In Germany, Fury in the Slaughterhouse occupies the same cultural stature that U2 enjoys in Ireland, even though the two groups share no stylistic kinship. The Hanover-based rock quintet functions as a major hitmaker, eclipsing even the Scorpions in domestic popularity while moving more than 600,000 units by the early 1990s. Brothers Kai Uwe Wingenfelder on vocals and Thorsten Wingenfelder on guitar and vocals assembled the lineup in a modest backyard setting in Hanover in 1987, soon recruiting drummer Rainer Schumann, guitarist Christof Stein, and bassist Hannes Schafer. Their self-titled debut album appeared on January 10, 1989, the same year keyboardist Gero Drnek completed the roster. Regular club appearances quickly built a devoted following that carried the band toward national prominence. Support slots for the Pogues and the Jesus & Mary Chain generated international curiosity. On February 15, 1994, RCA Records issued the group’s fourth album, Mono, in the United States. The track “Every Generation Got Its Own Disease,” a somber meditation on AIDS, received airplay on American modern-rock outlets and MTV. Thorsten’s ethereal, meditative riffs, Kai’s gruff vocals, and stark lyrical imagery (“Change the girls like underwear/Using bodies without care/The love has gone and what we’ve got/Is sweet perfume of sex and blood”) allowed the comparatively restrained single to loosen grunge’s grip on alternative radio. By contrast, “When I’m Dead and Gone,” whose video was directed by Cyndi Lauper, found less traction, and Mono soon disappeared into cutout bins. The band nevertheless persisted with new recordings back home in Germany.
