"" ("Destroy What Destroys You") is a 1970 song by German proto-punk band and a subsequent political slogan. Written in 1969, it first appeared as a single the next year, followed by the band's 1971 debut album The slogan was subsequently used in the German autonomous, squatting, and contemporary anarchist outgrowths of the 1960s West German student movement.
The song was originally written for the 1969 play by . It followed a scene in which the titular hero, the young worker Paul, sees conservative commentator on television and throws the TV set on the floor in anger.
The lyrics were written by Norbert Krause, a member of Hoffmanns Comic Teater, inspired by lyrics by Rio Reiser: "Bombs are falling / Tanks are rolling / Soldiers dying / Men are crying / It is a good time ...". These lyrics were inspired in turn by Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues". The song also includes a full rendition of the Einheitsfrontlied, a well-known 1930s labour movement song. In 1970 the members of what would later become split off with the apprentice collective from ; the first piece by was also called .
In mid-1970, ARD broadcast a documentary entitled ("Five fingers make a fist") about the aims of the APO. It was accompanied by songs by the then still nameless band, including "" and "" ("We're on strike"), also from . Viewers called the station to ask how to buy the music. , Rio Reiser, , and , having named themselves "", recorded a single with these two songs. By Christmas 1970 it had already sold over 6000 copies.
The band's first performance was on September 6, 1970, at the Fehmarn . By the time they took the stage (the stage on which Jimi Hendrix had just given his last concert), the organizers had already left, taking the proceeds of the box office with them. Reiser called on the audience to "smash the organizers into the ground". By the time they played "", their third song, the office was set on fire; two songs later, the stage was burning too. Many people believed that had set the stage on fire, which gave them tremendous credibility in the radical scene.
In 1971, the song appeared on the album . It became one of the best-known of 's songs. The title soon became a motto for the protests of the 1970s and was used on all kinds of fliers and graffiti.
The song "" ("Fix what breaks you!") (2007) from the album of the same name by Tommy Finke is a reference to "" and Rio Reiser, whose "" is also alluded to. "Destroy What Destroys You", by German thrash metal band Kreator, is also a reference to "". The song was released on the Hordes of Chaos album in 2008.