It took up traditions of Neue Deutsche Welle and combined them with elements of indie rock, punk, grunge, experimental pop, and intellectual lyrics.
To remedy this situation and to give the new style a platform, the record label L'Age D'Or was established in October 1988 by Carol von Rautenkranz and Pascal Fuhlbrügge.
Another label that influenced the emerging genre was Alfred Hilsberg's What's So Funny About?, which published the first albums by Blumfeld, Cpt.
When other German guitar bands, whose music and lyrics were of a different style, they were able to profit from this success while spurring an entirely new indie pop scene.
Examples for this new generation of artists, who clearly tie in with the Hamburger Schule tradition, are Spillsbury, Kettcar, Erdmöbel, Kajak, Justin Balk, Virginia Jetzt!, Astra Kid, Modus Noa, Marr and Tomte.
Arguably the most important one is the Hamburg-based label Grand Hotel van Cleef which, like L'Age D'Or seeks to be an enabler for local bands.
It was established in September 2002 by Tomte's Thees Uhlmann and Kettcar's Marcus Wiebusch and Reimer Bustorff.
It also includes bands and solo musicians, who were active before the emergence of the music movement in the 1980s and are regarded as its pioneers (e.g. Kolossale Jugend or Cpt.