Hap­py Straps – Tape­to­pia 016 – Plea­su­res 1985 – 86 LP

The sun rose in the East also ideo­lo­gi­cal­ly, which explains why the GDR was dark at its core. “We live in para­di­se. But we don’t know it.” sang the Hap­py Straps, evo­king that lim­bo of a reac- tio­na­ry socia­lism mas­que­ra­ding as pro­gres­si­ve. The Hap­py Straps were a typi­cal under­ground growth, deep­ly roo­ted in East Berlin’s alter­na­ti­ve sce­ne. A sta­te “play­ing per­mit”, for which “clas­si­fi­ca­ti­on” would have been requi­red, was never attempt­ed. The band’s sty­li­stics did not fit the ideo­lo­gi­cal­ly tar­ge­ted pro­gram­me. Their dark sound, remain­ed ali­en to Ostrock.
In 1985/86 one by one all mem­bers of the Hap­py Straps left the GDR for the West. “Plea­su­res 1985–1986” is made up of a com­pi­la­ti­on of the tapes “What a Plea­su­re” and “Last Plea­su­re”. Both tapes ori­gi­nal­ly appeared in an edi­ti­on of about 50 copies each.