I know Tokio Hotel is huge. I know they are insanely popular. I just don’t get it!! I see them on the internet all the time, and I never post their pictures – or their music.  But I saw these pictures today – and thought they deserved their debut on ICYDK. Here they appear on the Spanish television program “El Hormiguero” on September 29, 2009 in Madrid, Spain.

Tokio Hotel was founded by vocalist Bill Kaulitz and guitarist Tom Kaulitz, who are identical twin brothers, drummer Gustav Schäfer and bass-guitarist Georg Listing. The four met in 2001 after a live show in a Magdeburg club, where Listing and Schäfer, who knew each other from music school, watched from the audience while Bill and Tom Kaulitz played on the stage. Under the name Devilish, the band soon began playing in talent shows and small concerts.

After Bill Kaulitz’s participation in a children’s Star Search in 2003 at age thirteen (which he lost in the quarter-final), he was discovered by music producer Peter Hoffmann. Devilish changed their name to Tokio Hotel: “Tokio”, the German spelling of the Japanese city Tokyo, due to a love of the city, and “Hotel” due to their constant touring and living in hotels.

The band has now become one of the biggest acts from Germany.

And I dug up Bill Kaulitz’s Star Search performance!

Fame, Wikipedia