While never chart-topping, global superstars, German band Element of Crime have
been supported by a loyal fan base since emerging in the 1980s, continuing to
crank out melodic, singalong, guitar pop filled with smart, wry storytelling
four decades later. Front man Sven Regener and guitarist Jakob Ilja originally
played together in Berlin punk outfit Neue Liebe before taking the name of a
Lars Von Trier movie and forming Element of Crime in 1985 with the intention of
mixing jangly 1960s rock classics with the more ragged energy of new wave.
They initially sang in English and ha...