Probably, it is not necessary to say that any admirer of modern music, even skeptical of the Heavy Metal or Industrial genres, has heard of such a unique phenomenon as Rammstein. Although the discography of the group has about a dozen studio albums, there is still a huge number of singles, concert albums, as well as solo projects of the band members. Let's remember how it all began.
Rammstein Group: History
In the world of admirers of the Rammstein group, the beginning of formation is considered to be the year 1994, when a certain not-so-known guitarist named Richard Kruspe, who previously played in the Orgasm Death Gimmik group, which did not win popularity in Berlin, decided to combine his passion for the style of Kiss , which was an ardent admirer, with modern rhythms of hardcore and dance.
As a result, he moved from Schwerin to West Germany, but returned after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Later, other members of the group joined him. Each of them went through a fairly serious school, playing in other teams, especially not counting on success.
The first line-up included: Richard Kruspe (guitar), Til Lindermann (vocals), Oliver Riedel (bass), Paul Landers (guitar), Christoph Schneider (drums) and “exotic” keyboardist Christian Lorenz.
Most interestingly, the Rammstein group has been releasing albums for many years in an unchanged composition. The team belongs to one of the most stable classical squads. And, apparently, no one is going to leave the group, although almost all musicians release solo albums, which, unfortunately, are not very popular.
First album
As for the main musical direction, there is clearly a bias towards electronic Industrial with a combination of many other elements. It is not surprising that after the Berlin competition, held in 1994, the band was spotted by many music producers.
The first tracklist included such famous compositions as Rammstein, Du riechts so gut, Seemann, Weises Fleisch and Das Alte Leid. But this was just a trifle in comparison with the subsequent events.
The fact is that the group was noticed by another famous person in the world of industrial rock. This is none other than Trent Reznor, leader of the famous band Nine Inch Nails. It was he who recommended the equally famous director David Lynch to record the soundtrack for the new film "Highway to Nowhere." By the way, if anyone does not know, David Lynch is the author of such famous paintings and TV shows as Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive, Dune, Highway to Nowhere, Elephant Man and many others. As a result, two songs of the then little-known collective (Rammstein and Heirate mich) were included in the soundtrack to the Lynch film. For the group, it was an impetus for fame.
Ambiguous texts
Separately, it is worth noting what exactly the Rammstein group offers the listener. Translation of songs can often be twofold.
So, for example, if you take the composition Du Hast, which has brought popularity to the group on a global scale and has become, so to speak, its hallmark, it is worth paying attention to the text itself. If you translate the phrase Du hast mich, it can be interpreted as “You have me” or “You hate me” (depending on the situation in which such a phrase is used). But if the word hast acts as an auxiliary verb in the past tense (analogy with English to have), as this, in fact, is in the original text, the idea itself is transposed into a completely different content.
The phrase Du hast mich gefragt und Ich hab nichts gesagt in this case translates as "You asked me, but I did not answer."
However, this is the simplest text. Rammstein’s discography contains so many outrageous songs that it’s just amazing. True, do not forget about the so-called “eternal” values. After the release of the composition Mutter (“Mom”) with its rather inadequate meaning, many also thought that the Rammstein group released albums with clearly psychedelic lyrics, comparable only to Pink Floyd. True, the latter have no such “bloodthirstiness” and “mental insanity”.
Rammstein: discography
If we consider the main albums released by the Rammstein group, it is worth noting Herzeleid (1995), Sehnsucht (1998), Mutter (2001), Reise, Reise (2004), Rosenrot (2005) and Liebe Ist Für Alle Da (2009).
Now the team prefers concert activities using the most powerful pyrotechnics. What is only worth their last concert in the US, held at Madison Square Garden.
Naturally, the band Rammstein discography is not limited to this. Each musician at one time tried to release solo albums. Alas, they never gained popularity. The reason is banal simple: none of the fans of the group wants to see the departure of its members, so to speak, “to the left”. World practice shows that the solo albums of some of the members of the now popular group do not attract attention (unless the departure of some of the musicians who subsequently create their own projects).
Peak of popularity
As already clear, the initial peak of the popularity of the Rammstein group came in the late 90s. But here is the interesting thing. As you know, the German language is not particularly favored in world practice, and it is very difficult to gain popularity here.
Indeed, even such Heavy Metal grandees as Scorpions, Helloween, Warlock (later the solo career of Doro Pesch), Sodom and many others still prefer to use English texts. But if you look at Rammstein, the translation of the songs and the original performance indicates the opposite.
It is worth noting that the vocalist almost always uses the pronunciation of the hard letter "p", which is characteristic of Bavaria, and certainly not the literary language called Hoch Deutsch. In addition, you may notice that sometimes some words are used that refer to the outdated German language called “dance Deutsch”.
The simplest example is the composition Links 2, 3, 4. Here we hear instead of the usual zwei (“two”) the obsolete word zwo. Even modern Germans do not always understand what it is.
But the effect is simply amazing. This can be compared with the texts of Margarita Pushkina, who writes them for the group "Aria" in a certain Old Russian style. It's the same here. But in the texts werewolves, vampires and demons gave way to social problems, even if sometimes veiled under mysticism.
However, the work of the Rammstein group only benefits from this. Not many Germans manage to conquer America using their native language in the texts. That is why Rammstein can be called not only a global phenomenon, but even an exception to all existing rules.