Founded in East Germany in 1977, Silly was one of the country's most popular music acts, and was well known for its charismatic lead singer Tamara Danz.

In 2005 the surviving members began to perform as Silly again, first with several guest singers, before choosing actress Anna Loos to replace Danz.

Silly's first notable concert appearances outside East Germany were in Romania, where the band gained a strong following; it helped that Fritzsching and Danz could speak Romanian fluently.

Unusually, the band's first, self-titled album was released first in West Germany in 1981, where it sold moderately well; this was due in part to the enthusiasm of West German record promoters (including photographer Jim Rakete) for the band, in contrast to the East German state record label Amiga's reluctance to produce an album.

His complex and often politically charged lyrics gave the band a strong intellectual appeal, but frequently landed them in trouble with the censors, who demanded changes before allowing a song to be performed.

), where it was immensely popular; the revised version dropped two songs in favor of two new recordings with lyrics by Karma, one of which, the atypical Der letzte Kunde (The Last Customer), a paean to alcoholism sung by drummer Schafmeier, became the early band's signature tune.

His first appearance was a note-for-note cover version of Kim Carnes' hit "Bette Davis Eyes", which, following long-standing practice, the state recording label Amiga issued to avoid having to pay performance royalties for the original song.

While it earned the band substantial publicity, they showed their evident unhappiness with it by performing it on television dressed as schoolchildren eating ice cream (Eis, in German, is pronounced much as "eyes").

Barton's synthesizer playing lent a new wave edge to the band's subsequent album, Mont Klamott [de], named for the "rubbish mountain" in Berlin's Friedrichshain district that was built over the debris of a World War II flak tower in a park of the neighbourhood.

Despite the controversy, Liebeswalzer again was voted Album of the Year, and Silly won one argument with the censors over the word Titten (tits) in the song "So 'ne kleine Frau" (Such a Little Woman), which was left unaltered.

After a falling out with Werner Karma, Danz sought the assistance of up-and-coming singer-songwriter Gerhard Gundermann in writing lyrics, who had already drawn notice for his witty wordplay on his 1988 debut album.

Joining the band was guitarist Uwe Hassbecker, Danz's new paramour, formerly of Stern Meißen, whom she had met while singing in the East German supergroup, Die Gitarreros, in 1986.

Also "Über ihr taute das Eis" ("The ice thawed over her") was an unusual song for East german conditions, telling the story of a minor girls suicide.

Danz performed as a backup singer at a massive free concert featuring the likes of Joe Cocker following the Wall opening.

But Danz felt constrained by the Ariola executives, who deemed the band's songs not commercial, and provided them with chart-friendly music and lyrics by outside writers.

The album closer, "Traumpaar" (Dream Couple) imagines the two German states as a dancing pair, die Schlampe und der Held – the whore and the hero.

Largely ignored in western Germany, Hurensöhne reestablished Silly as an important band in the east, as fans returned in droves amid disillusionment with German reunification.