There are personalities that you only really understand when you detach yourself from their public image. Dieter Bohlen belongs exactly in this category. Musically, I myself am not a big fan of his shallow, often very simple melodies - and yet, to be fair, it has to be said that what he created was extremely precise, target group-oriented and clearly structured for the 1980s. Bohlen was never the great artist in the romantic sense. But he was an outstanding businessman, a hard worker and someone who understood his craft in a way that few do today.<\/p>\n
What makes him interesting for me is not so much his music - but the fact that he remained successful for decades, while whole generations of artists came and went around him. That he attended the same commercial college in Oldenburg as I did. And that today - after many years of silence - he is suddenly taking a clear stance on social issues. That is the reason why it is worth looking at Dieter Bohlen as a person beyond the usual media image: not as a pop titan, not as a TV pundit, but as a craftsman, businessman and mirror of a time that understands itself less and less.<\/p>\n