Rammstein Facts...
... or the page also known as "other bits of information that don't fit anywhere else but that may interest you" ;)
... about the band
- Till is usually the one who comes with the lyrics for all the Rammstein songs. He has a poet soul after all... that's why in November 2003 he released his own poetry book, Messer (knife). If you search a little, you can find some translations of single poems on the Internet... but as usually happens with poetry, you must read it in the original language if you really want to appreciate it... though if you're curious, it won't hurt you to read them :)
- It's sadly known that Rammstein have faced repeated accusations of nazism along their musical career - most of them from the German journalist, as odd as it may sound. The band had never wanted to write a political song, but in response to these claims they wrote Links 2 3 4, a song that states that their political views have nothing to do with fascism ("'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." (Richard in The Grand Rapids Press, Jul. 22, 2001)(source)).
- In the Rammstein book (released in October 2001) you can find some good/personal stuff about the band that you'd never seen before, like photos of the Rammstein members with some of their relatives (Till, Flake and Richard appear each one of them with their daugthers for example, and Olli with his mother) and a short interview with every one of them specially focused about how Rammstein was born and their own views about the band. Though we sadly notice every member has its own section... but Olli. Why he doesn't have his own part in the book is still unknown, and probably we'll never know the answer...
... about their shows
- The Rammstein pyrothecnics consisted at first of simply pouring kerosene around the stage and setting it alight. After some little incidents, they decided to employ professionals to take care of this part of the show... also, Till himself is a qualified pyrothecnian now, as he's the one who plays the most with fire during the shows.
- They've toured with bands like The Ramones (1996), Clawfinger (twice - one back in 1995/1996 and again during the European/Russian Mutter tour), KMFDM (US Tour 1998), KISS (1999) and Apocalyptica (2005), among others.
- The liquid that comes out from Till's "instrument" (*cough*) during the Bück Dich, ehm, performance ;) is, according to what Flake in an interview, Pernod - a French liquour, mixed with some water. They used to use milk before, but I read somewhere they had some... incident with it, so they decided to change the liquid to something else.
- Rammstein had some problems with their show when they went to the US for the Family Values tour: part of it was censored, and in the end Till and Flake even got arrested and spent several hours in prison in Worcester (Massachussets) "on account of alleged obscene stage acting" during Bück Dich. The German Voluntary Self-Control Association also restricted "Bück Dich" to viewers over 18, and that's why you can find two versions of the LAB concert release: the uncensored (in VHS only) and the censored, without Bück Dich, their only really troublesome song (in DVD/VHS).
... about their releases
- Rammstein has covered officially three songs so far: Das Modell by Kraftwerk, Stripped by Depeche Mode and Pet Sematary by The Ramones. From this three songs, the only one that has a released video is Stripped - a video that could be found as a hidden track in the LAB DVD and that you can see now in the Lichtspielhaus DVD as well. There was a Das Modell video too, but it was never released because the band didn't like it... and I guess they didn't bother to make a new one because Kraftwerk dislikes so much the version of the song they made. Actually Kraftwerk even tried to stop them when they knew Rammstein wanted to cover their song, though they obviously didn't succeed in the end.
- Du riechst so Gut, their first single, was released on August 1995, as a limited scented digi pack (honestly, I'm so curiois about how it smelled)
- Though like I've said before Till is usually the one who writes the lyrics for the songs, from what I know there are other songs that have been all written by other Rammstein members... for example, is known that Olli was the one who came up with the music and lyrics for Seemann. And though I don't know it for sure, I think I read somewhere that Richard had written the Engel lyrics and Schneider had something to do with Alter Mann.
... about their songs meanings/origins
- Dalai Lama is partly based on the poem "Erlkönig", written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1782. The song title apparently hasn't nothing to do with the lyrics... if it wasn't because, as many people knows, the current Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso) is afraid of flying.
- Mein Teil is based on the story of Armin Meiwes "an Internet user who became known as "Der Metzgermeister (The Master Butcher)" in 2003. Meiwes made an arrangement over the Internet with Bernd Jürgen Armando Brandes to kill and eat him; the deed was carried out in March 2001, at Meiwes' place, with Brandes' penis being severed and eaten together before he was killed." [source]
- The idea/lyrics of Mein Herz Brennt come from a German TV show called Das Sandmännchen (the little Sandman), in which the Sandman told bedtime stories. Every show started with the same first words of the Mein Herz Brennt lyrics: "Nun liebe Kinder gebt fein acht..." (read the whole explanation at the Herzeleid.com FAQ right here)
- Sonne is actually telling the story of a boxer... actually, the working titles for this song were either Der Boxer or Klitschko - because the song was at first a request from Vladimir Klitschko, an Ukranian heavyweight champion who wanted a song for his ring entrance. Till wrote the lyrics and they developed the song, but in the end Kiltschko didn't like it - apparently because it was "too hard"... so the song stayed in the Mutter album, but was never valid for his original purpose (you can read this interview with Paul for further information on this topic)
- The song Rammstein is obviously about the Ramstein airshow disaster of 1988, which I've already explianed in the band info page.
- Amerika has received mixed responses from citizens of the United States. Opponents of this song state that it is blatantly anti-American, while others believe that is nothing but a song protesting American companies (as the song mentions Coca-Cola and Wonderbra). Personally I think the song can be viewed from both points of view, and probably every one of the Rammstein members has its own point of view about it as well.
... about their videos
- The band are all big fans of Quentin Tarantino's work. That's why their videos of Du Hast and Engel make us think about Reservoir Dogs and From Dusk Till Dawn respectively.
- The Stripped video was made using some footage from the documentary Olympiad shot by Leni Riefenstahl during the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics. There was a lot of controversy around this video, because Leni Riefenstahl supposedly had ties with nazism and Hitler himself. Is the only Rammstein video where they don't appear, not even a single moment.
- The Sonne video is a twisted version of the famous Snow White tale... and according to the video making of, the idea came from Olli, who made a video with the song using bits from the Snow White and the Seven Dwarves animated movie to see how it looked *laughs*
- The 'second' Richard in the Mein Teil video is a real person, not part of any special effects :) Back in May 2004, Rammstein announced in their official site that they were searching for someone who could pas off as Richard's twin. After watching the video, we knew why. And I'm sure there are a lot of Rammstein fangirls out there that would love to know this person identity *cough* :P
Die mit dem Feuer spielen is a lichtspielhaus.org production 2004-2005 // this is an unofficial fansite, it's not been been approved by Rammstein and/or their management (I wish I was, but really - I'm not). This is just a little non-profit site, made for fans by fans, and no coypright infringement is intended. To read about my information sources, the pictures/fonts used, etc. please go to the credits page. Thank you // click here to contact me