| Keine Macht für Niemand | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Ton Steine Scherben | ||||
| Released | October 1972 | |||
| Recorded | Alsterstudio, Hamburg | |||
| Genre | German rock, Protopunk | |||
| Length | 62:08 | |||
| Label | David Volksmund | |||
| Producer | Ton Steine Scherben | |||
| Ton Steine Scherben chronology | ||||
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Keine Macht für Niemand (No Power for Nobody) is the name of both the second album and best-known song by the band Ton Steine Scherben. The double album, released in 1972, is also sometimes called "die Weiße" ("the white one") in reference to its simple cover with a white background and black text.
The album as a whole, as well as the song Keine Macht für Niemand heavily criticised social and political ills. The lyrics call for resistance against the extant system. In Die letzte Schlacht gewinnen wir ("We [will] win the final battle"), the demand for a replacement of the present capitalist system is very clear. The phrase "No power for nobody" is a sloganised interpretation of anarchy. When the album was released, Rio Reiser and R.P.S. Lanrue had still yet to adopt their stage names.
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According to Rio Reiser, the phrase came from an anarchist publication called Germania. Similarly, the song "Macht kaputt, was euch kaputt macht" also has a title in the same vein. In Germany, even 35 years after the album's release, the phrase will appear on banners and posters produced in the leftist scene, or as graffiti; the song's lyrics call to "write the slogan onto every wall."
After the 2005 election, Der Spiegel used the phrase on the cover in reaction to the election results.