ABSTRACT
These days, it does not matter whether a band or a singer working in Germany uses German, English, or any other language. Choosing one or the other is often pre-decided by the genre. Literary ambition and songwriting aspirations often lead German-raised individuals to use their native language, while an orientation towards international pop music generates English lyrics. When it comes to genres such as hip-hop, their idiom may be a combination of several languages, a hybrid, if you will: artistic blends of migrant native languages, street slang, and so on. Some time ago, the decision to use either German or English was, however, an artistic and political decision. This development began in the 1970s and became a crucial factor at the end of the decade, and this kind of decision remained controversial well into the 1990s. In a text written in the late 1980s, I presented an argument against a widely held opinion at the time, namely that German native speakers should use the German language (cf. Diederichsen, 1988: p. 34f.). Revisiting this debate in this publication, I am going to reconstruct, re-contextualize, and reassess my position back then.
