| H-Blockx | |
| Landscape: | yes |
| Origin: | Münster, Germany |
| Years Active: | 1991–present (hiatus) |
| Label: | BMG Sing Sing BMG Berlin Musik GmbH Supersonic X-Cell |
| Current Members: | Henning Wehland Stephan "Gudze" Hinz Tim Tenambergen Steffen Wilmking |
| Past Members: | Dave Gappa Fabio Trentini Johann-Christop "Mason" Maass Marco Minnemann Martin "Dog" Kessler |
H-Blockx is a German rock band founded in Münster in 1991. After the success of their debut album in 1994, Time to Move, the band received a nomination for Best Breakthrough Artist at the 1995 MTV Europe Music Awards. In 1999, the World Wrestling Federation contacted them to record a song, "Oh Hell Yeah", for wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin, and their song "Countdown to Insanity" appears in the European version of the 2007 music video game Rock Band. Between 1994 and 2012, H-Blockx released seven studio albums.
The band rose to fame with their successful debut album, Time to Move, released in 1994 on Sing Sing Records, and produced by Ralph Quick and Chris Wagner. The music videos for "Risin' High" and "Move" received considerable airplay on MTV. The band earned a nomination for "Best Breakthrough Artist" at the following MTV Europe Music Awards, however, the award went to Dog Eat Dog.[1] With the help of the singles "Risin' High", "Move", and "Little Girl", their debut spent 62 weeks in the German album chart, selling over 750,000 copies worldwide, and earning the band their first gold album. Their first major tour followed. In 1999, World Wrestling Federation contacted the band to record a song, "Oh Hell Yeah", for wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin. Although it was never used as his theme song, it became synonymous with Austin and was released on WWF The Music, Vol. 4.[2] A reworked version of "Oh Hell Yeah" was featured on the 2002 WWE Anthology album The Attitude Era.
None of their following albums have been as successful as Time to Move was. However, with the release of Get in the Ring in 2002 on Supersonic Records in association with BMG they did have a minor hit with their cover of "The Power" featuring rapper Turbo B; Turbo B also performs the original version with Snap!
In 2004, the band's album No Excuses reached No. 14 on the German album charts. It was then supported by an extensive European tour. In early 2005 and 2006 in Malmö, Sweden, their 2007 album Open Letter To A Friend was recorded. They were accompanied by H-Blockx producer Andreas "Boogieman" Herbig who was with them in 1994 when Time To Move was completed. Their single "Countdown to Insanity" from the album is one of the playable tracks included on the European version of the game Rock Band, and is available to download with the US version.[3] Ending a five-year absence from the recording studio, the band released their album HBLX in May 2012.
In 2013, the band's song "Gazoline" was used for the trailer and soundtrack for the video game Sunset Overdrive, along with several other rock and metal songs.
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| Year | Title | SWI | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Time to Move | 14 | 11 | 8 |
| 1996 | Discover My Soul | 7 | 5 | 15 |
| 1998 | Fly Eyes | 19 | 20 | 44 |
| 2002 | Get in the Ring | 14 | 21 | 45 |
| 2004 | No Excuses | 14 | 23 | 53 |
| 2007 | Open Letter to a Friend | 14 | 43 | 51 |
| 2012 | HBLX | 31 | 66 | 85 |
| Year | Title | GER |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Bang Boom Bang | 30 |
| 2004 | More Than a Decade | 66 |
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER [4] [5] | AUS [6] | AUT [7] | SWI [8] | |||
| 1993 | Risin' High | 34 | — | — | — | Time to Move |
| 1994 | Move | 34 | — | — | — | |
| Little Girl | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1996 | How Do You Feel | — | — | — | 28 | Discover My Soul |
| Step Back | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1998 | Fly | — | — | — | — | Fly Eyes |
| Take Me Home | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2000 | Ring of Fire (featuring Dr. Ring-Ding) | 13 | — | 10 | 42 | Get in the Ring |
| 2001 | C'MON (featuring B & K) | 83 | — | — | — | |
| 2002 | The Power (featuring Turbo B) | 48 | 34 | 51 | — | |
| 2004 | Leave Me Alone | 55 | — | 59 | — | No Excuses |
| Celebrate Youth | 42 | — | — | — | ||
| 2007 | Countdown to Insanity | 35 | — | 51 | — | Open Letter to a Friend |
| "—" denotes the single did not chart or was not released in that country | ||||||