The Cosmic Jokers were a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 krautrock

Krautrock

Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...

 supergroup

Supergroup (music)

In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....

, and a primary example of space rock

Space rock

Space rock is a subgenre of rock music; the term originally referred to a group of early, mostly British, 1970s progressive and psychedelic rock bands such as Hawkwind and Pink Floyd, characterised by slow, lengthy instrumental passages dominated by electric organs, synthesizers, experimental...

.

History

The Cosmic Jokers was never an ensemble, per se; its members did not play together as Cosmic Jokers, and in fact were not even asked to join the group. Their music was created from sessions put together by Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser and Gille Lettman in early in 1973. He arranged for several acid

LSD

Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...

 parties to be held at the sound studio owned by Dieter Dierks

Dieter Dierks

Dieter Dierks is a German record producer mostly known for his collaboration with the rock band Scorpions.- Youth :...

, where musicians were offered drugs in exchange for recording tracks. Participants included Manuel Göttsching

Manuel Göttsching

Manuel Göttsching is a German musician and composer.As the leader of the group Ash Ra Tempel or Ashra, one of the most notable German groups of the 1970s and 80s, as well as a solo artist, he is one of the most important guitarists of the Kosmische Musik genre. He also participated in the Cosmic...

 and Klaus Schulze

Klaus Schulze

Klaus Schulze is a German electronic music composer and musician. He also used the alias Richard Wahnfried. He was briefly a member of the electronic bands Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel before launching a solo career consisting of more than 60 albums released across five decades.-1970s:In...

 of Ash Ra Tempel

Ash Ra Tempel

Ash Ra Tempel are a German krautrock group of the 1970s, and are an example of cosmic or space rock.-History:The group was originally founded by guitarist Manuel Göttsching, keyboardist/drummer Klaus Schulze, and bassist Hartmut Enke in 1971. All three founding members had previously played...

, Jurgen Dollase and Harold Grosskopf of Wallenstein

Wallenstein (band)

The band Wallenstein, founded in Viersen in Lower Rhineland, later based in Mönchengladbach, was a German rock band from 1971 to 1982, which was later ascribed to the so-called Krautrock of the 70s.-History:...

, and Dierks. Prior to this, all of the musicians involved had been in the Cosmic Couriers

Cosmic Couriers

Cosmic Couriers was a German experimental/space-rock label set up by Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser in 1973 following his association with Ohr and Pilz...

, which had played on experimental recordings by Sergius Golowin

Sergius Golowin

Sergius Golowin was a Bern writer, myths researcher, librarian, and publicist.- Life :Sergius Golowin was born in 1930 in Prague, Czechoslovakia...

, Walter Wegmüller

Walter Wegmüller

Walter Wegmüller is a Swiss painter and musician. He is probably best known for the Krautrock album Tarot, which was released on the Cosmic Couriers label in 1973.-References:...

, and Timothy Leary

Timothy Leary

Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs like LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison...

.

Kaiser took the tapes from these sessions, edited and mixed them with Dierks, and released them on his label, Kosmische Musik, complete with the musicians' pictures on the LP sleeve, without asking for their permission. Göttsching did not find out about the record release until he heard it playing in a record store in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 and asked the counter help what was playing. Kaiser released five records under the name Cosmic Jokers in 1974, one of which was actually a label sampler and a second, Gilles Zeitschiff, consisted of Kaiser's then-girlfriend Gille Lettmann speaking over sounds taken from prior label releases. While none of the musicians were happy with the recordings, Schulze was so angry after the release of Gilles Zeitschiff that he sued Kaiser. In 1975, Kaiser was forced to discontinue and withdraw the recordings, and he fled the country over the affair, abandoning the record label over the threat of impending legal problems.

Discography

• The Cosmic Jokers: The Cosmic Jokers (1974)
• Galactic Supermarket: Galactic Supermarket (1974)
• The Cosmic Jokers & Sternenmädchen: Planeten Sit-In (1974)
• Gille Lettman & Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser: Sci Fi Party (1974; actually a Kosmische Musik label sampler)
• Sternenmädchen Gille: Gilles Zeitschiff (1974)

External links

• Cosmic Jokers - Biography & Discography at Progarchives.com
• Cosmic Jokers - Biography at Intuitive music
• [ Cosmic Jokers] at Allmusic.com