in 1988, the band released their commercial breakthrough, the album "ein kleines bisschen horrorschau" (a little bit of horrorshow). the album referenced the anthony burgess's novel "a clockwork orange" and stanley kubrick's film of the same name and was largely written for bernd schadewald’s theatre adaption of "a clockwork orange". for half a year the band played on stage at the kammerspiele bad godesberg theatre in bonn, alongside ralf richter, the play's lead actor. in september 1988, die toten hosen performed at the lituanika festival in vilnius and kaunas, lithuania. they were chosen by the jury as the best band of the event. the album included "hier kommt alex" (here comes alex) was later re-recorded in an unplugged version in 2005 incorporating the opening piano phrase of beethoven's moonlight sonata.