the CD is attaced to a large folded sheet of paper, perhaps a poster, or a lyric sheet. Once you fold it open, it is revealed that this whole thing is a board game, with the CD being able to spin on its attachment and functioning as a wheel, for the pointer finger on it to point at the eyes of a dice printed around it, and the bottle caps being the playing pieces.

I have never actually played this game because I have no friends, but I have heard it is playable, and they still have the rules for it here on their website[4].

Now, for this album cycle, it is also worth pointing out that beyond the album itself, which is generally remembered less favourably among their catalogue[5], they absolutely worked themselves to death with intense touring and a ridiculous music video schedule. You know, usually bands make like maybe 2 or 3 music videos per album, maybe 4 or 5 if the budget is there and they're really pushing it. You know, just for the singles. Well, for auch, Die Ärzte not only made a music video for every single one of the 16 songs on the album, they actually made 2. Yes, this album had 32 music videos, one full set of performance videos and one set of stop-motion animation videos. While obviously the budget and effort is extremely stretched thin for an individual video over this massive project, the animation videos are pretty charming and I genuinely really like many of the performance videos, which are more traditional music videos where you can see the band perform, as the name suggests, but they're always done in some specific set or visual gimmick relating in an interesting way from the song, so they're actually like, proper music videos with artistic intent rather than just a filmed performance. Even the 6 b-sides of this era have some visual accompaniment (calling most of those music videos is an overstatement but still that's more than most bands get for their album tracks). Unfortunately, this extremely busy era for the band resulted in lots of tensions, burnout, and an eventual 6+ year hiatus during which many deemed the band dead.

Luckily they weren't dead! Just resting. With their glorious comeback first being a mere digital 2-track EP, at the beginning of the pandemic they eventually did release a full album of new material, 2020's HELL (bright. Or maybe the english word, hell? They do look pretty demonic on the front cover. So it's probably the English word, but who knows)[6]. The packaging here is nothing gimmicky anymore, the album comes in a very nice digibook with very nice high quality paper and prints. I've seen plenty of these digibooks from other bands, but still, very nice and high quality and feels good to flip through.

And if 18 new songs after such long presumed dead absence wasn't enough, they've apparently been very busy and quickly announced another album for 2021, titled DUNKEL (dark. So that previous album WAS called bright after all. Hmm. I kind of liked that ambiguity and they've ruined it now). DUNKEL comes in the same digibook as hell in matching design scheme.

DUNKEL also came with a hard case that both albums would fit into together. To fill the empty space next to the DUNKEL digibook (that the buyer would fill with HELL that they are assumed to have already), they put in a decorative garland you can hang in your house.

I want to point out that all these are the normal editions of the albums. Those aren't pre-order exclusive deluxe fan editions or anything. These are the only versions of these albums that exist and they were produced in large quantities like this. This made them a little more expensive than most other new albums on release, but honestly, not even really by all that much.

That's it!