All for the Love: How a Punk Band Saved Their Beloved Team (Several Times)
The relationship between football and music is multifaceted. From major artists who are die-hard fans of teams like Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris and Elton John, who even bought his beloved club, to footballers who pursued parallel careers as singers, like our own “Mono” Burgos, or the “metalhead” Darío Dubois, who used to play with face paint as if he were going to a concert, the stories are many. But none perhaps has such a profound connection as the love story between the famous German band Die Toten Hosen and their favorite team, Fortuna Düsseldorf.
Germany, 1980s. In Düsseldorf, a city of almost a million people that belongs to the broader metropolitan area of the Rhineland-Ruhr with numerous cities close by, such as Leverkusen, Gelsenkirchen, Bonn, Dortmund, Cologne, Mönchengladbach, Duisburg, forming a center of about 11 million inhabitants today, the punk rock scene thrives in the bar Ratinger Hof. There, in 1982, a band of self-taught musicians called Die Toten Hosen is formed, which literally means “The Dead Pants,” but is a German pun meaning “nothing’s happening/it’s boring.” I won’t dwell on the German humor, but I will focus on the fact that this band has now been around for over 40 years. A band that, despite its German lyrics, managed to transcend the borders of its country, collaborating with many foreign bands, playing as the opening act for U2 on their Zoo tour, opening for the Rolling Stones, and performing in front of tens of thousands of people both in Europe and South America. As you can imagine, their themes revolve around the issues that concern the specific music scene, with a particular emphasis on the rise of Nazism and xenophobia, as well as many other social issues. Beyond their social concerns and love for music, there is something else that unites the band members (who, for the most part, have remained the same since then): the love for their local team, Fortuna. Die Toten Hosen embody the English phrase “Support your local team” in the best possible way.
As Old-School as It Gets
Fortuna Düsseldorf may not be the biggest club in Germany, but it has its own significant history. One German championship, two cups, and a participation in the 1979 Cup Winners’ Cup final, when in Basel, Switzerland, they played a great match against Barcelona. The Catalans took the lead twice, the Germans equalized twice, pushing the match into extra time. There, the scenario almost repeated itself; the Blaugrana scored twice, Fortuna reduced the deficit but couldn’t equalize again, eventually succumbing 4-3. The club’s history is full of highs and lows, with the team playing in all the divisions of the country, experiencing both good and bad times, the latter often accompanied by off-field issues.
By the late 1980s, Fortuna Düsseldorf was facing serious financial problems. The band members couldn’t stand idly by while their beloved team was in distress. They decided that a portion of the proceeds from their concert tickets would go to the team. One Deutschmark for Fortuna. Naturally, this was very appealing to the people of Düsseldorf, but it wasn’t as easily accepted by residents of other cities who supported their own teams. The band’s bassist, Andreas Meurer (whose pronunciation is open to debate), recalls how people often booed them during several live performances, with the peak being in Cologne. The roughly 35 kilometers that separate the two cities aren’t filled with mutual love for the neighbor but are instead a path of local football rivalry. Nevertheless, the band was undeterred and didn’t change their plan.
The lead singer “Campino” (left) with the coach of Fortuna Düsseldorf
The amount raised was quite significant, around 200,000 German Marks. Fortuna used it to acquire two players: the Ghanaian defender Anthony Baffoe, who came from neighboring Fortuna Köln and played for the club for three years before continuing his career in France with Metz and Nice. The second was the talented forward Oliver Gens, for whom funds were needed to sign his first professional contract. One tour, two players. Not bad at all.
A few years later, at the beginning of this century, Fortuna was experiencing its most difficult moments. The team had sunk to playing in the local Rhineland-Westphalia league (a football-rich region of the country), the fourth tier in the hierarchy of German football. The club’s trajectory matched its financial situation. As one might imagine, a punk band isn’t exactly pro-consumerism and advertising. But Die Toten Hosen made a tough decision, as the team was threatened with closure and loss of its license, essentially facing dissolution. And, as you know, Germany is relatively strict on these matters. The club’s downward spiral since the 1980s reached its peak, and it was music that would stop the decline.
The Historic 2001 Jersey
The band “convened” and made a decision. Saving Fortuna came above everything else. The members decided that the band would become the club’s sponsor. To do this, they communicated and reached an agreement with the local brewery Diebels, which some of our older readers might recognize either a) because they’ve had one of its products or b) because they remember it as the sponsor of Borussia Mönchengladbach. The band had never accepted a sponsor for their tours, as it was entirely against their culture, but this time, they made an exception. The sponsorship of the tour brought in a significant amount of money, all of which went towards saving the team. But the band didn’t stop there. They put their name (or rather their logo) on the club’s jersey for two seasons. This not only led to sales from the club’s fans but also from a much wider audience that loved Die TotenHosen’s punk rock songs (obviously excluding the fans of Köln and other rival teams, but the band is popular beyond Germany, and a significant portion of its fans aren’t even into football but definitely wanted a souvenir jersey with the band’s name). The jerseys sold like hotcakes. According to reports from the time, the amount the band gave to the team was around 1 million Marks. Fortuna was saved thanks to the lads of Die Toten Hosen.
The 2018 Promotion Party Was Celebrated with the Band
The team gradually improved and even returned to the Bundesliga. In 2012, the band became honorary members of the club. Of course, problems will always exist, and the band will always be there. In 2019, the club was in need again, and a new Die Toten Hosen jersey was created. A new collaboration emerged. The team released a special jersey without a sponsor, only featuring the band’s logo and the title of one of their songs. Once again, it was for a good cause, to help the club. The fact that it debuted in a match against Bayern made the band even happier, as they can’t stand the Bavarian perpetual German champions. The proceeds went to the club’s academies, and the jersey bore the phrase “All for Love.” The jersey sold out in just a few days. The club created a collection-collaboration and re-released the historic 2001 jersey, along with other products, with the proceeds continuing to go to the club’s academies. The 2019 jersey was truly remarkable:
Die Toten Hosen are not just famous fans of a club; they are a part of its culture, its identity, and even the very fabric of the city itself, having also supported the local hockey team. Their love for football runs deep. In 2000, they released the song “Bayern,” and before anyone accuses them of being “glory hunters,” it’s important to note that the song is actually against the most successful German team, Bayern Munich. The lyrics say, “Many things can happen, many things can be done. But one thing I know for sure: I will never go to Bayern,” and they also take a shot at UliHoeneß (who, of course, responded with unflattering words about the band). As the lead singer Campino admitted in 2012, since the release of that album, the band’s sales in the south of Germany have significantly declined—Bayern fans do not forgive. Between us, we don’t think the band cares much. At Fortuna’s stadium, Die TotenHosen’s songs are played constantly, and for many years now, the team’s goals have been accompanied on the stadium screen by their song “Strom.”
