Wumpscut is no more – R.I.P. : ‘I am finished with making music for (more or less) nothing’
Rudy Ratzinger aka Wumpscut has informed us a few minutes ago during a chat session that his Wumpscut project is over and done for good. Rudy: “I am finished with making music for (more or less) nothing and don’t need to make music all my life. Music was just ONE way to express myself.”
With Wumpscut the dark wave scene has now lost a major name. The project was one of the – if not THE – leading dark electro bands around since it was founded in May 1991 by Bavarian disc jockey Rudolf “Rudy” Ratzinger. Already with “Defcon”, the first demo issued by Wumpscut in late 1991, it was clear something great was to happen.
Since then Ratzinger released one cult release after the other and made sure that several generations of dark electro fans knew what real good dark electro sounded like. The project saw seventeen studio albums plus a number of compilations (holding demos, compilation tracks, and remixes from deleted singles and EPs).
When the “best of” album “Innerfire” was released on May 5th, 2017, Ratzinger already had announced that Wumpscut would no longer be producing or making any new music. But whereas many thought this was just a temporal decision it’s now clear that he intends to never ever release any new work again.
The demise of Wumpscut clearly shows the crisis the music world is in these days when even bigger artists have problems earning something at all. Although streaming music income is increasing it still is not covering for the huge loss in income that came from physical releases and even downloads. Add to this that Wumpscut was never a live act and this largely impacted his financial compensation for the hard work he obviously put into his music and artwork.
On behalf of Side-Line’s current and past editorial staff, we thank you Rudy for your incredible contribution to the dark electro scene and the industrial scene in general. Stay connected, and good luck with your future plans!
Side-Line also covered Wumpscut’s ‘In God We are Damned’.
Support Side-Line
More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.
Why we ask
Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.
Handled by PayPal.
Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!
