Line #92 Music/Laibach


1	[[quoteright:292:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/laibach-revisited-tour-2010-poster_6478.gif]]
2
3	->''Laibach were and still are just about the biggest IRL trolls on the music scene, if not anywhere in the world.''
4	-->--'''Encyclopedia Dramatica''' on Laibach
5
6	->''Purpose: to provoke maximum collective emotions and release the automatic response of masses..''
7	-->-- Laibach on Laibach
8
9
10	Laibach is a UsefulNotes/{{Slovenia}}n {{Industrial}} music group, formed June 1, 1980 in Slovenia (then Yugoslavia), built upon provoking thought via offensive and often [[SelfParody Self Parodic]] aesthetics and are known for never breaking {{Kayfabe}}.
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12
13	They started off their campaign with their name, which was the medieval[[note]]and - until the 1918 collapse of the [[UsefulNotes/TheSoundOfMartialMusic Austro-Hungarian Empire]] - ''an'' official[[/note]] German name that the Nazis reimposed on the Slovenian capital during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, [[SerialEscalation from there]], eventually leading to them being banned from UsefulNotes/{{Yugoslavia}} after a interview on state TV where they appeared in full Nazi regalia spewing nonsensical fascist rhetoric.
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15	Of course they kept right on going, using a [[FauxSymbolism black cross]] as opposed to their now banned name, until the Yugoslavian government collapsed.
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17	Between then and now they’ve covered almost every artist you can think of, [[RevolvingDoorBand gone through a whole roster of members]], worn some unusual headgear, and [[http://www.nskstate.com/ founded their own state.]]
18	----
19	The current lineups are:
20
21	!!Volk
22
23	* Milan Fras - vocals
24	* Ivan Novak - lights and projection
25	* Mina Špiler - vocals, synthesizer
26	* Janez Gabrič - drums
27	* Luka Jamnik - synthesizer
28	* Sašo Vollmaier - synthesizer
29	* Eva Breznikar - vocals, percussion
30	* Nataša Regovec - vocals, percussion
31	* Damjan Bizilj - synthesizer
32
33	!![=KunstDerFuge=]
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35	* Luka Jamnik - electronics
36	* Iztok Turk - electronics
37	* Janez Gabrič - drums
38	* Sašo Vollmaier - electronics
39	* Ivan Novak - electronics and voice
40
41	!!Laibach 'music soirée'
42
43	* Dejan Knez - electronics and voice
44	* Srečko Bajda - electronics
45	* Marko Košnik - electronics
46	* Andrej Lupinc - electronics and bass guitar
47
48	!!Releases (Not including cassette & Vinyl exclusives):
49
50	* ''[[SelfTitledAlbum Laibach]]'' (1985)
51	* ''Nova Akropola'' (1986)
52	* ''Krst Pod Trigvalom - Baptism Below Triglav'' (soundtrack album) (1986)
53	* ''Opus Dei'' (1987)
54	* ''Slovenska Akropola'' (live album) (1987)
55	* ''[[Music/TheBeatles Let It Be]]'' (cover album) (1988)
56	* ''[[Music/TheRollingStonesBand Sympathy for the Devil]]'' (cover EP) (1988)
57	* ''Macbeth'' (1990)
58	* ''[[NewSoundAlbum Kapital]]'' (1992)
59	* ''Ljubljana-Zagreb-Beograd'' (live album) (1993)
60	* ''NATO'' (1994)
61	* ''Music/{{Jesus Christ Superstar}}s'' (1996)
62	* ''M.B. December 21, 1984'' (live album) (1997)
63	* ''WAT'' (2003)
64	* ''[[GreatestHitsAlbum Anthems]]'' (2004)
65	* ''Volk'' (2006)
66	* ''[[Music/JohannSebastianBach Laibachkunstderfuge]]'' (Only on CD in Slovenia & Croatia) (2008)
67	* ''Film/IronSky - The Original Soundtrack'' (soundtrack album) (2012)
68	* ''Spectre'' (2014)
69	* ''[[Creator/FriedrichNietzsche Also Sprach Zarathustra]]'' (2017)
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71
72	!!This band exhibits the following tropes:
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74	* ArcWords: United forever, featured in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pH4SRm9oe7c Rossiya]]
75	* AuthorAppeal: Laibach seem to like stags.
76	** Stags (in various forms) show up in many of their videos.
77	** A mounted stag's head was one of the stage props at their show in London 2012.
78	** The [[http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51AWc86pyhL._SS400_.jpg cover picture]] of their early [=LP=] Nova Akropola is a stag.
79	* BilingualBonus: One of Laibach's best known songs is "One Vision" by Queen, sung in German. It has been re-titled "Geburt Einer Nation," which translates as ''Film/{{The Birth of a Nation\|1915}}''.
80	** Also the title of the Volk album - Volk means people/nation in German, and wolf in their native Slovene. The album is a collection of songs inspired by national anthems. 'Man Is Wolf to Man' ring a bell?
81	*** And the cover features sheep
82	* ConceptAlbum: NATO is about the collapse of the former Yugoslavia, written as it was occurring.
83	* CoverVersion: This band is most famous for these, having covered (among others) Music/{{Prince}}, Music/TheBeatles, Music/{{The Rolling Stones\|Band}}, Music/{{Queen}}, {{DAF}}, Europe and even Paul Revere And The Raiders. Also their cover of Opus's "Life Is Life" inspired the Juno Reactor song "God Is God", which they covered in turn.
84	* TheCoverChangesTheMeaning: All their covers are re-arranged in their trademark deadpan comic {{Industrial}} style.
85	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: "God is God" and "Life is Life"
86	* GenreShift: Far from their current Wagnerian EBM, their early work was a No Wave inspired mass of ominous clattering percussion, guttural growls and Free Jazz influenced brass.
87	* LargeHam: Milan Fras imitates demagogues, so this is a given.
88	* NonIndicativeName: ''Let It Be'' is a cover album of the [[Music/LetItBe eponymous]] album by Music/TheBeatles. Except the track "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehbDwPNyriQ Maggie Mae]]", which isn't a cover version of the Beatles' song, but a combination of two German songs, "Auf der Lüneburger Heide" and "Was gleicht wohl auf Erden".
89	* PoesLaw: It's not uncommon that they're mistaken to be genuinely fascist, no matter how ridiculous they get. Most bizarre of them all was when '''UsefulNotes/NorthKorea''', of all countries, [[http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/21/asia/laibach-north-korea/ invited them to perform at their capital]], leading many to wonder if the authoritarian nation had finally grown a sense of humor or had just missed all the satire.
90	* PuttingOnTheReich: They originally wore Yugoslavian army uniforms, but later got some personalized black uniforms that hit this trope right on the head.
91	* RefugeInAudacity: Almost all of the time.
92	* RockMeAmadeus: They performed a surprisingly straightforward interpretation of [[Music/JohannSebastianBach Die Kunst Der Fuge]] on synthesizers, and reworked Music/RichardWagner's "Overture To The Tannhäuser And The Singers' Contest At The Wartburg", "Sigfried-Idyll" and "The Ride Of The Walkyries".
93	* StealthParody: Probably the point of their totalitarian image gimmick.
94	* ShoutOut:
95	** In an interview, the band mentioned that they were influenced by "[[UsefulNotes/JosipBrozTito Tito]], Music/{{Toto}} and [[Creator/JacquesTati Tati]]."
96	** "Tanz mit Laibach" includes references in its lyrics to "Ado Hynkel" and "Benzino Napoloni", which were the names of the parodies of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler and UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini in ''Film/TheGreatDictator''.
97	* SignatureHeadgear: Singer Milan Fras always wears a distinctive cap with long skirts at the back and sides.
98	* ThoseWackyNazis: Big time with this trope.
99	* TropeCodifier: Of Martial Industrial music, later popularized by their [[FollowTheLeader followers]] Music/{{Rammstein}}. They themselves have described Rammstein as [[TakeThat "Laibach for adolescents"]].

Context Music / Laibach