ZaZa Zauberstab (1982)
The beat is irresistible, the melody sticks in your head, and suddenly you find yourself singing along to some very questionable lyrics. It's a well-known dilemma: Is it appropriate to listen to music that glorifies violence, promotes drug use, or contains discriminatory perspectives? Or, like today’s song, with lyrics that are absurdly vulgar?
That’s exactly what happened to me with “Zauberstab” (Engl. “magic wand”) by ZaZa, a funky earworm of the Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW). The NDW era was a time of musical upheaval in Germany: flashy outfits, unheard sounds and ironic lyrics. But even in this context, it’s hard to read “Zauberstab” as funny. The song already caused some controversy in the 80s and was boycotted by many radio stations. No surprise, given the lyrics: “Du bist die schönste aller Hexen / Alles an dir ist reiner Sex / Wenn ich dich kriege zeigt dir mein Zauberstab die Liebe.” (Engl. “You are the most beautiful of all witches / Everything about you is pure sex / When I get you, my magic wand will show you love.")
Today, these lines feel less provocative than outdated. Songs like these reveal how deeply rooted certain gender roles were in pop culture and, to some extent, still are. They might offer an opportunity to recognize how far we’ve come, how some lyrics do not age well at all, and how that’s a good thing!
But in the end, the question remains: Cancel or enjoy the funky tunes? Perhaps the answer lies somewhere in between, in a conscious, reflective enjoyment of music that allows for both fun and critical distance.
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