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Rammstein
Rammstein playing "Engel" in Madison Square
Garden (11 December 2010)
Background information
Origin Berlin, Germany
Genres Industrial metal, Neue Deutsche
Härte
Years active 1994–present
Labels Motor Music, Universal, Vagrant
Associated
acts
Emigrate, Feeling B, First Arsch,
Orgasm Death Gimmick
Website rammstein.de
(http://Rammstein.de)
Members
Till Lindemann
Richard Z. Kruspe
Paul H. Landers
Oliver "Ollie" Riedel
Christoph "Doom" Schneider
Christian "Flake" Lorenz
Rammstein
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rammstein (German pronunciation: [ˈʀamʃtaɪ
n]) is an
industrial metal band from Berlin, Germany. The band
was formed in 1994
[1][2]
and consists of Till
Lindemann (lead vocals), Richard Z. Kruspe (guitar
and backing vocals), Paul H. Landers (guitar, backing
vocals), Oliver "Ollie" Riedel (bass guitar), Christoph
"Doom" Schneider (drums and electronic percussion)
and Christian "Flake" Lorenz (keyboards). They are
widely accepted as part of the Neue Deutsche Härte
scene (alongside others such as Oomph!, Eisbrecher,
and Die Krupps) and they are the genre's most
successful band, achieving worldwide fame.
Their songs are usually in German, but they have also
performed songs entirely or partially in other languages
such as English, Spanish, French and Russian.
[3]
As of
2009, they have sold over 15 million records
worldwide.
[4]
Rammstein's live shows are famous for
their pyrotechnic performance and theatrics, earning
them awards from many countries, including The
United States of America.
[5]
Rammstein's entire
catalogue is published by Universal Music Group.
Since their formation in 1994, Rammstein has had no
changes in their band line-up nor have any members
left the band. The band have stated they were named
after the Ramstein airshow disaster.
[6]
The extra "m" in
the band's name makes it translate literally as "ramming
stone".
Contents
1 History
1.1 Founding and Herzeleid (1989-
1997)
1.2 Sehnsucht and Live aus Berlin (late
1996–2000)
1.3 Mutter (2000–2002)
1.4 Reise, Reise (2003–2005)
1.5 Rosenrot and Völkerball (2005–
2006)
1.6 Liebe ist für alle da & tour (2007–
2011)
1.7 Made In Germany 1995–2011
(2011–present)
2 Musical style and influences
3 Lyrics
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4 Live performances
5 Covers and adaptations
6 Controversies
6.1 Imagery
6.2 Videos
6.3 Placement on the Index
6.4 Purported legal action against
Apocalyptica
7 Band members
8 Discography
9 Tours
10 Awards
11 Sources
11.1 References
11.2 Further reading
12 External links
History
Founding and Herzeleid (1989-1997)
Rammstein was founded by guitarist Richard Z. Kruspe. In 1989, he escaped to West Berlin and started
the band, Orgasm Death Gimmicks. At that time, he was heavily 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 (loosely translated as
"Apex Ass"). 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 persuaded 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, the winner of which would receive the
opportunity to record a four track demo CD in a professional studio. Kruspe, Schneider, Riedel, and
Lindemann entered and won the contest, which sparked the attention of Paul H. Landers, who wanted in
on the project upon hearing their demo. To complete their sound, Rammstein then attempted to recruit
Christian "Flake" Lorenz, who had played with Paul H. Landers previously in Feeling B. At first, Lorenz
was hesitant, but eventually agreed to join the band. Later, they were signed by Motor Records.
Rammstein began to record their first studio album titled Herzeleid in March 1995 with producer Jacob
Hellner.
[7]
They released their first single "Du riechst so gut" on 17 August and released the album on 24
September 1995. Later that year, they toured with Clawfinger in Warsaw and Prague. Rammstein
headlined a tour of their own through Germany from 2 December to 22 December consisting of 17 shows
which helped to boost the band's popularity. They then went on several tours throughout early 1996,
releasing their second single titled "Seemann" on 8 January 1996.
On 27 March, Rammstein performed on MTV's Hanging Out in London; their first performance in the
UK. Rammstein's first major boost in popularity outside Germany came when music director Trent Reznor
chose two Rammstein songs, "Heirate mich" and "Rammstein", for David Lynch's film Lost Highway.
The soundtrack for the film was released in the US in late 1996 and later throughout Europe in April 1997.
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Rammstein then went on to tour through Germany, Austria and Switzerland from September to October
1996, performing an anniversary concert on 27 September called "100 years of Rammstein". Guests to the
concert included Moby, Bobo and The Berlin Session Orchestra, Berlin director Gert Hof was responsible
for the light show.
Sehnsucht and Live aus Berlin (late 1996–2000)
Rammstein started recording Sehnsucht in November 1996 at the Temple Studios in Malta.
[8]
The album
was again produced by Jacob Hellner. "Engel", the first single off of the album, was released on 1 April
1997 and reached gold status in Germany on 23 May. This prompted the release of a fan edition of the
single, named Engel - Fan Edition. This contained two previously unreleased songs, "Feuerräder" and
"Wilder Wein". Release of the second single from the album Sehnsucht was "Du hast", which hit the
German single charts August 1997 at number 5. Rammstein then continued touring in the summer whilst
Sehnsucht was released on 22 August 1997. The album reached number 1 in Germany after only two
weeks in the charts. Simultaneously, Herzeleid and both the singles off Sehnsucht ("Du hast" and "Engel")
were in the Top 20 of the German charts. Rammstein continued to headline sold out shows throughout
Europe in September, October. On 5 December 1997, they embarked on their first tour of the United
States with KMFDM.
On 22–23 August 1998, Rammstein played to over 17,000 fans at the Wuhlheide in Berlin; the biggest
show the band had played there up to that date. Supporting acts were Danzig, Nina Hagen, Joachim Witt
and Alaska. The show was professionally filmed, intended to be released on their upcoming live DVD,
Live aus Berlin.
Rammstein embarked on a live tour with Korn, Ice Cube, Orgy and Limp Bizkit called the Family Values
Tour in September through to late October 1998. To further continue their success in the US, Sehnsucht
received Gold record status on 2 November.
The band was nominated at the MTV European Music Awards for Best Rock Act and performed "Du
hast" live on 12 November that year.
Rammstein had further success in 1999, starting off the year in February with a nomination for Best Metal
Performance at the 41st-annual Grammy Awards. A year after it was filmed, the Live aus Berlin concert
was released on CD on 30 August 1999, with a limited edition double CD also available. Two weeks after
it was released, Live aus Berlin went to number one in the German Album Charts. On 13 September and
26 November 1999 the video and DVD versions of the concert were released respectively.
Mutter (2000–2002)
The recording of Rammstein's album Mutter took place in the south of France in May and June 2000, and
it was mixed in Stockholm in October. During Christmas 2000, Rammstein released an MP3 of "Links 2-
3-4" as a taster for their new album. Richard also wrapped a thread of his own hair onto the G string of his
guitar just for this album, he said "It gave it a certain sound".
2001 was a busy year for Rammstein, starting in January and February with the band playing the Big Day
Out festival in Australia and New Zealand. January also heralded the shooting of the video for their
upcoming single, "Sonne", recorded in Potsdam at Babelsberger Filmstudios from 13 to 15 January 2001.
The video was released on 29 January 2001. The single for "Sonne" was released on 12 February 2001 in
Europe, featuring an instrumental version of the song, two remixes by Clawfinger and "Adios" from the
upcoming album.
Mutter was released on 2 April 2001, sparking another Rammstein tour through Germany, Austria and
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Switzerland. On 14 May, the second single off the album, "Links 2 3 4", was released, along with a video
of the single on 18 May. After a tour throughout Europe in June, the band then toured the U.S., Canada
and Mexico from June to August 2001.
"Ich will", the third single from the album, was released on 10 September 2001 and a Tour edition of the
Mutter album (the cover of which is red)
[9]
was released, featuring alternative artwork and live versions of
"Ich will", "Links 2 3 4", "Sonne" and "Spieluhr". From 8 to 12 January 2002, Rammstein traveled to
Prague to participate in a minor scene for the film xXx. The band is seen in the opening scene, performing
their song "Feuer frei!" in a concert. "Feuer frei!" was released across Europe as the first single from the
xXx soundtrack on 14 October 2002. Rammstein released two remixes of the song. Furthermore, the
single's track listing included "Du hast" and "Bück dich" cover versions by Battery. The video for the
single was edited by Rob Cohen, which contains part Rammstein performance at the beginning of the film
and part snippets from the film itself.
Reise, Reise (2003–2005)
Rammstein recorded Reise, Reise (meaning "arise", but also "journey") at the El Cortijo studio in southern
Spain in November and December 2003, it was mixed at Toytown studio in Stockholm, Sweden in April
and May 2004. The first single from the album was "Mein Teil", released on 26 July 2004. The video was
shot in the Arena, in the Treptow district of Berlin. Outdoor shooting took place at the Deutsche Oper
(Opera House) U-Bahn station on Bismarckstrasse. The director was Zoran Bihac, who also filmed the
"Links 2 3 4" video. The video for "Amerika" was filmed on 6–7 August 2004 in the ruins of the former
cement works in Rüdersdorf near Berlin, Germany under the direction of Jörn Heitmann (who also
directed the "Ich will" video, among others). The space suits for the moon scenes were borrowed from
Hollywood and 240 tons of ash were needed to create the moon landscape. The video premiered on 20
August 2004.
The second single from Reise, Reise was "Amerika", released on 13 September 2004. With the album
released on 27 September, it went straight to top 10 charts throughout Europe. According to the Billboard
charts, Rammstein were now the most successful German-language band of all time. Rammstein then
toured Germany through November and some of December 2004, releasing the single "Ohne dich" on 22
November.
In February 2005, Rammstein toured Europe again. By 28 February 2005, Rammstein had played 21
concerts in front of more than 200,000 spectators in ten countries. It was on this tour that the band was
faced with several lawsuits resulting from severe fire breathing accidents involving audience members.
"Keine Lust" was the fourth single released from Reise, Reise on 28 February 2005.
From 27 May to 30 July 2005, Rammstein played festivals across Europe. Footage from these concerts
eventually ended up on Rammstein's live DVD Völkerball, released in November 2006.
Rosenrot and Völkerball (2005–2006)
In August 2005, Rammstein revealed the name of their next studio album: Rosenrot. Their first single from
the album, "Benzin", was released on 5 October 2005, with its video premiere on 16 September 2005.
Rosenrot was released worldwide on 28 October 2005. Directly following the release, the album
continued the success of its predecessor, Reise, Reise, placing on top 10 charts in 20 countries.
16 December 2005 marked the release of the title track on Rosenrot. The video for "Mann gegen Mann"
was released on 6 February 2006, with the single being released on 3 March. On 19 February 2006,
Rammstein had an asteroid named after them, 110393 Rammstein.
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On 17 November the first Rammstein Live DVD since Live aus Berlin from 1998 was released.
Völkerball shows concert-performances by the band in England, France, Japan and Russia. The Special
Edition is extended by a second DVD, which contains the documentaries "Anaconda in the net" by
Mathilde Bonnefoy and the "Making of the album Reise, Reise" by Rammstein guitarist Paul Landers.
The limited edition was released as a large black-and-white photo-book with photos by Frederic Batier,
who had accompanied the band through their recent tours. The photo-book edition contains two DVDs
and two live albums.
Liebe ist für alle da & tour (2007–2011)
The band took a hiatus in 2006, and began work again in 2007. The recording process took reportedly two
years. In July 2009, the title track "Liebe ist für alle da" leaked onto the internet, along with promotional
materials. This has led Universal Music to take action against certain fan sites.
[10][11]
It was confirmed in August 2009 that the new album will have 11 tracks,
[12]
and mixing of the album —
which was taking place in Stockholm - had been completed.
[13]
On September 1, 2009, it was confirmed
on the band's website that "Pussy" will be the first single from the new album. On the same day, The
Gauntlet posted a promotional video for it. The video also confirmed the new album title, Liebe ist für alle
da. Later, the title was confirmed again in an interview with Paul Landers for RockOne magazine. 46,7
The music video for "Pussy" was released on September 16, 2009, at 20:30 GMT, released especially for
the adult website Visit-x.
[14]
The video contains graphic scenes of male and female nudity as well as
women engaging in sexual activity with the band members, although the actual sex scenes were performed
by body doubles.
[15]
The women featured in the video are German porn stars.
[16]
Metal Hammer released
an edited version of the video onto their website.
[17]
"Ich tu dir weh" has been confirmed as the second
single off the album by Landers and Lorenze, in an interview for Radio Eins. Although censorship of the
song in Germany prohibits any advertisement, broadcast or public display, the video to "Ich tu dir weh"
was released on December 21, 2009 on the adult website Visit-x, just like the video to "Pussy", after
advertisement on the band's official German website; it depicts the band on stage in a similar configuration
as the one on their 2009/10 tour. Any references to the video on the official website have since been
deleted. In Europe, the single has been released on January 15, 2010, and in the U.S. on
January 19, 2010.
[18]
Like the video "Pussy" also this video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund. On April
23, 2010, Rammstein released their video "Haifisch". Unlike the video for Ich tu dir weh, it contains more
of a storyline rather than a performance.
[19]
The single was released during May and June 2010.
[20]
On November 8, 2009 Rammstein began the first leg of the Liebe ist für alle da Tour In Lisbon, Portugal.
As part of their European summer tour, Rammstein performed at the 2010 Rock AM Ring Festival on 4–6
June 2010.
[21]
They also headlined several shows across Europe on the Sonisphere Festival, including
their first ever outdoor UK performance at Knebworth Park, performing the day before Iron Maiden. On
Sunday July 18, 2010, Rammstein played in front of more than 130,000 people in Quebec City on the
Plains of Abraham as the closing show for the Festival d'été de Québec. It was their first North American
appearance in 9 years. The band announced that their last tour dates of 2010 were to be in the Americas.
After several South American dates, the band returned to the United States for a single show at the famous
Madison Square Garden in New York City - their first US show in over nine years, it is rumored that
tickets sold out in as little as fifteen minutes. They also performed at Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada on
December 9. This concert also sold out within the first hour of tickets going on sale, indicating a high
demand to see Rammstein in North America. The band then played at Big Day Out 2011 from January 21
to February 6 in New Zealand and Australia. The band also visited South Africa for the first time in 2011
and played two concerts at Cape Town and Johannesburg. On February 16, 2011, Rammstein announced
that after the massive success of their sold out Madison Square Garden show on December 11, 2010 they