WIZO's music is characterized by a combination of humorous and political lyrics with a fast, melodic punk rock sound.
"[8] Jörn Genserowski (bass), Axel Kurth (guitar), and Jochen Bix (vocals) founded the band "Wieso" (English translation: "why?")
The band also gained attention for an illegal public performance outside of a courthouse during the road-rage trial of Manfred Krug, a TV celebrity.
(as well as the later compilation album Kraut & Rüben) was distributed by Fat Wreck Chords, one of the most successful and influential punk labels in the world.
[15] Later that year, due to the "glorification of violence" and "illegal anti-state statements" present in the song "Kein Gerede" ("No idle talk"), the album Bleib Tapfer was indexed[12] by the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons and was only available to be sold to adults through very restricted channels.
When the band asked the producer and cameramen not to block the view of the audience, as they had done for NOFX, filming was stopped.
[16] Axel has said that the band was sued over this incident, and this is the reason that they no longer play large festival shows.
[6] In 1996, WIZO's lineup also changed; Ingo Hahn replaced their long-standing drummer, Charly Zasko, and he and Axel "are fortunately no longer in contact."
The single Doof wie Scheiße (English translation: "Dumb as Shit") was recorded with Ingo before he left the band.
The band also received a criminal complaint from Wilhelm Gegenfurtner, the Vicar General of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Regensburg over their depiction of a crucified pig on their album Uuaarrgh!
[17] The band offered to stop selling the T-shirt if the Catholic Church put a sign on the Judensau, an anti-semitic carving on the Regensburg Cathedral dating to 1330.
[12] In 1998, WIZO released Kraut & Rüben EP ("Cabbage and Carrots", also "higgledy piggledy") on the label Fat Wreck Chords, containing songs that were already popular in Germany, but unknown to the rest of the world.
In September 2004, WIZO made a first in the music industry by releasing a single on USB flash drive, titled as the Stick EP.
[12] In November 2004, coinciding with the release of their album Anderster (English translation: "differenter"), WIZO announced their intent to dissolve in March 2005, upon the conclusion of a farewell tour.
He also released covers of "Als ich fortging", written by Dirk Michaelis [de] and Pour Un Flirt by Michel Delpech.
At the end of 2008, XLQ played guitar for a German boy-band, was involved in writing music for the film Die Welle [de], and other projects.
One song on the album, Unpoliddisch, which Axel sings in a Saxon dialect, had already been released in 2012 under the pseudonym Total Verboilt.