A television monitor at one end of the HUB Formal Gallery blares German musicians' videos. The videotape and surrounding German rock posters on exhibit until April 28 reveal rock music's impact on German culture.

The exhibit, packaged by the Goethe Institute in Germany and sent to the University's German Department, shows rock music's universal messages, said Tom Beebee, professor of German comparative literature.

"Rock music, like most art forms, in general talks about problems," he said. "Rock music speaks to the young audience about their problems."

The posters, translated in English by Jeffrey Bauer (graduate-German), feature German musicians who address social issues in Germany, Beebee said.

On the poster, a song by Interzone titled "Berlin" describes the city, its nightlife, culture and status as the heroin capital of Europe, Beebee said.

Feminist rockers challenge Germany's patriarchal society, such as the female group, Ina Deter who focus on the inequalities between men and women. In its song "What This Country Needs is New Men," the women advertise for the right man, Beebee said.

"The song hints that the whole gender issue has spoiled men," Beebee said, "and the gap (between women and men) is so great that both men and women don't have anything in common anymore."

The display, which covers from the 1950s to present day, is arranged chronologically and divided into genres such as political, punk, new wave and blues.

Beebee said German rock is more experimental and avante-garde than mainstream or pop music. The group Trio performed a song called "Radical Minimalism" which is symbolic on different levels. The repetition of "Da Da Da," meaning "there," with the lines "I don't love me. You don't love me," also refers to dada which was an avante-garde art movement, Beebee said.

"(German rock) is anti-music, strips music to its basic elements . . . and explores the possibilities of other forms," he said.

But German rock can appeal to the American music market as well.

In the early 1980s, German group Nena and its song "99 Luftballoons" became popular in the United States because Americans identified with the song's fears of a nuclear holocaust, Beebee said.

Some students in University German classes visited the exhibit and noted the depressing tone of German rock.

Deanna Citro (sophomore-accounting) said the posters featuring musicians in the 1970s were negative.

"It seemed as if they had a chip on their shoulder like nothing was right with them," she said. Pointing to more recent musicians Falco and Nena, Citro said. "But (the musicians) became more relaxed and less underground sounding."

As part of the month-long exhibit, singer-songwriter Stephan Krawzcyk will sing German socio-political songs at 8 p.m. April 9 in the HUB Formal Gallery.