Rammstein

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rammstein
Rammstein performing with Apocalyptica.
Background information
Origin	Berlin, Germany
Genre(s)	Industrial metal Neue Deutsche Härte Tanz-Metall
Years active	1994 – Present
Label(s)	Motor Music Republic Records Slash Records Universal Music Group
Associated acts	Emigrate Feeling B First Arsch
Website	www.rammstein.de www.rammstein.com
Members
Till Lindemann Richard Z. Kruspe Paul H. Landers Oliver "Ollie" Riedel Christoph "Doom" Schneider Christian "Flake" Lorenz

Rammstein (pronounced [ˈʀamʃtaɪ̯n]) is a German Industrial metal band, founded in Germany, and consisting of 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 percussion) and Christian "Flake" Lorenz (keyboards). The band is widely accepted as part of the NDH-scene, alongside bands such as Oomph! and Die Krupps. Their sound has been dubbed as Tanz-Metall (lit. "Dance Metal").^[1][2][3] Their songs are performed almost exclusively in German. Formed in 1994, they have sold over 14 million records worldwide.^[4] Rammstein's entire catalogue is published by Universal Music Group.

Although the majority of their songs are written in German, Rammstein has had massive success across the world. It has been confirmed that the band has reunited from their vacation and has begun writing their sixth studio album, which will be released sometime in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Contents 1 History 2 Style 3 Lyrics 4 Shows 5 Covers and adaptations 6 Controversies 6.1 Imagery 6.2 Relation to violent events 6.3 Videos 7 Discography 8 References 9 External links

[edit] History

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (April 2008)

Sections should be added to this article, to conform with Wikipedia's Manual of Style. Please discuss this issue on the talk page.

Rammstein takes its name indirectly from the western German town of Ramstein-Miesenbach, site of a flight show disaster on August 28, 1988. The band's signature song, the eponymous Rammstein, is a commemoration of the tragedy that took place at the Ramstein Air Base. At the show, three Italian air force jets collided and fell into the audience. About 40 spectators died in the first minutes, and several hundred more were injured. In the next two months, the death toll rose to 72. The extra "m" in the band's name makes it translate literally as "ramming stone." In a short period before the band became well known, they performed using the name "Rammstein-Flugschau" (literally meaning Rammstein-Airshow.)

Rammstein was started by Richard Z. Kruspe. He eventually ended up in West Berlin and started a band in 1993, Orgasm Death Gimmicks. At that time, he was very influenced by American music, especially that of KISS. After the Berlin Wall came down, he moved back home to Schwerin where Till Lindemann worked as a basket weaver and played drums in the band First Arsch (First Arse).

At this time, Richard lived with Oliver Riedel, of the band The Inchtabokatables, and Christoph "Doom" Schneider (of Die Firma). Richard realized that the music he had previously created did not properly suit him. He envisioned something that would combine machines as well as the sound of hard guitars. The three started working together on a new project.

Richard soon found it extremely difficult to write both music and lyrics at the same time, so he got Lindemann to join Rammstein. Richard first discovered Till when he overheard him singing while he was working. A contest was held in Berlin for amateur bands in 1994, and the winner would receive the opportunity to record a four track demo CD in a professional studio. Kruspe, Schneider, Riedel, and Lindemann won the contest, and sparked the attention of Paul Landers, who wanted in on the project as upon hearing their demo. At this point, all Rammstein needed to complete their machine-sound was a keyboarder. Rammstein then attempted to recruit Christian "Flake" Lorenz, who had played with Landers in Feeling B. At first, Lorenz was hesitant, but eventually agreed to join the band.

Rammstein also has an asteroid named in its honor, 110393 Rammstein. Some believe their name was chosen because of the music video for "Amerika," which displayed the six members of the band floating above the moon sporting NASA's astronaut suits.

Rammstein has released five full-length studio albums: Herzeleid ("Heartache"), Sehnsucht ("Longing"), Mutter ("Mother"), Reise, Reise ("Arise, arise")^[5], Rosenrot ("Rose-red"), two live albums Live aus Berlin ("Live from Berlin") and Völkerball ("Dodgeball") and one compilation DVD Lichtspielhaus ("Cinema"). While Herzeleid was well-received, Sehnsucht is widely regarded as Rammstein's break-through album, though the appearance of two tracks from Herzeleid on the soundtrack for the David Lynch film Lost Highway also contributed significantly to Rammstein's international recognition. In 1999, between their second and third album, they published a live album called Live aus Berlin. The production of the follow-up album Mutter was an experience fraught with difficulty for the band.

A live Rammstein DVD, named Völkerball, was released on November 17, 2006 in Germany (and other parts of Europe), with concert footage from France, England, Japan, and Russia, alongside a CD as well. There are three versions of the set, one, including a 190 page tour book. Due to unforeseen popularity of the package, the limited edition sold out - forcing a second pressing run. The DVD/CD package was released in the United States on September 17, 2007.

The band took a time out in 2006, and began work again on 2007. In an interview with German rapper Bushido, who contributed to the Electro Ghetto Remix of Amerika, on January 21, 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 of 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.^[6][7] In addition, keyboardist Christian "Flake" Lorenz confirmed this in an interview with Metal Hammer Germany in November, stating that they would most likely release a new album in 2008. The band didn't tour during 2007 due to current album production. Their website confirmed work on a new album, but no word of a "Best of" album has been mentioned.

[edit] Style

Although Rammstein is often generalized as Neue Deutsche Härte, its music spans a variety of related styles, including industrial hard rock, heavy metal and electronic music with influences of punk rock, pop music and gothic rock, due to their use of keyboards to emulate strings, choirs or pianos. The band was influenced by Laibach, a Slovenian neo-classical and industrial group. Other influences include, Oomph!, and Ministry, but the contrast between individual songs such as Du riechst so gut, Bestrafe mich, Ohne dich and Te quiero puta! makes the band difficult to classify, though most simply refer to them as industrial metal. The band's very, very diverse range of influence has, unsurprisingly, made them appealing to tastes of all kinds, but they are chiefly renowned in industrial, electronica, and heavy metal circles.

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 (Dec. 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 (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." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of All Music Guide commented that "their blend of industrial noise, grinding metal guitars, and operatic vocals is staggeringly powerful."^[8] "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."

[edit] Lyrics

Nearly all of Rammstein's songs are in German. However, the band did record English versions of Engel ("Angel"), Du hast ("You have", which is most commonly confused with "You hate", since hast and hasst sound phonetically identical), and Amerika, as well as covers of the songs Stripped (Depeche Mode) and Pet Sematary (The Ramones). In addition, the songs Amerika, Stirb nicht vor mir//Don't die before I do and Moskau ("Moscow") contain not only German verses, but also English and Russian choruses, respectively; Te quiero puta! ("I want you, whore!") 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".^[9]

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 ...), but it could also be interpreted as Willst Du bis zum Tod, der scheide ..., which would have the meaning of "Will you, until Death will separate, ...". 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 no clear distinction between the pronunciation of Du hasst (double S) which means "you hate" and Du hast (single S) which means "you have". The infinitives are hassen ("to hate") and haben ("to have"). The word game 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.

[edit] Shows

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 kill"). After an accident in the Arena in Berlin where some burning decoration parts fell on the audience (September 27, 1996^[10]) the band took to employing 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, his hair and his arms.

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 were wearing 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.

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?"^[11]

Their onstage antics have also led them to trouble as well. 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 the night in jail. The band attempted to repeal the fine, but spent more in legal fees and court fees than the $25 fine.

[edit] Covers and adaptations

Rammstein's songs have been covered by a number of other artists, including the group Gregorian who reworked "Engel" ("Angel") as a Gregorian chant for their album The Dark Side. The same song has been covered by Belgian girls choir Scala & Kolacny Brothers, resulting in a very quiet, brooding version, contrary to the original. Also, the German composer Torsten Rasch has produced a classical symphonic song-cycle entitled "Mein Herz brennt" ("My heart burns"), based on the music of Rammstein.

The cover of "Seemann" ("Seaman") by Nina Hagen and Apocalyptica 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.

More recently, the industrial band Laibach covered the song "Ohne dich".

Also, the German death metal band Debauchery covered the song "Weisses Fleisch" for their Back In Blood album.

In Norway, a band called Rammsund plays Rammstein cover songs, translated into Nynorsk.^[12]

Rammstein has also done several covers themselves, including "Das Modell" ("The model") by Kraftwerk, "Stripped" by Depeche Mode and "Pet Sematary" by The Ramones (sung by keyboardist Christian "Flake" Lorenz). Cover version of "Schtiel" ("Calm") by Aria was released by vocalist Till Lindemann and guitarist Richard Z. Kruspe as side project, due to disagreement with Universal records label.

It was recently announced that the German pop singer Nena, author of "99 Luftballons" ("99 Air Balloons"), will be doing an album of covers named Cover Me in which it will feature a Rammstein cover of the song "Ein Lied".

Till Lindemann of Rammstein appears as a guest singer on the Apocalyptica album Worlds Collide. He takes 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.^[13]

"Feuer Frei!" was featured in the 2002 movie xXx starring Vin Diesel - in the opening scene of the film, Rammstein is performing in a club. (The footage was from a concert in Prague.)

A bluegrass version of "Mein Teil" appears as a bonus track on the band Hayseed Dixie's 2007 album Weapons of Grass Destruction.

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

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Imagery

Described by the New York Times as a "powerful strain of brutally intense rock" who "bring gale-force music and spectacular theatrics together", Rammstein has been a band with a highly controversy-prone nature.^[14] Rammstein have not been shy about courting this controversy and have periodically attracted condemnation from morality campaigners. Their 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 due to 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 Stripped. Their debut album Herzeleid, released in Germany in 1995, originally had a cover featuring the band members' upper bodies without clothing; critics accused the band of trying to sell themselves as "poster boys for the Master Race".^[15] 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's just a photo, and should be understood as such. Herzeleid has since been given an alternate cover in the United States, depicting the band members' faces.

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".^[16] 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.^{[citation needed]} The song is also an answer to the saying "the heart beats left", repeatedly outspoken by Oskar Lafontaine, in 2001 a famous member of the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany), now leader 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").^[17][18].

According to the German online music magazine^[19] Rammstein took with this song position on the side of Oskar Lafontaine. They write:^[20]

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 accomplice, queue yourself into the workers united frontline, if you are a worker yourself").)

Christian "Flake" Lorenz recently stated on an on-line chat that the song was created in order to show that the band could write a harsh, "evil", military-sounding song that was not about Nazi ideals.^[21]

[edit] 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.^[22][23] In response to these articles blaming the band of school violence, 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 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 terrorists who want to get a message across and receiving a kind of terrorist 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 removed from the program completely.^[24]

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".^[25] The claim has not been independently confirmed.

Band members said this about the issue:^[26]

"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).

[edit] 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 5 band members on a leash 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. Meiwes (who was convicted of manslaughter in 2004, then retried in 2006 and found guilty of murder^[27]) brought suit in January 2006 against the band for infringement of rights to the story. The outcome resulted in a loss for the band of $5.5 million.

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".^[28]

The video for Mann gegen Mann ("Man against man"/"one against one") from their latest album Rosenrot may have caused some controversy, as most of the band members are naked in the video, apart from latex stiletto boots. The lead singer Till Lindemann is wearing what can best be described as a "latex panties" - most likely because he does not have an instrument with which to cover his genitalia. In addition, there are multiple naked men in the video, with clearly visible buttocks, though no genitalia can be seen. The video has been played uncensored on MTV. The video has been rated FSK 16 in Germany and therefore can be played on television only after 10pm.

[edit] Discography

Main article: Rammstein discography

• 1995: Herzeleid
• 1997: Sehnsucht
• 2001: Mutter
• 2004: Reise, Reise
• 2005: Rosenrot
• 2008: TBA

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Website (German)
• Official English Website
• Interview with Richard Kruspe about Rammstein and his side project, Emigrate (2008)
• Rammstein at MySpace
• Rammstein at Last.fm
• Rammstein at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e Rammstein Till Lindemann · Christian "Flake" Lorenz · Christoph "Doom" Schneider · Richard Z. Kruspe · Oliver Riedel · Paul H. Landers Albums Rammstein (demo) · Herzeleid · Sehnsucht · Mutter · Reise, Reise · Rosenrot Singles "Du riechst so gut" · "Seemann" · "Engel" · "Du hast" · "Das Modell" · "Du riechst so gut '98" · "Stripped" · "Asche zu Asche" · "Sonne" · "Links 2-3-4" · "Ich will" · "Mutter" · "Feuer frei!" · "Mein Teil" · "Amerika" · "Ohne dich" · "Keine Lust" · "Benzin" · "Rosenrot" · "Mann gegen Mann" Compilations Original Single Kollektion VHS and DVDs Live aus Berlin · Lichtspielhaus · Völkerball Related articles Discography · "Schtiel" · Emigrate