Die Toten Hosen - Auld Lang Syne

Yes, we're ankle deep in the Twilight Zone between Christmas and New Year, where the rules of time don't matter and turkey sandwiches with chocolates from a tin sprinkled on them are the only form of nourishment. What better time to look back on the year that was, revel in the… erm, well, enjoy the memories of… hmm. It's been a bit of a weak one, hasn't it?

See, for me, it feels fitting to leave the last mental year behind with one more little bit of chaos, and German punk full-timers Die Toten Hosen fit the bill very nicely indeed. Their anthemic, power-chord laden, completely no-nonsense punk sound has been getting crowds on their feet for the better part of four decades and I expect it to do the same for you on the last night of 2021!

Though I mentioned their few frills' punk sound just now, Die Toten Hosen actually started out as a fairly broad mix of a band. A mash up of styles ranging from heavy metal to rockabilly did eventually make way for the punchy strength they found in punk rock, but some of their early 80's music is almost unrecognisable from what we get today. Their name has likely garnered the same chuckles for the length of their existence, though, being a German analogy for a certain problem found in older gentlemen that you might have got a few spam emails about over the years.

And so while we're vaguely on the theme of time moving forward and things changing (I'm so good at segues, like, the best at segues), I'd like to take the opportunity to thank you, the fine readers of this weekly rock and metal celebration, for your time and interaction over the last twelve months. We're going to leave the mess of 2021 behind and, with a bit of luck and a hopeful absence of everyone sneezing on each other, ring in a New Year that keeps us all rolling forward and onto the great things we deserve. Raise a glass of your favourite beverage and sing your hearts out – from all of us at Rock Song of the Week, next year is our year!