Element of Crime

While never chart-topping, global superstars, German band Element of Crime have been supported by a loyal fan base since emerging in the 1980s, continuing to crank out melodic, singalong, guitar pop filled with smart, wry storytelling four decades later. Front man Sven Regener and guitarist Jakob Ilja originally played together in Berlin punk outfit Neue Liebe before taking the name of a Lars Von Trier movie and forming Element of Crime in 1985 with the intention of mixing jangly 1960s rock classics with the more ragged energy of new wave.

They initially sang in English and had some international success with early albums 'Basically Sad' and 'Try to Be Mensch' but began singing only in their native German tongue on 1991's 'Damels Hinter Mond'. The follow-up 'Weisses Papier' really cemented their popularity in Germany and saw their style dubbed 'chanson rock' with Regener's melancholic delivery and observational eye earning him comparisons to the likes of Elvis Costello and Morrissey. 'An Einem Sonntag Im April' and 'Die Schonen Rosen' were other high points for the band, but Regener became better known as a writer when his 2001 novel 'Herr Lehmann' sold over two million copies and was later turned into a film.

British singer-songwriter Paul Bonin featured on the Element of Crime album 'Romantik' and they contributed to the soundtrack of comedy movie 'Robert Zimmermann Is Tangled Up in Love', and after 22 years the band achieved their first gold-selling record with 'Immer Da Wo Du Bist Bin Ich Nie' which reached number two in Germany in 2009. Regener continued to publish novels but the band also found a new lease of life and released their 15th studio album 'Schafe, Monster und Mause' in 2018.