"Ennerved, shattered and exhausted? Stressed and somehow feeling used? Then join us, we'll make you have a good time. Supervised and continuously controlled? Afraid that somebody might denunciate ? We guarantee the highest confidentiality!" This is how one of the most controversial German records of the early nineties starts: an invitation to 60 minutes of kinky but harmless fun, served up in a tasty bowl of electrofunk, acid jazz harmonies and lyrics on the verge of the tasteless. The "Arrogance of Hamburg" first appeared in the late eighties with a groovy hymn to their hometown Hamburg, then a breathtakingly new and daring mix between English and German rap on a fusion track resembling Shakatak or Mezzoforte. They released an EP with 3 new tracks, one remix and a bizarre 5 minute play featuring a drunk chainsmoker in a fish and chip shop holding a monologue about the last girlfriend he lost due to his chronic cheating. The then new mix between Electrofunk and German lyrics gave them some moderate airplay and a hardcore group of fans who thought they've found the best thing since sliced bread. "I won't have that chauvinistic crap in my flat" These were the words of my then - girlfriend, accompanying an impressive hurl of the Hamburger Arroganz's second album "Junges Blut" (Young Blood) out of the window, making the CD unusable (and I had to go out and buy a new one). It's not that their lyrics were pornographic or lewd, but "Aepfel mit Zuckerguss" (Apples with Icing) was a barely concealed ode to consensual promiscuous sex and, er, some very make fantasies. Compared to any contemporary rap album this is of course utter Kindergarten level, but in the early nineties (and especially in a language that everyone understood) invitations to wear Latex were just not radiofriendly. Even though a bunch of chauvinists, their more political songs had a strong green/socialist message (a rather unusual mixture, as you'd then only find cardigan wearing softspoken softies on a Green Party conference), deploring the rise of the new extreme right wing parties after German unification (with some additional digs at the catholic church). Arn Schlürmann, fronting the whole concept, later went on to become a key figure in the burgeoning Techno and Euro - Dance scene of the nineties but unfortunately never went back to work on another H.A. album. Which then leaves us with a rather weird legacy: A google search on the band reveals nothing apart from a couple of ebay entries and lyrics, but not one single fan - site, biographical info or a mention on any of the musical databases. For some weird reason it seems that nobody ever wanted to be associated with the band ever again. My girlfriend understands.
