History
1980s
On 1 April 1980, Einsturzende Neubauten made their first appearance, at the Moon Club in West Berlin.[1] This first lineup featured Beate Bartel and Gudrun Gut, Blixa Bargeld, and N.U. Unruh. The two female members, Bartel and Gut, left the band after a short period and founded Mania D. Shortly thereafter, Alexander Hacke (alias Alexander von Borsig), a sound technician and multi-instrumentalist who was 15 years old at the time, joined the band and became a longtime member.

In 1981, percussionist F.M. Einheit (from the Hamburg band Abwarts) joined Einsturzende Neubauten and they released their first LP, Kollaps ("Collapse"),[1] a mixture of rough punk tunes and industrial noises. The industrial noises were obtained from self-made music machines, electronics, and found objects such as metal plates. The live performances with Einheit in the 1980s included much metal banging and destruction on stage.

During their first German tour, Mark Chung (previously the bass player with Abwarts) joined the group of musicians.[1] This lineup lasted nearly 15 years.

In 1983, Einsturzende Neubauten recorded their second album, Zeichnungen des Patienten O. T. ("Drawings of Patient O.T.").[1] The title came from a 1974 book by Leo Navratil, describing the drawings of Oswald Tschirtner. The band also appeared as guest performers on Fad Gadget's "Collapsing New People" 7" single's B-side track Spoil The Child, recorded at Hansa Tonstudio, Berlin in November 1983.

Also in 1983, Bargeld joined the band The Birthday Party (featuring Nick Cave and Mick Harvey) as a guitarist. That group soon disbanded, but Bargeld became a longtime member of one of the bands that sprang from it, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (again featuring Cave and Harvey). Bargeld remained a full-time member of both Einsturzende Neubauten and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds until 2003, when he quit the Bad Seeds in order to focus on Einsturzende Neubauten.