Rammstein

For other uses, see Ramstein (disambiguation).

Rammstein

Rammstein (German pronunciation: [ˈʀamʃtaɪ̯n]) is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band from Berlin, formed in 1994. The band consists of members Till Lindemann (lead vocals), Richard Z. Kruspe (lead guitar and backing vocals), Paul H. Landers (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Oliver "Ollie" Riedel (bass guitar), Christoph "Doom" Schneider (drums and electronic percussion) and Christian "Flake" Lorenz (keyboards). They are widely accepted as part of the Neue Deutsche Härte scene, alongside bands such as Oomph!, Eisbrecher, and Die Krupps. Their songs are usually in German, but they have also performed songs entirely or partially in other languages such as English, Spanish, French and Russian. As of 2009, they have sold over 15 million records worldwide. Rammstein's entire catalogue is published by Universal Music Group. Since their formation in 1994, Rammstein has had no changes in their band line-up nor have any members left the band.

Rammstein takes their name indirectly from the German town of Ramstein-Miesenbach, the site of the flight show disaster on 28 August 1988. The band's signature song, "Rammstein", is a commemoration of the disaster. In a short period before the band became well known, they performed using the name "Rammstein-Flugschau" (literally meaning "Rammstein-Flightshow").

History

Herzeleid (1995–1997)

Rammstein began to record their first studio album entitled Herzeleid in March 1995 with producer Jacob Hellner. They released their first single "Du Riechst So Gut" on 17 August and released the album on 24 September 1995. Later that year, they toured with Clawfinger in Warsaw and Prague. Rammstein headlined a tour of their own through Germany from 2 December to 22 December consisting of 17 shows which helped to boost the band's popularity. They then went on several tours throughout early 1996, releasing their second single entitled "Seemann" on 8 January 1996.

On 27 March, Rammstein performed on MTV's Hanging Out in London; their first performance in the UK. Rammstein's first major boost in popularity outside Germany came when music director Trent Reznor chose two Rammstein songs, "Heirate mich" and "Rammstein", for David Lynch's film Lost Highway. The soundtrack for the film was released in the US in late 1996 and later throughout Europe in April 1997.

Rammstein then went on to tour through Germany, Austria and Switzerland from September to October 1996, performing an anniversary concert on 27 September called "100 years of Rammstein". Guests to the concert included Moby, Bobo and The Berlin Session Orchestra, Berlin director Gert Hof was responsible for the light show.

Sehnsucht and Live aus Berlin (late 1996–2000)

Rammstein started recording Sehnsucht in November 1996 at the Temple Studios in Malta. The album was again produced by Jacob Hellner. "Engel", the first single off of the album, was released on 1 April 1997 and reached gold status in Germany on 23 May. This prompted the release of a fan edition of the single, named Engel - Fan Edition. This contained two previously unreleased songs, "Feuerräder" and "Wilder Wein". Release of the second single from the album Sehnsucht was "Du hast", which hit the German single charts August 1997 at number 5. Rammstein then continued touring in the summer whilst Sehnsucht was released on 22 August 1997. The album reached number 1 in Germany after only two weeks in the charts. Simultaneously, Herzeleid and both the singles off Sehnsucht ("Du hast" and "Engel") were in the Top 20 of the German charts. Rammstein continued to headline sold out shows throughout Europe in September, October. On 5 December 1997, they embarked on their first tour of the United States with KMFDM.

On 22–23 August 1998, Rammstein played to over 17,000 fans at the Wuhlheide in Berlin; the biggest show the band had played there up to that date. Supporting acts were Danzig, Nina Hagen, Joachim Witt and Alaska. The show was professionally filmed, intended to be released on their upcoming live DVD, Live aus Berlin.

Rammstein embarked on a live tour with Korn, Ice Cube, Orgy and Limp Bizkit called the Family Values tour in September through to late October 1998. To further continue their success in the US, Sehnsucht received Gold record status on 2 November.

The band was nominated at the MTV European Music Awards for Best Rock Act and performed "Du hast" live on 12 November that year.

Rammstein had further success in 1999, starting off the year in February with a nomination for Best Metal Performance at the 42nd-annual Grammy Awards. A year after it was filmed, the Live aus Berlin concert was released on CD on 30 August 1999, with a limited edition double CD also available. Two weeks after it was released, Live aus Berlin went to number one in the German Album Charts. On 13 September and 26 November 1999 the video and DVD versions of the concert were released respectively.

Mutter (2000–2002)

The recording of Rammstein's album Mutter took place in the south of France in May and June 2000, and it was mixed in Stockholm in October. During Christmas 2000, Rammstein released an MP3 of "Links 2-3-4" as a taster for their new album. Richard also wrapped a thread of his own hair onto the G string of his guitar just for this album, he said "It gave it a certain sound".

2001 was a busy year for Rammstein, starting in January and February with the band playing the Big Day Out festival in Australia and New Zealand. January also heralded the shooting of the video for their upcoming single, "Sonne", recorded in Potsdam at Babelsberger Filmstudios from 13 to 15 January 2001. The video was released on 29 January 2001. The single for "Sonne" was released on 12 February 2001 in Europe, featuring an instrumental version of the song, two remixes by Clawfinger and "Adios" from the upcoming album.

Mutter was released on 2 April 2001, sparking another Rammstein tour through Germany, Austria and Switzerland. On 14 May, the second single off the album, "Links 2 3 4", was released, along with a video of the single on 18 May. After a tour throughout Europe in June, the band then toured the U.S., Canada and Mexico from June to August 2001.

"Ich will", the third single from the album, was released on 10 September 2001 and a Tour edition of the Mutter album (the cover of which is red) was released, featuring alternative artwork and live versions of "Ich will", "Links 2 3 4", "Sonne" and "Spieluhr". From 8 to 12 January 2002, Rammstein traveled to Prague to participate in a minor scene for the film xXx. The band is seen in the opening scene, performing their song "Feuer frei!" in a concert. "Feuer frei!" was released across Europe as the first single from the xXx soundtrack on 14 October 2002. Rammstein released two remixes of the song. Furthermore, the single's track listing included "Du hast" and "Bück dich" cover versions by Battery. The video for the single was edited by Rob Cohen, which contains part Rammstein performance at the beginning of the film and part snippets from the film itself.

Reise, Reise (2003–2005)

Rammstein recorded Reise, Reise ("travel, travel") at the El Cortijo studio in southern Spain in November and December 2003, it was mixed at Toytown studio in Stockholm, Sweden in April and May 2004. The first single from the album was "Mein Teil", released on 26 July 2004. The video was shot in the Arena, in the Treptow district of Berlin. Outdoor shooting took place at the Deutsche Oper (Opera House) U-Bahn station on Bismarckstrasse. The director was Zoran Bihac, who also filmed the "Links 2 3 4" video. The video for "Amerika" was filmed on 6–7 August 2004 in the ruins of the former cement works in Rüdersdorf near Berlin, Germany under the direction of Jörn Heitmann (who also directed the "Ich will" video, among others). The space suits for the moon scenes were borrowed from Hollywood and 240 tons of ash were needed to create the moon landscape. The video premiered on 20 August 2004.

The second single from Reise, Reise was "Amerika", released on 13 September 2004. With the album released on 27 September, it went straight to top 10 charts throughout Europe. According to the Billboard charts, Rammstein were now the most successful German-language band of all time. Rammstein then toured Germany through November and some of December 2004, releasing the single "Ohne dich" on 22 November.

In February 2005, Rammstein toured Europe again. By 28 February 2005, Rammstein had played 21 concerts in front of more than 200,000 spectators in ten countries. It was on this tour that the band was faced with several lawsuits resulting from severe fire breathing accidents involving audience members. "Keine Lust" was the fourth single released from Reise, Reise on 28 February 2005.

From 27 May to 30 July 2005, Rammstein played festivals across Europe. Footage from these concerts eventually ended up on Rammstein's live DVD Völkerball, released in November 2006.

Rosenrot and Völkerball (2005–2006)

In August 2005, Rammstein revealed the name of their next studio album: Rosenrot. Their first single from the album, "Benzin", was released on 5 October 2005, with its video premiere on 16 September 2005. Rosenrot was released worldwide on 28 October 2005. Directly following the release, the album continued the success of its predecessor, Reise, Reise, placing on top 10 charts in 20 countries.

16 December 2005 marked the release of the title track on Rosenrot. The video for "Mann gegen Mann" was released on 6 February 2006, with the single being released on 3 March. On 19 February 2006, Rammstein had an asteroid named after them, 110393 Rammstein.

On 17 November the first Rammstein Live DVD since Live aus Berlin from 1998 was released. Völkerball shows concert-performances by the band in England, France, Japan and Russia. The Special Edition is extended by a second DVD, which contains the documentaries "Anaconda in the net" by Mathilde Bonnefoy and the "Making of the album Reise, Reise" by Rammstein guitarist Paul Landers. The limited edition was released as a large black and white photo-book with photos by Frederic Batier, who had accompanied the band through their recent tours. The photo-book edition contains two DVDs and two live albums.

Liebe ist für alle da & tour (2007–present)

The band took a time out in 2006, and began work again in 2007. In an interview with German rapper Bushido (who contributed the "Electro Ghetto remix" of "Amerika") on 21 January 2007, Bushido reported recording a song with Rammstein, called "Vergiss uns nicht" ("Don't forget us"). In this interview, Bushido also mentioned that he was unsure whether it would be on their "Best of" album or not. This was the first mention of a "Best of" album, or the new album all together. On May 6, Rammstein announced European tour dates on their website. In addition, keyboardist Christian "Flake" Lorenz confirmed this in an interview with Metal Hammer Germany in November, stating that they would have most likely released a new album in 2008. The band did not tour during 2007 due to album production. Their website confirmed work on a new album, but no word of a "Best of" album has yet been mentioned. In January 2008, guitarist Richard Kruspe confirmed on the Talking Metal Podcast that Rammstein was recording an album as they spoke, during that same interview he confirmed a "big world tour" following the next album to contain U.S. dates.

On 4 November, the band finished the pre-production in Berlin and went to the Henson Studio in LA. After 7 intensive weeks, they had recorded the drums, guitars and most of the vocals.

Two very short (less than two minutes) "making of" videos have been released during the development of the album. One video, released on the band's website, shows drummer Christoph "Doom" Schneider recording drums for one of the tracks ("Mehr"), and the second, released on the band's MySpace page, features keyboardist Flake Lorenz practicing notes for another track.

The June '09 release of Metal Hammer featured an interview with Rammstein-manager Emanuel Fialik. In regard to the upcoming album Fialik quoted "Musically, it has the force of Mutter while the beauty of the melodies of Sehnsucht – Just so it has fixed in my ears." and also that it will feature two soft ballads and the rest will be "hard as a rock". He even went as far to say that the disk is the biggest surprise since the birth of his son. The interview concluded with Fialik stating "It is musically the best Album, which until now has Rammstein recorded!"

In July 2009, the title track "Liebe ist für alle da" leaked onto the internet, along with promotional materials. This has led Universal Music to take action against certain fan sites.

It was confirmed in August 2009 that the new album will have 11 tracks, and mixing of the album — which was taking place in Stockholm - has been completed. On September 1, 2009, it was confirmed on the band's website that "Pussy" will be the first single from the new album. On the same day, The Gauntlet posted a promotional video for it. The video also confirmed the new album title, Liebe ist für alle da. Later, the title was confirmed again in an interview with Paul Landers for RockOne magazine.

The music video for "Pussy" (which is the first Rammstein song to be released in English with German) was released on September 16, 2009, at 20:30 GMT, released especially for the adult website Visit-x. The video contains graphic scenes of male and female nudity as well as women engaging in sexual activity with the band members, although the actual sex scenes were performed by body doubles. The women featured in the video are German porn stars. Metal Hammer released an edited version of the video onto their website.

"Ich tu dir weh" has been confirmed as the second single off the album by Paul and Flake, in an interview for Radio Eins. Although censorship of the song in Germany prohibits any advertisement, broadcast or public display, the video to "Ich tu dir weh" was released on December 21, 2009 on the adult website Visit-x, just like the video to "Pussy", after advertisement on the band's official German website; it depicts the band on stage in a similar configuration as the one on their 2009/10 tour. Any references to the video on the official website have since been deleted. In Europe, the single has been released on January 15, 2010, and in the U.S. on January 19, 2010. Like the video "Pussy" also this video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund.

On Friday April 23, 2010, Rammstein released their video "Haifisch". Unlike the video for Ich tu dir weh, it contains more of a storyline rather than a performance. The single was released during May and June 2010.

As part of their European summer tour, Rammstein performed at the 2010 Rock AM Ring Festival on 4–6 June 2010. They also headlined several shows across Europe on the Sonisphere Festival, including their first ever outdoor UK performance at Knebworth Park, performing the day before Iron Maiden. On Sunday July 18, 2010, Rammstein played in front of more than 130,000 people in Quebec City on the Plains of Abraham as the closing show for the Festival d'été de Québec. It was their first North American appearance in 9 years.

The band announced that their last tour dates of 2010 were to be in the Americas. After several South American dates, the band returned to the United States for a single show at the famous Madison Square Garden in New York City - their first US show in over nine years, it is rumored that tickets sold out in as little as fifteen minutes. They also performed at Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada on December 9. This concert also sold out within the first hour of tickets going on sale, indicating a high demand to see Rammstein in North America. The band then played at Big Day Out 2011 from January 21 to February 6 in New Zealand and Australia. The band also visited South Africa for the first time in 2011 and played two concerts at Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Rammstein bassist Oliver Riedel stated in an interview in Montreal with Musik Universe that in April 2011, the band will release the first volume of their "Greatest Hits" along with unreleased tracks. In the same interview he also stated there will be a new live DVD coming out, with concert footage from the sold out New York and Montreal concerts.

On February 16, 2011, Rammstein announced that after the massive success of their sold out Madison Square Garden show on December 11, 2010 they would be touring North America after 10 years, making stops in New Jersey (East Rutherford) Izod Center, Montreal Bell Centre, Toronto Air Canada Centre, Chicago Allstate Arena, Edmonton Rexall Place, Seattle Tacoma Dome, San Francisco (Oakland) Oracle Arena, Los Angeles The Forum (Inglewood), and Las Vegas Thomas and Mack Center, a total of 6 U.S dates and 3 Canadian dates. Tickets went on sale February 25 and 26 to great response, with pit tickets selling out within half an hour for most dates and for some within minutes. So far the Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Edmonton shows have completely sold out and the remaining dates have almost reached sold out status, making this tour a success. They will also be playing in Mexico in May. The following dates are confirmed. May 26 and 27 in Mexico City's Palacio de los Deportes, May 29 in Guadalajara's Arena VFG, and May 31 in Monterey's Auditorio Banamex. On April 20, 2011 the band also won the Revolver Golden God Award for Best Live Band, their first U.S award. They will also release a Greatest Hits album with two previously unreleased tracks in September 2011. A European tour is supposed to kick off soon after. The only confirmed date for the European continent so far is on November 11, 2011 at the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic. In a recent interview Rammstein guitarrist Richard Kruspe also said that they are once again planning on returning to America on a 21 date tour on May 2012.

Rammstein filmed their new video on Monday 16th May 2011 in California with Jonas Akurland, the song associated with it is to be called Mein Land - which was the name of a song in 2009 that was initially to be released with the Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da album.

Musical style and influences

Although Rammstein is often generalized as Neue Deutsche Härte, their music spans a variety of related styles, including heavy metal, industrial music, and groove metal. The band is primarily influenced by Oomph! (who were strongly influenced by groove metal acts like Prong) and the image and the deep voice of Milan Fras of Laibach.

The band has a flair for costumes of all sorts, both in live shows and in videos. In the "Keine Lust" video, all members of the band except Flake were dressed in fat suits. In the "Amerika" video, all members of the band wore space suits. Live, the band experiments even more with costumes. In the Völkerball concert, among others, Till changed costumes between songs, dressed accordingly for each. For example, in "Mein Teil", he was dressed as a butcher, in "Reise, Reise", as a sailor. The rest of the band each wore their own preferred costume, but none as outlandish or themed as Till's.

Rammstein's style has tended to divide critics, some of whom have responded with memorable comments. Jam Showbiz (April 2001) described Mutter as "music to invade Poland to". New Zealand's Southland Times (December 17, 1999) suggested that Till Lindemann's "booming, sub-sonic voice" would send "the peasants fleeing into their barns and bolting their doors", while the New York Times (January 9, 2005) commented that on the stage, "Mr. Lindemann gave off an air of such brute masculinity and barely contained violence that it seemed that he could have reached into the crowd, snatched up a fan, and bitten off his head." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic commented that "their blend of industrial noise, grinding metal guitars, and operatic vocals is staggeringly powerful." "We just push boundaries", said Till Lindemann in an interview with rock magazine Kerrang!. "We can't help it if people don't like those boundaries being pushed."

Lyrics

Vocalist Till Lindemann writes most of Rammstein lyrics.

Nearly all of Rammstein's songs are in German. However, the band has recorded English songs as well as cover of the song "Stripped" (Depeche Mode) In addition, the songs "Amerika", "Stirb nicht vor mir//Don't Die Before I Do," and "Pussy" contain lyrics in English. The song "Moskau" ("Moscow") contains a chorus in Russian. "Te quiero puta!" is entirely in Spanish. Oliver Riedel commented that, "German language suits heavy metal music. French might be the language of love, but German is the language of anger".

The lyrics of Rammstein and above all their utterance by singer Till Lindemann are an essential element of music and shape the perception by fans and a wider public. Among other things that are often very controversial, Rammstein also uses lyrics of classical German literature, e.g. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's famous poems Der Erlkönig (1778) and Das Heidenröslein (1771) for the songs "Dalai Lama" and "Rosenrot", respectively.

Many of their songs are inspired by real life events. These songs include Rammstein (Ramstein airshow disaster), Mein Teil (The Meiwes Case), Zerstören (The Iraq War), Wiener Blut (Fritzl case), and Donaukinder (2000 Baia Mare cyanide spill).

Wordplay is a fundamental component of Rammstein's lyrics. In many instances, the lyrics are phrased such that they can be interpreted in several ways. The song "Du hast", for example, is a play on German marriage vows (Willst Du, bis der Tod euch scheidet, treu ihr sein für alle Tage? – "Will you, until Death separates you, be faithful to her for the rest of your days?"). In the song, the traditional affirmative response, Ja ("Yes"), is replaced by its negation Nein ("No"). The final repetition of this line further perverts the meaning of the original vows through a minor change in the wording Willst Du, bis zum Tod der Scheide ... (Will you, until the Death of the vagina ...). The song starts, in fact, with a play on words: Du... Du hast... Du hast mich... meaning "You have me". This line is often mistaken for "You hate me", because in German, there is only a very subtle (if any) distinction (hast may be pronounced slightly softer than hasst) between the pronunciation of Du hasst which means "you hate" and Du hast which means "you have". The pun is later resolved as the line is completed; Du hast mich gefragt ("You [have] asked me"). Confusingly, the band did also make an English version of the song named "You Hate" which was not translated directly from "Du hast". While many arguments are made about "Du hast", it is known that Rammstein used this wording to mislead and create humour in the song, causing many non-native speakers of German to be confused.

Live performances

Rammstein has achieved particular fame for its hugely over-the-top stage show, using so many pyrotechnics that fans eventually coined the motto "Other bands play, Rammstein burns!" (a quip at Manowar's song "Kings of Metal", which states, "other bands play, Manowar kills"). After an accident in the Arena in Berlin where some burning decoration parts fell on the audience (27 September 1996) the band used professionals to handle the pyrotechnics; Lindemann himself is now a licensed pyrotechnician who spends entire songs engulfed head-to-toe in flames. He has suffered multiple burns on his ears, hair and arms.

Rammstein is known for their frequent use of pyrotechnics during live performances.

The heat is so intense that on occasion, people have been carried out of Rammstein concerts suffering from heat exhaustion, and lighting gantries have been seen glowing red-hot from repeated fireball hits. The variety of the pyrotechnics can be seen in a recent concert playlist, which includes such items as "Lycopodium Masks", "Glitterburst Truss", "Pyrostrobes", "Comets", "Flash Trays" and "Mortar Hits".

The band's costumes are equally outlandish. During the Reise, Reise tour, they wore Lederhosen, corsets and vague military uniforms with steel helmets, while during the Mutter tour the group kept to the themes of the album artwork and descended onto the stage from a giant uterus while wearing diapers.

Since the Mutter-Tour, starting in 2001, Rammstein have worked with stage designer Roy Bennett, who helped the band in developing the look of the stages. With the Reise, Reise-Tour (2004/2005), the band began using a two-level stage, with half the band playing the lower level, as the other half was placed at the upper. At this tour, the upper level rose over 2 meters above the stage floor, and had an oval entrance, just beneath the drums. At both sides of the upper level, a special lift made it possible for the bandmembers to access both stage levels. On the LIFAD-Tour (starting 2009), the new stage still had a two-level design. This time however, the upper level only had about half the height as on the previous tour. Stage entrance was possible by a hydraulic ramp in the middle of the stage floor. At each end of the upper level, stairs are placed in order to gain access to both levels. This tour does not only include lots of pyrotechnics, but also a massive lighting show, for example the famous band logo-cross as big lamps and four enormous collapsible towers, forming the industrial backdrop of the set, capable of doing different lighting effects.

According to Kruspe, the on-stage wackiness is entirely deliberate (Rammstein's motto according to Schneider is: "Do your own thing. And overdo it!"). The aim is to get people's attention and have fun at the same time: "You have to understand that 99 percent of the people don't understand the lyrics, so you have to come up with something to keep the drama in the show. We have to do something. We like to have a show; we like to play with fire. We do have a sense of humour. We do laugh about it; we have fun... but we're not Spinal Tap. We take the music and the lyrics seriously. It's a combination of humour, theater and our East German culture, you know?"

Their onstage antics have also led them to trouble. During their stint on the American Family Values Tour 1998, alongside acts such as rapper Ice Cube, Korn, Limp Bizkit and Orgy, the band was arrested for indecency. In one of the more infamous moments, Rammstein's vocalist, Till Lindemann engaged in simulated sodomy with the keyboardist, Christian Lorenz, during their performance of "Bück dich" in Worcester, Massachusetts. They were subsequently arrested and fined $25 and spent one night in jail. The band attempted to appeal the fine, and spent more in legal fees and court fees than the $25 fine.

Covers and adaptations

Rammstein's songs have been covered by a number of other artists, These include:

• "Engel" has been covered by several artists:
  • The group Gregorian reworked it as a Gregorian chant for their album The Dark Side.
  • German singer Hildegard Knef recorded a cover of the song.
  • Belgian girls choir Scala & Kolacny Brothers recorded a very quiet, brooding version, contrary to the original.
  • Chilean aggrotech/industrial metal band Vigilante covered it on their 2008 remix album.
  • An obscure Engel parody called Trüffelschwein became available over the popular p2p networks of the 1990s. The song is often credited to be the work of one of two bands; Knorkator, or Urinstein, although no reliable source has been provided to support either claim. The song is generally thought to be from the album "Angepisst" by Urinstein.
• "Mein Herz brennt": German composer Torsten Rasch has composed a classical symphonic song-cycle entitled "Mein Herz brennt" ("My heart burns"), based on the music of Rammstein, produced by Sven Helbig for Deutsche Grammophon.
• "Seemann": by Apocalyptica & Nina Hagen. This cover impressed Rammstein so much that they took Apocalyptica as co-headliner on tour with them in Spring 2005, and invited the band on stage to perform "Ohne dich" ("Without you") and "Mein Herz brennt" ("My Heart burns") together. The "Benzin" single also featured a remix of the song, called "Kerosiini" by Apocalyptica.
• "Ohne dich": remixed (and new vocals added) by Laibach
• "Weißes Fleisch": by the German death metal band Debauchery, who covered the song for their Back In Blood album.
• "Rammstein": a parody by German radio DJ duo Kai & Baltzi renamed "Rindfleisch" aired on Delta Radio around 2001 and was later available as download.
• "Mein Teil": a bluegrass version appears as a bonus track on the band Hayseed Dixie's 2007 album Weapons of Grass Destruction.
• "Mein Teil": was also covered by the German jazz metal band Panzerballet on their album Hat Genossen von Abba Zappa as well as by the Pakistani Industrial Metal band Black Warrant in one of their early albums.
• "Ein Lied": German pop singer Nena (author of "99 Luftballons" ("99 Air Balloons")) covered the song on her covers-album Cover Me.
• A Norwegian tribute band called Rammsund plays Rammstein's songs with lyrics translated into New Norwegian.
• "Du Hast": is also played by the Turkish band maNga (band) and the Industrial Metal band named Black Warrant originating from Pakistan.

Rammstein have also done covers themselves, including "Stripped" by Depeche Mode and "Das Model" by Kraftwerk.

Till Lindemann appears as a guest singer on the Apocalyptica album Worlds Collide. They took on David Bowie's song "Heroes", which was also released in German as "Helden". Lindemann sings the German version, making his song the only German-language song on Worlds Collide.

Rammstein singles traditionally also have a great quantity of remixes, particularly from Clawfinger.

Controversies

Imagery

The original Herzeleid album cover.

The New York Times described Rammstein's music as a "powerful strain of brutally intense rock... bringing gale-force music and spectacular theatrics together". The members have not been shy about courting controversy and have periodically attracted condemnation from morality campaigners. Till and Flake's stage act earned them a night in jail in June 1999 after a liquid-ejecting dildo was used in a concert in Worcester, Massachusetts. Back home in Germany, the band has faced repeated accusations of fascist sympathies because of the dark and sometimes militaristic imagery of their videos and concerts, including the use of excerpts from the film Olympia by Leni Riefenstahl in the video for the Depeche Mode cover "Stripped". Their cover of their debut album Herzeleid, released in Germany in 1995, showed the band members bare-chested in a style that resembled Strength Through Joy in the eyes of some critics, who accused the band of trying to sell themselves as "poster boys for the Master Race". Rammstein have vigorously denied this and said that they want nothing to do with politics or supremacy of any kind. Christian "Flake" Lorenz, annoyed by the claim, has remarked that it is just a photo, and should be understood as such. Herzeleid has since been given a different cover in North America, depicting the band members' faces. The clip for the song Amerika shows people from different nationalities throughout the video and Rammstein members taking photographs with them at the end of the clip.

The song "Links 2-3-4" (Links being German for "left") was written as a riposte to these claims. According to Kruspe, it means, "'My heart beats on the left, two, three, four'. It's simple. If you want to put us in a political category, we're on the left side, and that's the reason we made the song". On the other hand, this is also an allusion to a military marching cadence since "Links-2-3-4" is typically heard during marching practice in the German army with "links" referring to the left foot. The song is also a reference to the saying "the heart beats left", repeatedly used by Oskar Lafontaine, a famous former member of the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany), who was the co-chairman of the Left Party (Die Linke), and almost the title of a book written by him (the title is Das Herz schlägt links instead of Mein Herz schlägt links – "The heart beats left" instead of "My Heart beats left").

According to the German online music magazine Rammstein, through this song, positioned themselves on the side of Oskar Lafontaine. They write:

Rammstein binden den Lafontaine-Spruch "Mein Herz schlägt links" in ihren Text ein und zitieren eine Zeile aus einem alten Hannes Wader-Arbeitersong ("Links, zwo, drei, vier; links, zwo, drei, vier; wo dein Platz Genosse ist, reih Dich ein in die Arbeitereinheitsfront, wenn Du auch ein Arbeiter bist"). (Rammstein embed the Lafontaine saying My heart beats left into their lyric and cite a line of an old Hannes Wader workers' song ("Left, 2, 3, 4; left 2, 3, 4; where your place is comrade, line up into the Workers' United Front, if you are a worker").)

Christian "Flake" Lorenz recently stated in an online chat that the song was created to show that the band could write a harsh, evil, military-sounding song without being Nazis.

Relation to violent events

Rammstein were cited in relation to the Columbine High School Massacre in 1999, when photos of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold wearing Rammstein T-shirts were revealed. Though there was no evidence to correlate the two events, the band felt obliged to issue a statement:

"The members of Rammstein express their condolences and sympathy to all affected by the recent tragic events in Denver. They wish to make it clear that they have no lyrical content or political beliefs that could have possibly influenced such behaviour. Additionally, members of Rammstein have children of their own, in whom they continually strive to instill healthy and non-violent values".

Coincidentally, on September 10, 2001 the single and video clip of Ich will ("I Want") was released which portrays the band as bank robbers who want to get a message across and receiving a Goldene Kamera (Golden Camera) award, a German version of the Emmy award, for their "actions". In the United States the video clip was broadcast only late at night after the attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York City although many media officials and politicians requested the video to be pulled from broadcast completely.

Following the conclusion of the Beslan school hostage crisis in Russia in September 2004, the Russian authorities claimed that the terrorists had "listened to German hard rock group Rammstein on personal stereos during the siege to keep themselves edgy and fired up". The claim has not been independently confirmed.

Band members said this about the issue:

"There's been a lot of talk about that, but if there are radical feelings in people anything can wake them – a painting, a picture, whatever. It's just a coincidence that it happened to be our music. It's important to think about what caused them to make their decisions, how they became animals, not their taste in music. Whenever something like this happens it's like 'Okay, let's blame the artist'. Such bullshit. (Till Lindemann).

"Our music is made to release aggression, and people listening to it are also needed to do that, but it's not our fault. Should we stop making hard music because bad people might like it?" (Christoph "Doom" Schneider).

Pekka-Eric Auvinen, the perpetrator of the Jokela school shooting in November 2007, also included Rammstein in one of his favorite bands. He noted, though, that the music among other things was not to blame for his decisions.

Videos

In October 2004, the video for "Mein Teil" ("My part") caused considerable controversy in Germany when it was released. It takes a darkly comic view of the Armin Meiwes cannibalism case, showing a cross dressed Schneider holding the other five band members on a leash and rolling around in mud. The controversy did nothing to stop the single rising to No. 2 in the German charts. Meiwes (who was convicted of manslaughter in 2004, then retried in 2006 and found guilty of murder) brought suit in January 2006 against the band for infringement of rights to the story.

The band's own views of its image are sanguine: "We like being on the fringes of bad taste", according to Paul H. Landers, while Christian "Flake" Lorenz comments "The controversy is fun, like stealing forbidden fruit. But it serves a purpose. We like audiences to grapple with our music, and people have become more receptive".

The video for "Mann gegen Mann" ("Man against Man") from their fifth studio album Rosenrot may have caused some controversy, as most of the band members are naked in the video. The lead singer Till Lindemann is wearing what can best be described as "latex underwear". In addition, there are multiple naked men in the video, with clearly visible buttocks, though genitalia could be seen at 32 seconds into the video on Christian "Flake" Lorenz through the arm of the guitarist (Richard Z. Kruspe) and below the keyboard. The video has been played uncensored on MTV in Europe. The video has been rated FSK 16 in Germany and therefore can be played on television only after 10 PM. It is the second Rammstein video after Stripped which includes nudity.

The video for "Pussy" was released September 2009. It features graphic scenes of nudity along with women engaging in sexual activity with body doubles of the band members. It is the third Rammstein video to include nudity.

Placement on the Index

On November 5, 2009 their sixth studio album, Liebe ist für alle da was placed on the Index of the Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien or BPjM (Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons), making it illegal in Germany to make the album accessible to minors or display it where it can be seen by people underage, effectively banning it from stores. According to the official statement of the BPjM, the depiction of lead guitarist Richard Kruspe holding a chubby woman wearing only a mask over his knee and lifting his hand to strike her behind has given cause for offense, as well as the lyrics to "Ich tu dir weh" which supposedly assist to spread dangerous BDSM techniques. Furthermore, the advisory board has taken into consideration the alleged promotion of unprotected sexual intercourse in the lyrics to "Pussy". The band, as well as several members of the German press, reacted with astonishment to the decision. Keyboardist Christian Lorenz expressed surprise at the advisory board's "parochial sense of art" and regretted their apparent inability to detect irony. On November 16, 2009 a stripped down version of Liebe ist für alle da was released. As of May 31, 2010, the administrative court in Cologne has decided to waive the suspensive effect of the inclusion into the Index (case 22 L 1899/09). The German department deleted the record from the Index on June 1 (Decision No. A 117/10).[23] On June 9, the band announced in their official website that the original version of the album was already available at their shop and that a release of the single Ich tu dir weh in Germany was planned in a short period of time.

Purported legal action against Apocalyptica

In early 2010, a rumor stated that Rammstein won a settlement against symphonic cello metal band Apocalyptica for copyright infringement for the sum of €45,000. However, this information proved to be missing the point. Rammstein settled out of court against Apocalyptica's former record label Sony Music Entertainment GmbH as the successor of the by now defunct affiliated label “Gun Records” for using Rammstein's label in marketing their (Apocalyptica's) 2007 album “Worlds Collide” (which featured a duet with singer Lindemann).

Band members

• Till Lindemann – lead vocals
• Richard Z. Kruspe – lead guitar, backing vocals
• Paul H. Landers – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Oliver "Ollie" Riedel – bass guitar
• Christoph "Doom" Schneider – drums, percussion
• Christian "Flake" Lorenz – keyboards, samples

Discography

Main article: Rammstein discography

Studio albums

• Herzeleid (1995)
• Sehnsucht (1997)
• Mutter (2001)
• Reise, Reise (2004)
• Rosenrot (2005)
• Liebe ist für alle da (2009)

Sources

Further reading

• Barry Graves, Siegfried Schmidt-Joos, Bernward Halbscheffel: Das neue Rock-Lexikon. Bd 1. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1998. ISBN 3-499-16352-7
• Barry Graves, Siegfried Schmidt-Joos, Bernward Halbscheffel: Das neue Rock-Lexikon. Bd 2. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1998. ISBN 3-499-16353-5
• Rammstein: Rammstein – Liederbuch. Hal Leonard Corporation, London 1999. ISBN 0-7119-7220-6
• Martina Lüke: Modern Classics: Reflections on Rammstein in the German Class. In: Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German 41:1 (Spring 2008): 15-23.
• Wolf-Rüdiger Mühlmann: Letzte Ausfahrt – Germania. Ein Phänomen namens neue deutsche Härte. I.P. Verlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-931624-12-9
• Gert Hof: Rammstein. Die Gestalten Verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-931126-32-3
• Matthias Matthies: Rammstein – Deutschlandtour 2001. Berlin 2002.
• Andreas Speit: Ästhetische Mobilmachung – Dark Wave, Neofolk und Industrial im Spannungsfeld rechter Ideologien., Unrast 2001. ISBN 3-89771-804-9
• Michele Bettendorf: Ursprung Punkszene. Oder Rammstein hätte es im Westen nie gegeben. Books on Demand GmbH, 2002. ISBN 3-8311-4493-1
• Till Lindemann und Gert Hof: Messer. Eichborn, Frankfurt M 2002. ISBN 3-8218-0730-X
• Ronald Galenza, Heinz Havemeister: Mix mir einen Drink. – Feeling B. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2002. ISBN 3-89602-418-3
• Michael Fuchs-Gamböck und Thorsten Schatz: Spiel mit dem Feuer – Das inoffizielle Rammstein-Buch. Heel, Königswinter 2006. ISBN 3-89880-661-8
• Frédéric Batier: Rammstein – Völkerball. 2006. ISBN 3-8291-1869-4

External links

• Official website
• Rammstein on X
• Rammstein on Facebook
• Template:Myspace
• Template:Last.fm
• Video on YouTube