Amon Duul 2 Overview

Amon Duul began in 1967 as a radical political art commune of Munich based artists calling themselves, in part, after the Egyptian Sun God Amon; Duul has been cited as a character from Turkish fiction. The commune quickly attained cult status... [more]

Amon Duul began in 1967 as a radical political art commune of Munich based artists calling themselves, in part, after the Egyptian Sun God Amon; Duul has been cited as a character from Turkish fiction. The commune quickly attained cult status for its free form musical improvisations, usually performed around the happenings and demonstrations of the contemporary politicized youth movement. The orthodoxy within the commune had a highly liberal attitude to artistic freedom, valuing enthusiasm and attitude over artistic ability; membership was fluid; anyone who was part of the commune was part of the group. However a faction within was more ambitious, conventional and musically structured, leading to the inevitable split within the collective, which separated in 1969 into the components "Amon Duul I" and "Amon Duul II". Contrary to their colleagues in Amon Duul I, founding members Chris Karrer, Peter Leopold, Falk Rogner, John Weinzierl and Renate Knaup placed high value on musical ability. With their first album Phallus Dei (God's Penis) in 1969 they created what is considered to be a milestone in German rock history. The title song alone was 21 minutes in length. They received offers to write music for films, winning a Deutscher Filmpreis (German Film Award) for their contribution to the film San Domingo. Their second album Yeti was their breakthrough album in the United Kingdom. Inevitable comparisons with Pink Floyd and the Velvet Underground followed as did Top Five success. A move to a major label, Atlantic Records, in 1975 saw a secession over time of artistic control to more commercially motivated production values that resulted in a perceived drop in uniqueness. The band's first phase ended in 1981 with its disbandment. In recent years however, Amon Duul II have seen a resurgence in interest, and they are frequently played on radio shows that aim to play more experimental music (eg Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone on BBC 6music). [show less]