German Hair Syndrome's members come from the five states of the former East German Democratic Republic. They met at boarding school in the northernmost state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern at the age of 13, while studying theoretical physics in the state's Training Program for Future Cosmonauts and Natural Scientists. It was their interest in quarks and photons, combined with a love for song, that brought them together for covert jam sessions in the dusty attics of the 250-bed dormitory for the intellectually suspect.

Samanta St. Pauli, aka "The Useless Front Woman," received her doctorate in theoretical physics in 1980, with a dissertation that set out to prove that quarks organize themselves in space by color coordinating their energy levels along the red and green segments of the visible spectrum. A professional Tressur, St. Pauli also makes all of the band's wigs, and composes the band's spoken word anthems, such as "Linie 7" and "Heidi Klum."

Heike Kleene-Jungfrau, aka "Locomojo," also received her doctorate in theoretical physics in 1980. Her dissertation explored the one-dimensional narrative qualities of string theory, and "read" the one-dimensional models of the five distinct superstring theories (open type I, closed type I, closed type IIA, closed type IIB, and the two flavors of heterotic string theory [SO(32) and E8×E8] for plot markers. It is no surprise that Kleene-Jungfrau is the narrative motor of GHS, having churned out the hits "Quark is for Lovers," "Flat Land and Open Sky," and the mega-hit "Ersatzfreund," as well as her collaborations with Dagmar van Lindenhuus, "Boxed In," Streichelzoo," "H&M" and "Kotbusser Tor." She prefers to write her songs while taking public transportation.

Jörg Öztürk, aka "Love Child," received his doctorate in theoretical physics in 1981. His dissertation explored the abstract nature of kinematics in tonal mathematics. Öztürk was the last member to join the band after collaborating with Jungfrau and St. Pauli on Reuben Goldberg models designed to split atomic particles that earned them a brief trip to Essen, West Germany in the summer of 1974. While the model was unsuccessful and left the competition without taking a prize, GHS was fortified by the collaboration and began churning out new tunes at a pace hitherto unseen in Germany's northeast.

Dagmar van Lindenhuss, aka "The Druggie Diva," recieved her doctorate in theoretical physics in 1980. Her dissertation investigated the interphoton dynamics of baked goods. One of the founding members of GHS, van Lindenhuus is known to her bandmates as "Rhythm." Her dark and doomy deathbeats have ushered in many a sad GHS anthem, from the band's first song ever written, "dabc," and the later hits "deconstruction," "Dirty Laundry" and "Verabredung." Her process for songwriting is rather complicated: while baking, she mixes small fortunes written on paper into the batter, and then composes lyrics based on the order in which said fortunes are eaten.