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Rammstein

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Rammstein is a German band formed in 1993. Their musical style, which they have dubbed Tanz-Metal, or "Dance Metal", incorporates elements of metal, industrial and electronic music. Their songs are performed almost exclusively in German.

Rammstein bring on the flamethrowers - Globe Arena, Stockholm, 18 November 2004

The band

File:Rammstein.jpg
A promo photo of Rammstein from around 2001. In the back row, from left to right: Christian "Flake" Lorenz, Oliver "Ollie" Riedel, and Christoph "Doom" Schneider. In the front row, from left to right: Paul H. Landers, Till Lindemann, and Richard Z. Kruspe-Bernstein.

Rammstein takes its name indirectly from the western German town of Ramstein, site of an airshow disaster in 1988. The band's signature song, the eponymous "Rammstein", is a commemoration of the tragedy that took place at the Ramstein Air Base. The extra "m" in the band's name means that it translates literally as "ramming stone", or "battering ram".

Even though the lyrics are in German, the band has enjoyed success outside of Germany, and with the album Reise, Reise (2004), they became the most successful German-language band of all time. Rammstein has had several top ten singles in Germany.

The band's members all come from the former East Germany, specifically East Berlin and Schwerin. They are:

Riedel, Schneider and Kruspe were the original founders of Rammstein, following an attempt by the latter to compose American-influenced music with a West Berlin band called Orgasm Death Gimmicks. As Kruspe put it, "I realized it's really important to make music and make it fit with your language, which I didn't do in the past. I came back [to Germany] and said, 'It's time to make music that's really authentic.' I was starting a project called Rammstein to really try to make German music." He invited Till Lindemann, a basket weaver and drummer for the band First Arsch, to join the project as a vocalist. The four entered a contest for new bands and won, attracting the interest of Paul H. Landers, who knew them all and decided to join the band. "Flake" Lorenz was the last member to join; he had played with Landers before in the band Feeling B and was initially reluctant to come on board, but was eventually persuaded to join. Their first album was released a year later.

Lyrics and style

Although it cannot be said that Rammstein sticks to any particular genre of music, they are most often described as industrial metal, and they are also often associated with heavy metal and hard rock. Some have categorised them with the controversial Neue Deutsche Härte movement. Despite their brutalist image, they do show a sense of humour in their lyrics. "Rein, raus" ("[Get] in, [get] out"), for example, is clearly tongue-in-cheek. "Zwitter" ("Hermaphrodite") is a bizarre take on narcissism:

When the others searched for girls
I could already fertilize myself

Similarly, the song "Amerika" features the tongue-in-cheek lyrics:

We're all living in Amerika
Amerika ist wunderbar (America is wonderful)
We're all living in Amerika
Coca-Cola, Wonderbra!
We're all living in Amerika
Coca-Cola, sometimes war

Wordplay is used frequently in Rammstein's lyrics. "Du hast" is a play on German marriage vows ("You have asked me, and I have said nothing"). In the song, the traditional affirmative response "ja" is replaced by the negative response "nein." The song can also be understood as You hate, which would be written Du hasst, homophone of the title used in a tongue-in-cheek manner in the song.

Rammstein often use homonyms to create similar effects. For example, from the song "Los":

Es ist hoffnungslos / It is hopeless
Sinnlos / Senseless
Hilflos / Helpless
Sie sind Gott [pause]
Los

As a suffix, "-los" in German is the equivalent of "-less" in English. As a command, "Los!" means "off!" or "go!". Throughout the song it is mostly used as "-less", but in last two lines given above, it can be interpreted in three ways. Sie sind Gott. / Los! means They are God. / Go!, while Sie sind gottlos means they are godless and Sie sind Gott / los. can be translated as They got rid of god.

Also from "Los":

Es wurde Zeit [pause]
Los

Es wurde Zeit translates as It was time, so these two lines can be interpreted as It was time. / Go! or It became timeless.

Some of their songs show some unexpected influences. "Dalai Lama" is an adaptation of the famous poem Der Erlkönig by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Nearly all of Rammstein's lyrics are in German, however the band did record English versions of "Engel" and "Du hast," as well as covers of the songs "Stripped" and "Pet Sematary". In addition, the songs "Amerika" and "Moskau" contain German verses, but English and Russian choruses respectively. "Ollie" Riedel commented on Rammstein's use of language, saying that "German language suits heavy metal music. French might be the language of love, but German is the language of anger." (Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia), October 24, 2004).

Rammstein's style has tended to divide critics, some of whom have responded with memorably dismissive comments. Jam Showbiz (April 2001) described Mutter as "music to invade Poland to." New Zealand's Southland Times (Dec. 17, 1999) suggested that Till Lindemann's "booming, sub-sonic voice" would send "the peasants fleeing into their barns and bolting their doors." The New York Times (Jan. 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." That said, Rammstein has also attracted praise for their inventive lyrics and uncompromising style.

Movie and video appearances

Within only a few years of starting their career, Rammstein soon caught the attention of Hollywood for their explosive stage performances and energetic music. The directors David Lynch and Rob Cohen appear to be particularly strong fans; explaining why he set the first 10 minutes of his thriller xXx in a Rammstein concert in Prague, Cohen said:

"I guess it was in 1997 I was going through Hamburg and I caught their [Rammstein's] show as they chased each other around with dildos spurting custard, the fire pots and all of that, this is a crazy band; they're very theatrical and exciting, but their music is very, very good and German; it's very interesting in terms of the energy it evokes." [1]

Rammstein's movie appearances to date are as follows:

Year Film Song
1997 Mortal Kombat: Annihilation "Engel"
  Lost Highway "Rammstein", "Heirate Mich"
  Wing Commander "Eifersucht"
1999 The Matrix "Du Hast" (uncredited)
2001 How High "Du Hast"
2002 Resident Evil "Halleluja"
  xXx "Feuer Frei!" (performed live on film)
  Lilya 4-ever "Mein Herz Brennt"
  FeardotCom "Sonne"
2004 Resident Evil: Apocalypse "Mein Teil"

Rammstein's song videos also tie in quite closely with films as they frequently "quote" from movies, including Quentin Tarantino's classic Reservoir Dogs in "Du hast" and From Dusk Till Dawn in "Engel".

Shows

File:Rammstein inferno.JPG
"Other bands play, Rammstein burns!" - Brixton, London, February 2005

Rammstein has achieved particular fame (not to mention notoriety) 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").

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 on-stage antics have included:

  • Band members using head-mounted flamethrowers ("Lycopodium Masks", also called "dragon masks") while singing/playing (example: Feuer Frei video);
  • Till Lindemann singing an entire song while on fire (example: Rammstein video), he now uses twin flamethrowers strapped to his arms;
  • Simulated sodomy and a liquor-squirting dildo;
  • Exploding drumsticks, drums, microphones and boots;
  • Flake Lorenz being roasted in a giant cauldron by a flamethrower-wielding Lindemann;
  • Rockets fired along cables strung above the audience;
  • Spark-shooting longbows, drumsticks, boots and guns;
  • Flake Lorenz destroying a keyboard in the style of The Who;
  • Microphones, guitars and keyboards on fire;
  • Band members surfing the crowd in a rubber boat;
  • Flake Lorenz driving around on a Segway HT during Amerika. (Most probably due to George W. Bush falling off one at his family estate in Kennebunkport, Maine in 2003, even though it is meant to be nearly impossible, reportedly because he forgot to turn it on. BBC News [1])

Rammstein's shows have become increasingly elaborate since the first ones 10 years ago, when their effects were confined to pouring kerosene around the stage and setting it alight. After some unfortunate early accidents the band took to employing professionals to handle the pyrotechnics; Lindemann himself is now a licensed pyrotechnician.

The band's costumes are equally outlandish. During the current "Reise, Reise" tour they have worn lederhosen, corsets and vague military uniforms with steel helmets, while during "Mutter" (German for 'mother') the group kept to the themes of the album artwork and descended onto the stage from a giant uterus wearing nappies.

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 humor. 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 humor, theater and our East German culture, you know?" (The Grand Rapids Press, Jul 22, 1999).

[1] Ironically, at the Metaltown Festival in Gothenburg, Sweden on July 30, 2005, Till suffered a knee injury when Flake accidentally ran into him with the Segway. This caused concerts scheduled in Asia to be canceled.

Albums

Rammstein have so far released four full-length studio albums: Herzeleid (1995), Sehnsucht (1997), Mutter (2001) and Reise, Reise (2004). While Herzeleid was well-received, Sehnsucht is widely regarded as Rammstein's breakthrough album. The production of the follow up album Mutter was an experience fraught with difficulty for the band, which nearly broke up as a result of the strains. However, the differences were resolved by the time Rammstein produced Reise, Reise.

At the moment the band is working on a follow up to Reise Reise named Rosenrot. From the production period of the last album, there are several songs, which did not find a place on their latest album due to dramaturgical reasons but are now brought to light. During Rammstein's visit at a Berlin studio, more songs have been recorded; and on June 14th, the mixing session of the new album started, which is supposed to be released October 28, 2005 . The band performed the song "Benzin", from the new album, at 4 shows in Wühlheide Park, Berlin in Germany on June 23-26, 2005 and four shows in the UK (Newcastle, Birmingham, Glasgow and Cardiff) in July 2005. Concert goers have stated that the song was on the same hard level with "Amerika". Benzin is the first single and video for Rosenrot. The video is currently played exclusively in Germany but can be found online.

Covers and adaptations

Rammstein's songs have been covered by a number of other artists, notably the Pet Shop Boys (who remixed the song Mein Teil) and Nina Hagen with Apocalyptica who covered Rammstein's Seemann. More unusually, the German composer Torsten Rasch has produced a classical opera cycle entitled Mein Herz brennt, based on the album Mutter. The song Alter Mann was also done for the CD.

They've also done several covers themselves including Das Modell by Kraftwerk, Stripped by Depeche Mode and Pet Sematary by The Ramones, which was based loosely on the Stephen King novel of the same name, and sung by keyboarder Flake Lorenz.

Controversies

File:Herzeleid original cover.jpg
original Herzeleid album cover

Rammstein have not been shy of courting controversy and have periodically attracted condemnation from morality campaigners. Their stage act earned them a night in jail in June 1999 after the infamous giant dildo was used in a concert in Worcester, Massachusetts. Back home in Germany, the band has faced repeated accusations of fascist sympathies due to the dark and sometimes militaristic imagery of their videos and concerts, including the use of extracts from the propaganda film Olympia by Leni Riefenstahl in the video for "Stripped". Also, the debut album Herzeleid, released in Germany in 1995, originally had a cover art featuring the bandmembers' upper bodies without clothing; the media and critics accused the band of trying to sell themselves as "poster boys for the Master Race". Rammstein have denied this vigorously and the members of the band have said that they want nothing to do with politics as well as supremacy of any kind. The song "Links 2 3 4" 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." (The Grand Rapids Press, Jul. 22, 2001). Of course this is a two-sided thing, since "Links 2 3 4" is the usual command in marching practice in the German army, "Links" referring to the left foot in that case.

In Germany, where Rammstein is not as popular as abroad, the band is often critisised as using obsolete Nazi German stereotypes of violence and badness for commercial reasons.

In April 1999, it emerged that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold - the two boys who perpetrated the Columbine High School massacre - were fans of Rammstein and had declared it to be one of their favourite bands. Rammstein came under heavy criticism from conservative and Christian groups in the United States, who claimed (among other things) that Till Lindemann's rolling Teutonic r's were an imitation of Adolf Hitler's diction. In response, the band issued 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 behavior. Additionally, members of Rammstein have children of their own, in whom they continually strive to instill healthy and non-violent values.

Jeff Weise of the Red Lake High School massacre was also said to have been a fan. [2]

Following the tragic conclusion of the Beslan school hostage crisis in Russia in September 2004, the Russian authorities claimed that the hostage-takers had "listened to German hard rock group Rammstein on personal stereos during the siege to keep themselves edgy and fired up." [3] The claim has not been independently confirmed, and the Russian authorities are known to have been concerned that Rammstein was too appealing to "undesirable" elements in Russian society. A Rammstein concert in Moscow scheduled for July 19, 2002 was cancelled due to fears that it would attract skinheads.

In October 2004, the video for "Mein Teil" caused considerable controversy in Germany when it was released. It takes a darkly comic view of the Armin Meiwes cannibalism case, showing musicians of the band being held on a leash by a transvestite and rolling around in mud. The controversy did nothing to stop (and may even have helped) the single rising to No. 2 in the German charts.

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 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 Times, Jan 29, 2005)

Discography

Studio Albums

Songs

Singles

Videos

  • Du riechst so gut ("You smell so good")
  • Seemann ("Sailor")
  • Rammstein
  • Engel ("Angel")
  • Du hast ("You have", homophonic with "you hate" (Du hasst))
  • Du riechst so gut '98 ("You smell so good")
  • Stripped
  • Sonne ("Sun")
  • Links 2, 3, 4 ("Left 2, 3, 4")
  • Ich will (“I (demandingly) want”)
  • Mutter ("Mother")
  • Feuer frei! ("Fire at will!", "open fire!")
  • Mein Teil ("My part")
  • Amerika ("America")
  • Ohne dich ("Without you")
  • Keine Lust ("No Desire")
  • Benzin ("Gasoline", "petrol")
  • Das Modell (The Model) *Never released. Possibly due to subject matter closly related to Princess Diana's death

VHS/DVDs

[1]Yet untitled live DVD that has been set for release week 44 on universal's danish homepage Universal-music.dk

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