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Rammstein
Formed in 1993, Rammstein blends metal, industrial, and electronic music to form a sound that they call Tanz-metal or “dance-metal.” Their name comments on an air show tragedy that took place in the town of Ramstein in 1988. By adding an extra M to the name of the town, they’ve changed the meaning of the word to “ramming stone.”
All of the band members originally come from the former GDR. Ollie Riedel, Christoph “Doom” Schneider, and Rich “Scholle “Kruspe-Bernstein formed the band in 1993, after a failed attempt at playing American music with a band from West Berlin. Till Lindelmann, a drummer and former basket-weaver, joined to perform the vocals, and the keyboardist, Christian “Flake” Lorenz joined reluctantly to help the band produce their first album. He’s been on board with the others ever since.
Although the band has a rough image, many of their lyrics engage in wordplay and other forms of light-hearted humour. All of their songs are written in German, although Rammstein has recorded a few English versions of particular songs, such as “Engel” and “Du hast.” Reidel has commented that this is because, while French lyrics suit songs about love, the German language sounds angry and is particularly well suited to heavy metal music for that reason.
In the relatively short time that Rammstein has played together, they’ve managed to catch the attention of many American audiences, especially in Hollywood, where they’ve come to the attention of film directors, such as David Lynch. Rammstein songs have featured in many blockbuster Hollywood Movies, including Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997), The Matrix (1999), FeardotCom (2002) Resident Evil (2002), and Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) – just to name a few! Other artists, like the Pet Shop Boys, Nina Hagen, and Apocalyptica, have also redone or covered Rammstein songs.
All that aside, Rammstein’s live performances are notorious for over-the-top pyrotechnics. “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.” Moreover, the stage show grows more elaborate with the passing time and the band’s growing income. Schneider has said that his motto for the band is to “Do your own thing and overdo it!”
Arguably, a band can’t attract that much attention to themselves, while using that much kerosene, and not get any negative press. The imagery and tone of Rammstein’s performances and videos have brought on accusations of being fascist or neo-Nazi sympathizers. In the United States, their music has been said to have influenced school shootings. Band members responded heavily to the latter, arguing that they have kids too and their lyrics say nothing to encourage such behaviour.
Despite their critics, Rammstein continues to be a hit and most recently won an MYV music award in November 2005.
Formed in 1993, Rammstein blends metal, industrial, and electronic music to form a sound that they call Tanz-metal or “dance-metal.” Their name comments on an air show tragedy that took place in the town of Ramstein in 1988. By adding an extra M to the name of the town, they’ve changed the meaning of the word to “ramming stone.”