These guys were really something special. Not just as musicians, but also because their songs were simply much better than ours. I still love "The Lips of Jane Mansfield" to this day. Brilliant stuff. I can't imagine what it's like to be so high up, so successful in one moment, and then so low in the next.

In his foreword for the book, Olga, the legendary frontman of the Toy Dolls, raves about the band The Bates from Eschwege. One person who experienced this brilliant stuff from the first day to the last is Frank "Klube" Klubescheidt, the drummer of The Bates. He was once a real star. The Bates sold a million records. Today, he works as a caregiver in a home for the disabled.

When I compare the life I live now with my life back then, it all feels like a blur. Today, I have to sweep the street and mow the lawn. Back then, there were no set times, no weekends, no news. Everything that matters in a normal, bourgeois life was non-existent during the times with The Bates.

Klube grows up in a village and does an apprenticeship. But his great love is music: We always wanted to make something special out of our lives, not just go through the 9-to-5 routine: apprenticeship, job, house, wife, retirement. We were afraid of that. Breaking out of the already written script - that was it.

In 1983, Klube, along with singer Zimbl and guitarist Armin Beck, founded The Bates. Their big goal: to become stars. They traveled to their first concerts in their dad's pig transporter. In the early 90s, the big dream came true: a contract with Virgin Records. This was followed by top-ten hits, stories in BRAVO, concerts in front of 45,000 fans. Money, groupies, destroyed hotel rooms. They were living their dream.

With the major deal, the dollars suddenly started flowing. Then you're at a company party at Virgin, eating oysters instead of currywurst like before.