J.B.O
Hailing from Erlangen, Germany, J.B.O. (short for James Blast Orchester, which they are not allowed to use anymore due to legal threats from James Last) has become one of the most popular bands to come from Germany in the last several years. They specialize in what they call "fun-metal", a sort of mix between Weird Al and heavy metal, with German texts. They take popular songs that everyone knows, add funny German lyrics, and sing them in the local "fränkische" dialect. At first popular mainly in the part of Germany around Nürnberg known as "Franken", their popularity soon spread to all parts of Germany. This kind of popularity of course did not go unnoticed by the major labels, who wasted no time in stumbling over each other to sign them (Polydor, in their infinite wisdom, was offering us huge sums of money for their recordings while at the same time threatening to sue us due to the band name!). In spite of their huge success, J.B.O. have remained true to their ideals and their fans. Comprising on our releases the first line-up of the band, with Hannes on guitar and vocals, Vito C. also on guitar and vocals, Schmitti on bass and Holmer on drums, both Schmitti and Holmer have since left the band to be replaced by two new members. They tour constantly, and their shows are attended by legions of fans that sing along to every song. They include lots of props in their shows, becoming sort of a musical theatre for the hilarious. Indeed, their sense of humour is so fine-tuned that even the stuffiest of Germany's manic-depressive music journalists has been seen to smile.
Releases:
The record that was never meant to be. You see, J.B.O. was a side project in the beginning, and as it often happens, this side project suddenly became much more famous than any of the other, "serious" bands. J.B.O. members were in. Part of their plan at that time was that they would never release a record. The problem started when Radio Downtown in Erlangen began playing a live (?) recording of their song "Ein Guter Tag Zum Sterben" on a regular basis. The more they played it, the more fans they got that in turn demanded that it be played even more. The band finally broke down and recorded this song as well as four other original compositions, still with the intention of not releasing it. It was at this time that Joe of the mighty MT Undertainment, while working at a record store and getting fed up telling J.B.O. fans that he has no idea what they are talking about, set his detective skills to work and tracked down the band. J.B.O. where sceptical at first, but upon Joe's insistance that yes, indeed, this record would be an instant success, they decided to break their pledge and release a record. The record store where Joe worked ordered fifty copies of the record which sold out in a matter of 45 minutes! Within a week the record store had sold over 500 copies of the record. Since then, this record has been repressed dozens of times. 10,000 copies exist as a CD shaped in the form of a case of "Kitzmann" beer! (some with tray cards, some without, some have green numbered covers), titled "Eine Gute CD Zum Saufen" (sold out!).
Their second normal release, and like the first, it is a mini-CD packed full of heavy metal gags, jokes and fun. Includes two techno mixes of their local hit from their first CD "Ein Guter Tag Zum Sterben", as well as two versions of their other hit "No Sleep Till Bruck", one in "Deutsch", and one in "Hochdeutsch". Fast Eddie Clarke, formerly of Motorhead, guests on JBO's version of "Ace Of Spades".
Yeah, you read right, it does have the same title as their second release, but that is just JBO's humour at work there. Released for Christmas 1994, this CD was added to their other "Blastphemie" CD to make it a limited double release. It has its own cover though, so we treat it as its own release! Featured are two short chistmas pieces to start and finish the record. Also included is JBO's version of the ZZ Top classic "Hush", which they do as "Hasch". Also included is their "JBO Weihnachtsaktion!", where fans that pre-paid for the release could have a christmas message, read by the JBOers themselves in the patented JBO humour, dedicated to a friend or loved one. Fills up most of the disc actually, but hey, it is a good idea, right? Full color cover worth the price alone!

Their third CD, and first real long player, including lots of JBO live favorites like "Schlaf Kindlein, Schlaf" (take-off on Metalica's "Enter Sandman") "Ejaculatio Praecox" (Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit") and, finally, "Mir Sta'dd'n Etz Die Feier" (Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire"), and, of course, a new version of the JBO all time hit "Ein Guter Tag Zum Sterben" is included. This CD contains quite simply all the songs JBO had been playing live for years, and was the CD all their fans had been waiting for.

Since its release in September 1985, this CD has become not only by far the best selling release ever on MT Undertainment, but also one of the best selling independent CDs by a German artist since the first Ärzte album more than ten years earlier. By Christmas 1995 it had sold 10,000 copies. Within three years the figure had reached sales of over 250,000, giving MT Undertainment its first ever gold record. Since then the sales have exceeded the 300,000 mark. Of course, with sales like these one can expect to enter the German charts, which the record did in, where it entered at number 99. Although the record never made it higher than number 57, it did stay in the charts an amazing 38 weeks, more than a half year! Together with the other JBO releases, JBO have sold over a half million CDs with the Musical Tragedies logo. What makes this all the more amazing is that these sales figures were achieved with little promotion, and shows that really innovative and good music can sell on its quality alone. Although not usually liked by Germany's often stuffy and self-absorbed music journalists, JBO have earned a fan base that most other popular bands could only dream of, and this CD played a large part in that success, since becoming a classic record in the history of German music.

Several versions of the CD have been produced since it was released. The first version of the CD included under the J.B.O. logo the name "James Blast Orchester", which was removed after about a year due to pressure from PMV, James Last's label. Later, a Christmas cover was made that had the small skulls on the cover looking like a dead Santa Claus! A Kitzmann version was also made that had a different label design. 3000 were made that had the cover turned into a fridge magnet. Finally, 300 were pressed with gold print on the label instead of the standard JBO magenta to commemorate our gold record.

Making fun of our own fun record, Musical Tragedies released a karoka version of this CD. In other words, instrumental versions of the entire album, where everyone can sing along to and become their own rockstar!

This CD was recorded and released specifically for the "See-Rock" festival in Erlangen, and was only available to people that went to that show. Limited to 2657.3 copies (!), it features JBO making fun of Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water" (Rauch Auf'm Wasser) in a previously unreleased studio version, plus two other studio tracks and four live tracks, all previously unreleased. One of their fans did the cover art.
Yes, this is what you think it is, one of those old gimmick things that laugh when you pick them up and turn them over. The guys from JBO recorded the laughing themselves, and well, since it does work with a small mini vinyl record inside the sack, we thought it would be a great gimmick to turn it into a real release. The sack is printed in the usual JBO colors of black and pink. Inside the sack is a battery powered mini record player made of pink plastic. 600 were made, in May 1996, and most of these were used for promotion.
Following six months after the phenomenally successful CD “Explizite Lyrik”, this mini CD contains two songs from that opus "Schlaf, Kindlein, Schlaf!" and "Mei Alde is im Playboy drin", both of which were also made into a video, as well as two live tracks and two unreleased studio recordings, one of which is a secret, so don’t tell anyone. This release has the distinction of being the very first MT CD release packaged in anything else other than a jewel box, this one coming in a nice open-up cardboard sleeve. Musically, JBO outdoes themselves as usual here, featuring a funny and surprisingly true to the original version of the Barry Manilow classic “Mandy” which incorporates the funny elements of Smokie's "Living Next Door To Alice". The cardboard cover version was released March 1st, 1996 in an edition of 6000. Due to the legal hassle with the band name, it was withdrawn from distribution and replaced by a jewel box version in August 1996, with the same cover design and colors, just missing the “James Blast Orchestra” wording. In 2002, yet another new version was released, this time as an enhanced CD including the two videos that were produced for "Schlaf, Kindlein, Schlaf!" and "Mei Alde is im Playboy drin". Since so many of you have been asking to see the videos, here is your chance, in digital quality.
This CD couples the first two mini CDs "Eine Gute CD Zum Kaufen" and "Blastphemie" together on one full length album. Well, if that doesn't sound like anything special, then lets consider the bonus tracks: the first two tracks from the "Der Weiße Hai Im Dechsendorfer Weiher" CD are included and up till now one of the hardest to find studio recordings from J.B.O. To make it even better, we have "Hasch", a funny cover of ZZ Top's "Hush", previously released only on the first pressing of the Blastphemie CD and until now so hard to find that not even most JBO fans knew it existed. We also have "Socken Kauf Ich Nur Noch Bei Wörl", the hidden studio track on the Twingle maxi, a cover of Status Quo's "Rockin' All Over The World". And if all that was not good enough, the booklet is just jammed full of previously unseen photos as well as lyrics and liner notes by JBO themselves. The first edition of the CD comes as a limited edition digi-pack.

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This is the vinyl version of the "Laut" album by J.B.O., their first ever vinyl release on, what else, pink vinyl! This record has some great J.B.O. classics on it too, like "Ein Fest", "Hose Runter" and the great "Wir Sind Die Champignons". Locked grooves, bonus tracks, its all here in the patented J.B.O. humor. Limited edition of 1000 copies. If you want the CD version, get it from Lawine, where you can also get other, newer J.B.O. albums.