Knorkator

Knorkator is a German band that could probably be best described as "comedy metal".

As most of their lyrics are ridiculously silly and many of the vocals are mostly angry yelling, it's easy to overlook that their music is actually of really high quality and that main vocalist Stumpen is actually an exceptionally good singer. If he wants to be. Similar to the traditional claim of Die Arzte to be the the greatest band in the wold, Knorkator claims to be "Deutschlands meiste Band der Welt" (Germany's most band in the world).

Discography:

• The Schlechtst of Knorkator (The worst of Knorkator), 1997
• Hasenchartbreaker, 1999
• Tribute to uns selbst (Tribute to ourselves), 2000
• High Mud Leader, 2002
• Ich hasse Musik (I hate music), 2003
• Zu Alt (Too old), 2005
• Das nächste Album aller Zeiten (The next album of all time), 2007 ^[1]
• Weg nach unten (The way down), 2008
• Knorkator - Mein Leben Als Single (My life as a single), 2010

The band briefly disbanded in late 2008, but have started to perform again in 2011.

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Knorkator provides examples of the following tropes:

• Creepy Crossdresser: Alf Ator often performs in a dress, and Stumpen sometimes wears a womans swimsuit instead of his trademark underpants.
• Tattooed Crook: Main vocalist Stumpen has half of his body covered in one huge tattoo. To show it off, he always appears on stage in underpants.
• The Voiceless: Guitarist Buzz Dee never seems to talk. Even at interviews with the three, Stumpen and Alf Ator do all the talking.
• Xtreme Kool Letterz: Buzz Dee's first name is actually Sebastian, or Basti for short.

Knorkator's songs provide examples of

• Anti-Christmas Song: Weinachtsschimpfe (Christmas rant) is one huge "The Reason You Suck" Speech, and unlike most other Knorkator songs, this is Not Played for Laughs.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Jetzt wird abgerechnet (Now it's payback time) is a long list of various weapons. Some quite interesting ones.

Brass knuckles, bommerang, halberd, foil. Sword, dog, pit, bow and arror, trident. Tank, peacemaker, kalashnikov, whip. Lance, hammer, axe, poultry shears!!!

• As Long as It Sounds Foreign:
  • The lyrics of Mai khao djaj are entirely in Thai. The title translates to "I don't understand this" and the rest of lyrics are the words of Alf Ators thai wife who was asked to write a song in Thai, but she has no idea what she should write about.
  • Similarily, Aeger sum is entirely in Latin, but consists only of medical terms.
• Berserk Button: Lots of songs are about going berserk for common but minor annoyances. It's one of the bands major themes.
• Body Horror:
  • Der Werwurm (the were-worm) is not so bad because the man turns into a worm, but the way by which he infects others.
  • Also Nur mal angenommen (just supposed) which begins with "Just supposed I could stick my head into my ass" and continues from there.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Again, there a many examples. Narrenkappe (jester's hat) mentions it explicitly, but it comes up much more often.
• Darker and Edgier: Cover of All that she wants and Try again
  • Lighter and Softer: A cover of Highway to Hell.
• Dog English: High Mud Leader is a non-sensical English phrase, but it sounds like German "Heimatlieder" -- "songs about home". "Buzz Dee" is (more or less) a homophone to "Basti".
• Double Entendre: "The song about the horse" appears to be dedicated to the vocalists horse. However it could also be entirely about Fetish sex.
• Hurricane of Puns: All 25 verses of Ferien in Algerien consists of animal-related puns except for the first and last verse. Then they sing that it was only a joke that the song ended, and repeat it.
• Kill'Em All: Exactly what the title of Tötet sie alle means.
• Literal-Minded: Wie weit is es bis zum Horizont takes the question "How far is it to the horizon?" litararily and continues to solve it with the Pythagorean theorem. (It's 4650 m, by the way.)
• Minion with an F In Evil: Evil is all about a wanabe thug who joined a Religion of Evil, but all his evil visions are merely minor cases ofgoing against ettiquette.
• Mood Dissonance / Soundtrack Dissonance: Both Hardcore and Du bist so still (you are so quiet).
• "No. Just... No" Reaction: Nö
• Not Helping Your Case: In Komm wieder her (come back to me), a man laments about his wife leaving him and begging her to come back. As he attempt to explain how much he needs her, the audience is increasingly sympathizing with her.

"Who would make me coffee in the morning? Who would lock the door when I leave the house? Who would clean the windows and the shoes? Who would take the garbage out? Who, if not you?"

• One-Letter Title: A. It's not only the title of the song, but also the entire lyrics of the 3 minute song.
• Sarcastic Title: Für meine Fans. The title means 'for my fans' in German, implying that the work is meant as a tribute to the band's fans; however, the chorus starts with Ich schäme mich für meine Fans - 'I am ashamed of my fans'. The song is one big long Take That, Audience! (see below).
• Screw Yourself: The entire point of Ich lass mich klonen (I clone myself).
• Serious Business: Schlüpfer is about being unable to find a fresh pair of underpants.
• Take That, Audience!: Für meine Fans

When [other musicians] look at the crowds, they see thousands of beautiful women pulling up their shirts and throw bikinis on the stage. But all I see at my concerts, are fat men with beards.

• Testosterone Poisoning: Der ultimative Mann (the ultimate man). Do I need to say more?
• Unusual Euphemism:
  • "Let your dragon soar / let your kite rise" in Geh zu ihr (go to her). Suprisingly, it's actually a very sweet romance song.
  • Schwanzlich Willkommen replaces the word "heart" in many expressions with "dick", since that's a much more acurate body part to refer to emotions.
• You Are Who You Eat: The reason why a man turns into a pig in Ick wer zun Schwein.

1. ↑ nächste is no superlative but its ending looks like one, so the name of the album can also be read as something like the nextest album of all time