Rammstein: Teutonic Metal Gods Conquer America?

For most non-Teutons the idea of German rock is not very appealing. The fatherland of Bach and Beethoven may well have produced many interesting experimental groups (Kraftwerk,  Einstürzende Neubauten etc) but on a global, top 40 level it’s an entirely different matter. Consider: 

1) The Scorpions- hair metal popular in the 80s, approximately as good as Winger.

2) KMFDM- plodding industrial metal from the late 80s/early90s.

3) That Nena chick of ‘99 luftballons’ fame. 

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short, a roster of acts so unnecessary that we could safely consign them to the same dark abyss as Croatian thrash or Russian hip hop and the human race would be none the poorer for it. And yet fortunately for the glory of popular Deustche musik this is not the end of the story- for in the mid 90s what rough beast slouched towards Germany to be born? Breathing flames and reveling in death and all manner of deviancy, its name was Rammstein. 

Formed in the early 1990s by veterans of several crap East German groups, Rammstein consisted of six men in their 30s who had grown up under communism. They took their name from Ramstein, a US military base where a terrible disaster had occurred during an air show in 1988, adding an extra ‘m’ to dislocate it slightly. With the Berlin Wall fallen, the band was now liberated to steal as many sounds and ideas as they desired. These included elements of classic heavy metal, industrial metal and gothic synth pop such as Depeche Mode; not to mention liberal appropriations from Laibach, a Slovenian group fascinated by the links between mass culture, pop music and totalitarianism. (If you have a few minutes I recommend you watch Laibach’s reinterpretations of Queen’s One Vision and Opus’ Life is Life: the originals will never sound the same again.)

From Laibach, Rammstein also stole the cross as a symbol, a collectivist ethos, and a fondness for flirting with totalitarian imagery. Most strikingly of all Rammstein’s singer Till Lindemann’s vocal style ‘borrowed’ heavily from Milan Fras’ absurdly deep bass snarl. As Laibach did not believe in ‘originality’ they did not complain; and as Rammstein were a much better band, they did not compete either. 

But Rammstein also introduced elements hitherto absent from hard rock, such as lyrics informed by German romanticism (decadent and otherwise), and elements of martial music. Rammstein thoroughly embraced their national identity and this unabashed ‘Germanness’ became key to their success- disciplined, ultra precise drumming, grinding riffs played by two guitars in perfect synchronicity, futuristic synths, a surprising ear for melody and sturm und drang lyrics sung entirely in German, with every guttural sound emphasized, and every ‘R’ rolled almost to the point of parody. On the last tour two members even wore lederhosen. Rammstein had thus revealed that heavy metal in its ideal form was not Anglo-American but Germanic, and having done so built a massive fan base in Europe, Asia and Latin America.  

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Rammstein’s live shows are legendary. The band loves fire: walls of flame; fire-breathing; self-immolation, you name it. At the center of this grandiose spectacle however stands front-man Till Linemann wearing a look of profound suffering on his face, as if he is being martyred every night. When he’s not in pain he inflicts it, usually upon the keyboard player, Flake, who is as lanky and skinny as Lindemann is huge. On Rammstein’s last tour, Lindemann roasted Flake alive in a giant cauldron while singing an ode to the German cannibal Armen Meiwes. Flake was also Lindemann’s victim in simulated male rapes that took place on a nightly basis during the band’s tours of the late 90s and early 2000s (I shall spare you the link.) And yet however outrageous that sounds, Rammstein’s provocations are always informed by an ultra-dry, ultra-black German humor.  

Unsurprisingly, Rammstein’s love of shock tactics has embroiled the band in numerous scandals. Their first album cover was an outrageous piece of totalitarian homoerotic camp, depicting the band as oiled, muscular Übermenschen stripped to the waist, standing in front of a giant flower (I remember wondering whether I had made a terrible mistake the day I bought it on cassette in Moscow’s Gorbushka market). German music critics accused them of being Nazis. Delighted, the band then used footage from Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia in the video for their cover of Depeche Mode’s Stripped. Later however Rammstein would insist that they were perplexed by all the Nazi hullabaloo- was it not obvious that they were fervent leftists? After all on their 3rd album ‘Mutter’ (the one with the dead baby on the cover) they had recorded a song entitled Links 234. Now admittedly this is simply the march ‘Left 2, 3, 4’ sung in German and the video showed thousands of ants stamping around in militaristic fashion, even saluting grainy black and white footage of the lead singer. But Rammstein insisted that it was a song of praise for left ideas, and really meant ‘forward with leftism’, or some other such nonsense. Whether the band’s members were being naïve, humorous or archly ironic, none of the other songs on the album were notably left in orientation (‘Zwitter’ was a song about a hermaphrodite in love with him/herself, ‘Rein Raus’ a spectacularly blatant metaphor for sexual intercourse). 

It was perhaps a different set of scandals that stung the band more. The Columbine massacre shooters were big Rammstein fans, and around the same time as that tragedy members of the band were arrested in Massachusetts when Lindemann prepared to rape Flake on stage with an ejaculating dildo. Clearly that experience left a bad taste in the mouth, because Rammstein have never returned stateside. Indeed the band has had a troubled history with the USA. On their second release Sensucht (Longing), they succumbed to record company pressure, recording some embarrassing English language versions of selected songs. Although Rammstein swore never to do this again, they have since played with the English language on tracks such as Amerika and Pussy (find that video yourself). Now however there is a political undercurrent to their use of English- admittedly it is a tedious, Coca Cola bashing, anti-globalization kind of undercurrent, but then, nobody’s perfect. 

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At the end of October Rammstein released their sixth record ‘Liebe ist fur alle da’ (Love is there for everyone). The record goes nowhere new, Rammstein choosing instead to elaborate upon the sonic and thematic realm they have made their own. However this lack of innovation is no weakness, and from the very first track ‘Rammlied’ all memories of Rosenrot, their wretched fifth album, are dispelled. ‘Liebe..’ is their heaviest release in years, faster, darker and more punishing, a brutal noise made by ageing men striving to prove they can still crush their peers, and succeeding. It is the sound of six Germans on the march, six Germans out to conquer, six Germans intent on proving that they reign supreme over the heavy metal reich. 

The plan seems to have worked. Liebe entered the charts at #1 in multiple countries; # 16 in the UK and most remarkably of all- #13 in the Billboard Hot 200. As a Briton, I am already accustomed to the fact that Rammstein have superseded the accomplishments of metal bands from the UK, in much the same way I know that Germany has a superior infrastructure, stronger industrial base and higher standard of living than my homeland. And now with Rammstein’s unprecedented assault on the American charts, will all you patriotic Americans begin to feel that you are living inside a Philip K. Dick style parallel universe? Are Slayer, Metallica, Mastodon et al about to surrender before the might of their Teutonic metal masters?  Is this the latest sign of what the perpetually grinning Fareed Zakaria- a man who looks as though he just swallowed a live hamster and is terribly pleased with himself for this achievement- calls ‘the Post- American World’? 

Ich don’t think so. But it might mean that Rammstein will come here on tour. And as someone who has seen the band live four times in three different countries I can reassure you that that would be a very good thing indeed. Unless you don’t like middle-aged East German provocateurs bludgeoning you to death with heavy music, that is. Then you might want to consider staying home, and play your Colbie Caillat records instead. I don’t know- whatever turns you on.  

Auf Wiedersehen!

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