History Music / Rammstein

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rammstein_2.png]]

** The music video for their cover version of "Stripped" by Music/DepecheMode consisted of clips of a Nazi propaganda film about the 1934 olympic games held in Germany made by Leni Riefenstahl. The band soon apologized for this decision, making it clear that while they find the strong imagery interesting, they hate Nazis and their politics.
** Till even had to justify himself for the way he rolls his "R"s, explaining that it just comes to him naturally whenever he sings in a baritone octave like he does with the band's music. He said he's never thought about it in a fascist context before it was brought up in interviews, but that it was ''never'' their intention to invoke fascist connotations or to empower fascism with their music.

** "Puppe" is about a child living with their sister who works as a prostitute - the child itself is severely neglected and therefore psychosocially handicapped, getting locked in a room every night and forced to hear the sister's screams. The song starts off as an eerie guitar ballad, until Till starts having a complete mental breakdown accompanied only by rattling drums.

** The instrumental later for "Pussy" had different, cut lyrics which were used partly in "Gib Mir Dein Augen" (b-side to the 2012 reworking of Mein Herz Brennt) and others in "Was Ich Liebe" (from the self titled).

** Sort of parodied in "Pussy". This is why there's the GratuitousGerman [[{{Irony}} in a predominantly English song]], though still quite ironic since German is not considered to be a particularly "sexy" language. The song itself is also a parody on the sex tourism trade.
** Done very tongue-in-cheek with "Auslander". The name itself means "foreigner" and it's about someone who travels around to other countries to have sex with the women there. He doesn't even bother with one night stands, he's only there long enough for a hookup before going on to the next place. It's possibly a metaphor for being a touring band.

* GoingNative: "Te Quiero Puta!" makes sense in the knowledge that "Reise Reise" and much of "Rosenrot" were recorded in Malaga, Spain. As can be see in the "Making Of Reise Reise" documentary, the band had a very relaxing time there and spent a lot of time joking around. "Te Quiero Puta" soudns exactly like the sort of song written on holiday whilst attempting to speak the local language.

* GreenEyedMonster: "Eifersucht" is adressed ''at'' this green-eyed monster, telling them to do the most gruesome things to him out of jealousy.

* ImAHumanitarian: "Mein Teil", which is about a famous news story of a cannibal who advertised on the internet for someone willing to be killed and eaten by him. His victim being entirely willing and cooperative in his own brutal demise did not prevent a conviction for manslaughter in the case. In live performances of the song, Till "cooks" Flake [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EEWjqAwvco with a]] [[PyroManiac flamethrower]]. Taken to new heights during the Made in Germany tour. When Flake laughs off the flamethrower, Till brings out an industrial sized flamethrower and torches him. Till laughs joyously and continues singing only to be flabbergasted when Flake climbs out of the cauldron and runs around the stage.

* LastNoteNightmare: "Mein Teil" with its choir and "Stein um Stein" with its scream. "Zerstören" too, as it ends with a drawn out groan to the sounds of things being smashed to pieces, although it transitions into a short, [[LighterAndSofter much slower]] song in the end. [[ZigZaggedTrope ZigZagged]] in "Hallomann" with a sort of Penultiment Note Nightmare, if you wish.

** "Roter Sand" is a heartbreaking ballad about accepting losing a lover to someone else and one's own death after being shot in a duel, but is written in major chord.

* MoodMotif: The piano version of "Mein Herz Brennt", especially its first few bars, has become subject of MemeticMutation, and gets used as stand-in music for all kinds of emotional and tragic scenes in film and theater, even as as stock background music in trashy German scripted [[RealityShow reality shows]].

* NonAppearingTitle: "Nebel", "Dalai Lama", "Wiener Blut", "Rammlied". This is actually quite rare for the band, since Till Lindemann writes a lot of poems and simply turns them into songs. Therefore, most of the songs just have the song's title as the catch phrase of their choruses.

** The track "Stirb Nicht Vor Mir" was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86D7Jp8JGJw demoed]] in the ''Mutter'' sessions in quite a sparse arrangement. They weren't satisfied with this version of the song, but felt it had potential. In the ''Reise Reise'' sessions, the band changed some of the lyrics, added some poppy guitar melodies and rewrote the song to be a duet, between Till and the female singer Bobo. The band still felt the song was lacking so didn't include it on ''Reise Reise''. For their follow up album ''Rosenrot'', they removed Bobo's vocals, rewrote some of the verses in English, and got {{Music/Texas}} singer Sharleen Spiteri to sing said English vocals (Bobo's backing vocals remain in places). This version was finally released on ''Rosenrot'' as "Stirb Nicht Vor Mir (Don't Die Before I Do)" and was widely praised as one of the highlights of the album. In five years, the song had gone from being a song from the perspective of a German-speaking man dreaming of a soulmate, to a duet between a German-speaking man and English-speaking woman who are dreaming of each other without having met (or even speaking the same language). The combination of languages and the contrast between the metal and pop elements was meant to imply that love transcends all boundaries.

** "Deutschland" is one to their own country but in a sadder way; they want to love Germany, but can't ignore the weight of the crimes of it's past.

* TitleOnlyChorus: Plenty of them. The band acknowledges this, mocking themselves by saying all it takes to write a Rammstein chorus is some harsh sounding German phrase repeated over a guitar riff.

* TrueCompanions: "Haifisch" can be seen as a form of principle declaration. "Ein Lied" is a hymn of loyalty towards their fans. According to Richard "it is a marriage without sex", and they get councelling to stay togethe. They all have expressed that the band can only function as a whole, if one leaves, there is no band. Yet Flake still jokes that he is merely a guest and not a full member. He was reluctant to join, as he found their music boring!

** "Mein Land" features a number of bathing beauties, one of which is plus sized.
** "Auslander" features an African village full of half-naked women, one of whom is plus sized and treated very favorably by the band members. [[spoiler: At the end of the video, she kidnaps Flake]].

** The "Mein Land" video features the entire band shirtless and in beach wear for most of it (and Till as a lifeguard), not to mention a lot of bikini-clad women. Towards the end, there are very quick shots of topless women and [[GirlOnGirlIsHot other women making out with each other]].

* GenreThrowback: The first half of "Mein Land" is a parody of teen beach party movies, a once popular genre that has largely been dead since the late '60s.

* {{Grimmification}}: The video for "Sonne" is a rather dark take on Disney's version of ''WesternAnimation/{{Snow White|AndTheSevenDwarfs}}'', featuring the band members as masochistic dwarves working for a gold dust-addicted Snow White.

** Yet ''again'' with "Deutschland", which is about the way the band feels about Germany's complicated and often horrific past, which they did not tone down at all in the video they released; which led to complaints by advocacy groups.

* RatedMForManly: This a band comprised of some very strong and masculine men playing booming and pounding industrial metal songs about some downright unsettling subject matter, and in the German language no less. Of course, that also contributed to the [[AllGermansAreNazis Nazi accusations]]. Go figure.

* HarshVocals: And [BadassBarytone]; Till sings with highly distinctive, raspy, towering vocals in a deep barytone. Bonus points for being [[GutturalGrowler his actual voice.]]
* {{Hunk}}: Till Lindemann, Richard Z Kruspe. Till was a swimmer in the GDR and tagged for the 1980 olympics, but an injury (and possibly undisciplinary behavior) prevented that. Hence his size and obvious strength.

* LongRunnerLineup: The band was founded in 1994 and there hasn't been a single lineup change since then. According to Richard; "it is like a marriage without sex", and as such- again according to Richard- it requires weekly councelling. They presumably started this after they almost broke up in the wake of Mutter, and Ohne Dich plus Haifisch is part of the process. They've expressed their intent to take this to its LogicalExtreme.

* MoralGuardians: A frequent target. They've been blamed for Columbine, and "Ich tu dir weh" was indexed in their home country. The reason behind it was "abuse promotion". There's also a picture of Richard spanking a nude woman in the album art for ''Liebe ist für alle da'' which got the same treatment for being "degrading to women". And let us not go into "Pussy" which features only on porn sites, for the logical reason that it is porn.
* MyspeldRokband: Although not on purpose. The band took their name from the Ramstein airshow disaster in 1988 but according to Paul made a mistake when spelling it. They thought the town's name was spelled with two m's instead of one. Though they considered other names the misspelling stuck.

* RatedMForManly: And nothing epitomized it more than the [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1f/Rammstein_Herzeleid_cover.jpg original cover]] of ''Herzeleid''. Of course, that also started the [[AllGermansAreNazis Nazi accusations]]. Go figure.

* ShipTease: Paulchard, the "F.U. Vlad" kiss in Moscow during Auslander, is not the only time. They tend to flirt on stage (and sometimes off), providing lots of [Fanservice]. See [[https://youtu.be/vGz2DhKnT8M]]

* TallDarkAndHandsome: Till fits this criteria, with his 6'3" height, muscular build and dark hair, as does Richard at 6'2'', only next to Till does he look small.. (see {{Hunk}} above).

* TheCameo: Music/MarilynManson (the person) appears in "Haifisch" in a few [[FreezeFrameBonus blink-and-you'll-miss-it shots]]. The same video briefly shows photographbs of Music/HenryRollins and [[{{Music/Metallica}} James Hetfield]] as the band members consider who'll replace Till as the vocalist.

-->''"Wir sind für die Musik geboren,
-->Wir sind die Diener eurer Ohren..."''[[note]]We were born for the music, we're the servants of your ears[[/note]]

** During the end of "Mein Land", the band members are wearing [[SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker Joker]]-style facepaint.

* HarshVocals: And [Badass Barytone]; Till sings with highly distinctive, raspy, towering vocals in a deep barytone. Bonus points for being [[GutturalGrowler his actual voice.]]

* Ship Tease: Paulchard, the "F.U. Vlad" kiss in Moscow during Auslander, is not the only time. They tend to flirt on stage (and sometimes off), providing lots of [fanservice]. See [[https://youtu.be/vGz2DhKnT8M]]

* Even the Guys Want Him: Till and Richard mostly, but Schneider, Paul and Ollie get some love as well in the comments on their youtube videos.

* Even the guys want him: Till and Richard mostly, but Schneider, Paul and Ollie get some love as well in the comments on their youtube videos.

* Even the guys want him: Till and Richard mostly, but Schneider, Paul and Ollie get some love as well in the comments on their youtube videos.

* TrueCompanions: "Haifisch" can be seen as a form of principle declaration. "Ein Lied" is a hymn of loyalty towards their fans.

* HarshVocals: Till sings with highly distinctive, raspy, towering vocals. Bonus points for being [[GutturalGrowler his actual voice.]]
* {{Hunk}}: Till Lindemann, Richard Z Kruspe.

* MoralGuardians: A frequent target. They've been blamed for Columbine, and "Ich tu dir weh" was indexed in their home country. The reason behind it was "abuse promotion". There's also a picture of Richard spanking a nude woman in the album art for ''Liebe ist für alle da'' which got the same treatment for being "degrading to women".

* ShirtlessScene: When it comes to live shows, it's not a matter of whether this trope will happen or not, it's ''who specifically'' will invoke this trope. Take Völkerball, Ollie and Paul both end up shirtless by the end of the show. And, as mentioned above, the original ''Herzeleid'' cover. All of the 1995 video for "Du riechst so gut" too.

* TallDarkAndHandsome: Till fits this criteria, with his 6'3" height, muscular build and dark hair. (see {{Hunk}} above).

* ImpressivePyrotechnics: The concert shows. Aided in that Till is a licensed pyrotechnician. The band claims that it's meant to hold the attention of fans who don't speak German (which is probably a majority of the fanbase). It also crosses with PyroManiac.
* LongRunnerLineup: The band was founded in 1994 and there hasn't been a single lineup change since then. They've expressed their intent to take this to its LogicalExtreme.

* PyroManiac: The concerts and the songs. About the former, they routinely fire a flamethrower just above the mosh pit. About the latter, there are about as many songs about fire as there are about sex.

* {{Hunk}}: Till Lindemann.

* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight: The subject of "Mein Herz Brennt".

** "Auslander" features an African village. All the women go topless throughout the entire video.

* GenreThrowback: The first half of "Mein Land" is a parody of teen beach party movies, a once popular genre that has largely been dead horse since the late '60s.

* IfItBleedsItLeads: [[{{Anvilicious}} Satirized unsubtly]] in "Ich Will" video, in which the band members play [[BankRobbery bank robbers]] who are out not for money, but for media attention -- and even get a Golden Camera[[note]]Germany’s equivalent of the Emmys[[/note]]award after being arrested. The way journalists and cameramen [[MediaScrum assault them with questions as if they were celebreties or politicians]] is rather unsettling, and it really makes you think about how the media, intentionally or not, turns criminals into celebrities.

** TheLeader: Richard Z

** TheSmartGuy: Christian
** TheBigGuy: Christoph

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: While there are a few weird songs on "Herzeleid", "Laichzeit" with its goofy synth loop and awkward guitar riff stands out. "Ausländer" on the self-titled record is weird in a similar way.

** The band wrote "Links 2-3-4" as their [[TakeThatCritics counterargument to this accusation]] - they've even said in interviews that they hate Nazis as well. In addition, actually paying attention to their lyrics reveal that none of their songs contain any fascist or Nazi-sympathizing lyrics, but try telling certain critics that. "Links" is German for "Left", and it's about their left-wing status, and how awesome it is to be left-wing. It's intentionally based on a German marching song, because they wanted to make the point that a song can sound militaristic without being militaristic.
** Yet ''again'' with ''Deutschland'', which is about the way the band feels about Germany's complicated and often horrific past, which they did not tone down at all in the video they released; which led to complaints by advocacy groups.
%%* AntiLoveSong: ''Many'' of them, but "Stein um Stein", "Herzeleid", "Amour" and "Was Ich Liebe" count.
%%** "Bück Dich" and "Ich Tu Dir Weh" are less love songs and more... [[ObligatoryBondageSong fuck songs]], but the latter even specifically spells out "You love me because I don't love you"...

* AuthorVocabularyCalendar: The sun shining is referenced in some way in "Rammstein", "Engel", "Küss Mich (Fellfrosch)", "Mein Herz Brennt", "Sonne", "Mutter", "Morgenstern", "Mann Gegen Mann", "Hilf Mir", "Liebe ist für Alle Da", "Halt", "Ausländer", "Puppe", "Weit Weg" and "Hallomann". The motif appears on '''every single album.'''

* BrotherSisterIncest: "Liese". Hinted at in "Laichzeit".

-->''"[[AndIMustScream Und keiner hört dich]] '''[[BigWordShout SCHREIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEN!!!]]'''"''[[note]]And no one will hear you scream!!![[/note]]

** Emo-esque chorus of "Puppe" stands out.

* TrueCompanions: "Haifisch" can be seen as a form of principle declaration.

* VillainProtagonist: "Wiener Blut" and "Hallomann" are sung from a child abductor's perspective.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Varies wildly up and down the scale, from 1 or 2 (e.g. "Ein Lied", "Roter Sand") up to 7 or 8 (e.g "Mein Teil", "Bück Dich"), and everything in between. They usually reside at level 6, though.

** "Zwitter". ''Nobody'' can belt out "wenn einer zu mir 'FICK DICH' SAGT!"[[note]]"When someone tells me to go fuck myself!"[[/note]] quite like Till Lindemann can.

* {{Grimmification}}: The video for "Sonne" is a rather dark take on Disney's version of ''Disney/SnowWhite'', featuring the band members as masochistic dwarves working for a gold dust-addicted Snow White.

* RadioSong: "Radio." [[CaptainObvious D'oh]].