Color Palettes, Formulas, and Software! (free)

Home › R › Rammstein

 albums · lyrics · movies
genres +
links +
Talk about this article @ Wikipedia
  • Richard Z. Kruspe-Bernstein (Guitar)

  • Paul H. Landers (formerly ''Henry Hirsch'') (Guitar)

  • Oliver "Ollie" Riedel (Bass)

  • Christoph "Doom" Schneider (Drums)

  • Christian "Flake" Lorenz (Keyboards)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 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. To date they have been twice nominated from Grammy Awards,in 1999 for Best Metal Peformance Du Hast and in 2005,for Best Metal Performance, Mein Teil

    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 HArte movement ("Deutsche Hard Rock"). Despite their brutalist image, they do show a sense of humour in their lyrics. ''Rein, raus'' (''In, out''), for example, is clearly tongue-in-cheek. ''Zwitter'' (''Hermaphrodite'') is a bizarre take on narcissism:: Wenn die anderen MAdchen suchten (When the others searched for girls)

: konnt ich mich schon selbst befruchten (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 warTheir newest single, "Benzin" ("Petrol") also exhibits some tongue-in-cheek lyrics, such as:: Ich brauch' keine Frau, nur Vaselin (I need no woman, only Vaseline)Not only is there the obvious joke, but also the pun that Vaseline is a by-product of making petrol - the subject of the song.Wordplay is used frequently in Rammstein's lyrics. "Du hast" is a play on German marriage vows ("Willst du bis der Tod euch scheidet treu ihr sein fAr alle Tage?"). In the song, the traditional affirmative response "ja" is replaced by the negative response "nein." The song starts, in fact, with a play on words: "Du... Du has(s)t... Du has(s)t mich," meaning, "... You hate me" or "... You have me." (The words ''hasst'', from ''hassen'', "to hate," and ''hast'', from ''haben'', "to have," are homophones). The ambiguity is later resolved as the line is completed: "Du hast mich gefragt" ("You have asked me").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
: LosAs 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 the last two lines given above, it can be interpreted in three ways. "Sie sind Gott. / Los!" can mean "They are God. / Go!" or "They got rid of god," while "Sie sind gottlos" means "they are godless".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 ErlkAnig'' 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 not only German verses, but also 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 (''Amour'' song), but German is the language of anger." (''Sunday Herald Sun'' (Melbourne, Australia), October 24, 2004). For their latest album ''Rosenrot'' they even recorded a song with Spanish lyrics: "Te quiero puta!" (or "I love you, whore!").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." "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."

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 ten 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." http://www.mymovies.net/interviews/text_feature.asp?featureid=FTRE/1523/1610200216091861&filmid=1523&sec=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

"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 kill").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.Rammstein's shows have become increasingly elaborate since the first ones ten 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 the ''Mutter'' tour the group kept to the themes of the album artwork and descended onto the stage from a giant uterus while 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 five full-length studio albums: ''Herzeleid'' (1995), ''Sehnsucht'' (1997), ''Mutter'' (2001), ''Reise, Reise'' (2004), and ''Rosenrot'' (2005). Their only live album, ''Live Aus Berlin'', was recorded from a show in Wuhlheide Park, Berlin, in 1998. 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''.The band's latest album, ''Rosenrot'', was released on October 28, 2005. A number of songs that were left out of ''Reise, Reise'' for dramaturgical reasons make up the majority of the album, but a number of new songs have also been recorded. The band performed "Benzin", the first single from the album, at four shows in Wuhlheide Park on June 23-26, 2005, and four shows in the UK (Newcastle, Birmingham, Glasgow and Cardiff) in July 2005.The band will take a timeout in 2006, and may work on a new album in 2007. http://rammstein-austria.com/news.php?action=entry&id=656

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 "Seemann". Recently, the group Gregorian reworked "Engel" as a Gregorian chant for their album ''The Dark Side''. 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 have 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


The original Herzeleid album cover]]