Tokio Hotel: The German rock band making its mark in America

Written by Kirsten Adamski, Staff Writer

Tokio Hotel is a German rock band that was founded in 2001 and hit its peak in 2007. They were extremely popular in a number of countries throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. In fact, the band has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide. Tokio Hotel is made up of drummer Gustav Schafer, bass guitarist Georg Listing, lead vocalist Bill Kaulitz, and his identical twin brother/guitarist Tom Kaulitz.

Tokio Hotel released their first German-language album, Schrei, in 2005. Schrei sold more than five hundred thousand copies worldwide, and the album included four singles that became top-five in both Germany and Austria.

In 2007, the band released Scream, the English version of their hit album, Schrei. Releasing their album in English was certainly the right choice because it helped to expand their audience worldwide. Also, it helped the band to win their first of many awards, the MTV Europe Music Award for Best InterAct.

Their most memorable award was received in September 2008 when Tokio Hotel won their first MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist. By winning this award, Tokio Hotel became the first German band to ever win an award at the MTV VMA’s that also won awards at the MTV Latin America Awards. In July 2011, they became the first German band to win an award at the MTV Video Music Awards in Japan.
The band’s most recent work is their album Dream Machine, which they released in early 2017. Impressively, it managed to hit number-one in iTunes sales worldwide. On March 13,  2017, the band embarked on their Dream Machine Tour.

They will be coming to perform in Chicago at the Concord Music Hall on February 16, 2018.