History buff overawed to stand in the exact spot in Sarajevo where Franz Ferdinand released “Take Me Out”
Dennis Hoopenlooper, 23, always preferred the cultural spots over the more mainstream tourist traps. That’s why he ditched his family sailing trip to go to the cultural melting pot of Sarajevo. In particular, Hoopenlooper wanted to see the Latin Bridge, where Archduke Franz Ferdinand released his eponymous rock album more than a century ago.
“It’s incredible to see a place of such historical importance,” he said. “This city is the crossroads between east and west – and the site of one of the most influential events of the last century.”
Most history students are well aware of what happened in this spot in 1914. Franz Ferdinand, along with Serbian nationalist musician Gavrilo Princip, performed the indie rock staple “Take Me Out” in front of a hectic Bosnian moshpit.
The reverberations caused by this bangin’ tune were immediate and irreversible. A chain of alliances across Europe collapsed, dragging the continent into World War One – a conflict that would last until 1918 and change the course of the 20th century.
Hoopenlooper was overcome by the importance of the site. “The Latin Bridge was the beginning of one of the most meaningless slaughters in human history – and one of the best indie songs to play at a party when you don’t really know everyone’s taste in music.”
Hoopenlooper later visited Sarajevo’s infamous abandoned bobsled track, which was destroyed during the filming of Jamaican bobsledding film “Cool Runnings.”
Franz Ferdinand’s corpse is currently touring South America and will perform in Peru and Mexico.
