Augen auf!

"Augen auf!" (German for "Eyes Open!") is the first single from the German industrial metal group Oomph!'s album Wahrheit oder Pflicht, and their first released under the GUN label. Augen auf! is considered to be the most known Oomph! song and it brought the band main commercial breakthrough. It stayed at the top of the German charts for five weeks[1]. It was number one on the Austrian charts for four weeks[2]. "Augen auf!" went Gold (150,000 copies sold) in Germany[3]. The song also appeared on the in game soundtrack of FIFA 2005 and UEFA Euro 2004 game.

"Augen auf!"
Single by Oomph!
from the album Wahrheit oder Pflicht
Released12 January 2004
Recorded2004
GenreIndustrial metal
Length19:56
LabelGun
Songwriter(s)Rene Backmann, Thomas Doeppner, Stephan Musiol, Maik Straatmann, Marek Vejvoda, Oliver Woidt
Oomph! singles chronology
"Niemand"
(2001)		 "Augen auf!"
(2004)		 "Brennende Liebe"
(2004)

A version of the song with English lyrics was featured on the compilation album Truth or Dare in 2010, under the new title "Ready or Not (I'm Coming)." The song featured slightly altered lyrics instead of being a direct German-to-English translation.

Music video

The videoclip for "Augen auf!" begins with two children aged around six or seven years old walking down a deserted path together. The girl turns to look at someone or something coming up behind them, while her male companion seems oblivious. It is then revealed that the pair are heading to a birthday party, presumably for a boy of around the same age. All of the young guests seem apathetic and uninterested in the attempts of present adults to create a light party mood. When the birthday boy's mother places a cake in front of him, he simply glares at her and her bright smile falters. None of the children eat or touch their cake, and when one boy picks up his spoon as though to eat, the birthday boy shakes his head disapprovingly and the other boy quickly drops his spoon.

At this point, lead singer Dero enters disguised as a clown, although with no bright or colorful makeup, rather black lipstick and eyeliner and black clothing with a priest's collar. He smirks briefly at twin girls by the doorway and the twins' eyes flash black for a moment. He then proceeds to perform magic tricks for the party guests, however the tricks are not particularly astounding and rather this sequence features him with a handkerchief in his mouth, smiling demonically at the children whilst the adults applaud enthusiastically. Dero continues to smile freakishly as he gestures for the birthday boy's mother to come closer. He blindfolds her and spins her in a circle, much like she were about to play Blind man's bluff or a similar game. The boy's mother begins to walk forwards into the small crowd of children, who are watching her. Trying to feel her way with her hands outstretched, the mother wanders into a small windowless cell, where her son is standing. He is holding a small gift-wrapped box, perhaps one of his birthday gifts. His mother removes her blindfold and her eyes widen in fear at the sight of her son standing there. What happens to her from then is unknown, however there is a short split-second shot of her hand limply dropping the blindfold she was holding.

The next shot shows a young boy sitting underneath a staircase, perhaps in a basement or cellar. He has his hands over his eyes and appears to be counting for the game hide-and-seek. From here, there are a number of random shots of the children from the party smiling evilly, and one shot includes the girl from the beginning holding a knife behind her back whilst the piano behind her appears to be playing itself. There is a short shot of Dero in his clown costume standing amongst the children in the small cell the birthday boy had lured his mother into earlier. He has his arms outstretched over the children and is smiling insanely, implying that he controls the children.

Throughout the entire video, shots are shown of the band playing in an underground, windowless location which is unknown. Dero is wearing a priest's suit and singing while Crap and Flux play guitar beside him. Leo drums in the background as a stand-in for Dero, who normally drums for the band. The final shot is of the entire band standing motionless and stiff while an unknown man pulls a plastic dust cover over them.

The music video is partially inspired by Stanley Kubrick's The Shining based on Stephen King's book of the same name.

Standard track listing
  1. Augen auf!
  2. Dein Feuer
  3. Augen auf! (Freizeichen vs. Oomph!-Mix)

Limited track listing
  1. Augen auf!
  2. Dein Feuer
  3. Burn Your Eyes
  4. Eisbär
  5. Augen auf! (Freizeichen vs. Oomph!-Mix)
  6. Augen auf! (videotrack)

"Ready Or Not (I'm Coming)"

The song's vocals were re-recorded in English for the bands Truth Or Dare compilation album released on 26 February 2010, which featured slightly altered lyrics instead of being a direct German-to-English translation. The song's title was also changed from the literal translation "Eyes Open!", to "Ready Or Not (I'm Coming)" to fit the new lyrics.

Charts

Notes
  1. "Offizielle Deutsche Charts" (in German). Retrieved 14 Feb 2019.
  2. Steffen Hung. "Oomph! - Augen auf! - austriancharts.at" (in German). Retrieved 14 Feb 2019.
  3. "BVMI Datenbank" (in German). Retrieved 14 Feb 2019.
  4. "Austriancharts.at – Oomph! – Augen auf!" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  5. "Offiziellecharts.de – Oomph! – Augen auf!". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  6. "Swisscharts.com – Oomph! – Augen auf!". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  7. "Jahreshitparade Singles 2004". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  8. "Top 100 Single-Jahrescharts". GfK Entertainment (in German). offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
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