From left to right: Paul, Schneider, Till, Ollie, Flake, Richard
Rammstein is a six-man self-described "tanz-metall" (dance metal, though their actual style has them as the codifiers of Neue Deutsche Härte, a form of industrial metal) band hailing from Germany. They take their name from the Ramstein airshow disaster of 1988, adding an extra 'm' to give the double meaning of "Battering Ram" (literally 'Ramming Stone'). The band consists of:
Till Lindemann - lead vocals
Richard Z. Kruspe - guitars, backing vocals
Paul Landers - rhythm guitars, backing vocals
Oliver 'Ollie' Riedel - bass
Christoph 'Doom' Schneider - drums
Christian 'Flake' Lorenz - keyboards
Check them at the Musician sheet.Discography as of 2011:
Live aus Berlin (1999)- a recording of their 1998 concert tour (also available as a live album). Features music from their first two albums. Known for their controversial performance of Bück dich.
Lichtspielhaus (2003)- a compilation of their music videos up to Feuer Frei!.
Völkerball (2006)- a recording of their 2004-2005 tour (also available as a live album). Features music from their first five albums.
Videos 1995 - 2012 (2012) - contains all of their music videos and making of-documentaries.
A DVD of their Madison Square Garden and Montreal shows is confirmed.
We All Live in America: From a line of the song "Amerika". Richard does live in America, exactly in New York City. Have you ever heard him sing for Emigrate? He even sounds American. Just a wee bit'a irony.
And I Must Scream: The victim in "Stein Um Stein" is being trapped inside the walls of a house. Lampshaded in that the last line of the song actually translates to "And no one will hear you scream."
Album Filler: Rosenrot as a whole. In fact, most of it is composed by leftover material of the recordings for Reise, Reise. Aside from "Mann Gegen Mann", "Rosenrot", "Benzin" and "Te Quiero Puta", no songs from Rosenrot were played in concerts.
All Germans Are Nazis: The band wrote "Links 2-3-4" as their counterarguement to this accusation. They've even said on 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-sympathising lyrics, but try telling certain critics that.
Anti-Love Song: Many of them, but "Stein Um Stein" and "Amour" come to mind.
Author Vocabulary Calendar: The sun shining is referenced in some way in "Rammstein," "Engel," "Küss Mich (Fellfrosch)," "Mein Herz Brennt," "Sonne," "Mutter," "Morgenstern," "Mann Gegen Mann" and "Hilf Mir." Liebe Ist Für Alle Da is the only album where this theme does not come up.
Bilingual Bonus: "Moskau" has parts sung in Russian; "Amerika" and "Stirb Nicht Vor Mir" have parts sung in English, while "Pussy" is in straight English apart from invoked Gratuitous German; (there're also English versions of "Du Hast", "Engel" and "Amerika" among the singles) "Amour" and "Frühling in Paris" have some parts sung in French; and "Te Quiero Puta!" is sung entirely in Spanish.
Also, an astounding amount of wordplay in their songs, just in general.
Till is fairly well qualified for the title of Pungeon Master.
"Mein Land" is pretty much the only song whose name anyone can guess the English translation.
Cover Version: They have done covers of Depeche Mode's "Stripped", The Ramones's "Pet Semetary", Kraftwerk's "Das Model" (with the title of the cover version being spelt as "Das Modell"), and Aria's "Shtil" (with the cover titled "Schtiel"). Recently, Till worked with Apocalyptica to do a German cover of David Bowie's "Heroes".
I'm a Humanitarian: "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 the Völkerball performance of this song, Till "cooks" Flake.
Taken to new heights during the Made in Germany tour. When Flake laughs off the flamethrower, Till brings out an industrial size 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.
Intercourse with You: Pretty much half of their songs. Special mention for including "Blitzkrieg mit dem Fleischgewehr" and references to putting bratwurst in someone else's sauerkraut in "Pussy". "Rein Raus" also deserves a mention. Some of the Double Entendres Till comes up with are impressively creative.
Interrupted Suicide: Inverted in "Spring", in which a man climbs onto a bridge to enjoy the view and is mistaken for a jumper—and encouraged by the crowd to kill himself.
Meaningful Name: "Dalai Lama" refers to the 14th Dalai Lama's fear of flying, and the song is "Der Erlkönig" on a plane.
Metal Scream: Used (to an extent) in the chorus of "Wiener Blut", and at a few points in "Mann Gegen Mann". The ending of "Stein um Stein" also counts... doubly reinforced by the final word meaning "scream."
Misplaced Nationalism: "Amerika" is not meant to be a pro-America song. You'd think the bridge, "This is not a love song!" growled repeatedly would be a clue.
Mohs Scale of Rock and Metal Hardness: Varies wildly up and down the scale, from 1 or 2 (e.g. "Ein Lied") up to 7 or 8 (e.g "Mein Teil"), and everything in between.
The songs "Halleluja" and "Mein Teil" have been featured on the soundtracks for the first two live-action Resident Evil movies, respectively. The soundtrack to Resident Evil Extinction featured Emigrate's "My World".
xXx featured the song "Feuer Frei!", which resulted in Rammstein making a cameo at the beginning of xXx.
Murder Ballad: "Weisses Fleisch", "Du Riechst So Gut", "Mein Teil", "Stein Um Stein", and "Klavier". "Heirate Mich" is a post-mortem version, of sorts.
Power Ballad: "Ohne Dich", "Amour", "Roter Sand", "Nebel", "Stirb Nicht Vor Mir" and "Frühling in Paris", amongst other examples.
Precision F-Strike: From "Das Alte Leid": "Weiss ich endlich... ICH WILL FICKEN"—"I know at last, I want to fuck". Punctuated in the early live shows with a firework launched from Till's crotch for further emphasis. Especially jarring when one remembers that the man himself rarely swears in interviews and the band's catalog, for all its rampant innuendo, contains little to no profanity (there's a stray "fick dich" in "Zwitter").
Even more impressive? "Das Alte Leid" is from their first album.
Pun-Based Title: "Du Hast" translates to "You Have" (in the song, the line is extended to "Du hast mich gefragt und ich hab nichts gesagt"— "You have asked me and I haven't said anything"), but sounds just like "Du Hasst" which means "You Hate." It doesn't help that an English version was recorded under the latter title.
Pyro Maniac: "Benzin" is, in many ways, a love song to flame. It's more surprising that it took them five albums to write it than that it was one of the few songs from Rosenrot ever played in concert.
Some lyrics from "Benzin" are also the top quote on the trope page itself.
Rape Is Love: Horrifically deconstructed in "Liebe ist für alle da", at least according to one interpretation.
Record Producer: All of Rammstein's albums have been produced by Jacob Hellner.
Shout Out: The strange screaming noises in "Wollt Ihr Das Bett in Flamen Sehen?" are creature death sounds from Doom.
Soprano and Gravel: "Engel", "Nebel" (where they're performed by Christiane "Bobo" Herbold), "Moskau", to some extent "Spieluhr" (which features vocals from Khira Li, Richard's daughter), and "Stirb Nicht Vor Mir (Don't Die Before I Do)" (featuring vocals from Sharleen Spiteri of Texas, though the original German version was performed by Bobo). Also "Halleluja", the hidden track from Mutter.
Wer zu Lebzeit gut auf Erdennote Who in their lifetime is good on Earth
wird nach dem Tod ein Engel werdennote will become an angel after death
den Blick gen Himmel fragst du dannnote you look to the sky and ask
warum man sie nicht sehen kannnote why you can't see them
Erst wenn die Wolken schlafengehnnote only once the clouds have gone to sleep
kann man uns am Himmel sehnnote can you see us in the sky
wir haben Angst und sind alleinnote we're afraid and alone
Surprisingly Gentle Song: "Ohne Dich", "Ein Lied", "Amour", "Nebel", "Frühling in Paris", "Roter Sand" and "Stirb Nicht Vor Mir" (the latter two are notable for not featuring any heavy guitars)... they have a fair few songs like this.
Easter Egg: The "Ich tu dir weh" video. If you keep an eye on Richard's hands, you'll see a ring from his other band, Emigrate.
Fanservice: 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 other women making out with each other.
Fille Fatale: In the "Rosenrot" video. Emphasis on "fatale".
Grimmification: The video for "Sonne" is a rather dark take on Disney's version of Snow White, featuring the band members as masochistic dwarves working for a gold dust-addicted Snow White.
Mind Screw: Half their music videos. Just try to figure out what was going on in the "Pussy" and "Ich Tu Dir Weh" videos, both directed by Jonas Akerlund.
Mundane Made Awesome: The "Mein Land" video is set at a 60s beach party, despite being for an Industrial Metal song. The end of the video is more Rammstein-ish, however.
On a Soundstage All Along: The video for "Amerika". The band are rocking out on the moon, before the cameras pull back to reveal it's a film set. This is also a gag at the expense of those who think the moon landings were faked on a soundstage.
Our Werewolves Are Different: In the video for "Du Riechst So Gut '98", the band members play a pack of werewolves.
Performance Video: They usually avoid this trope with their videos, but both "Feuer Frei!" (also a Video Full Of Film Clips) and "Ich tu dir weh" are this type of video.
Sexy Secretary: This is the role of the woman who seduces Schneider's CEO character in the "Pussy" video.
All the fantasies the other band members have of killing Till in "Haifisch" are related to previous videos: "Du Hast", "Ohne Dich", "Keine Lust", "Sonne", and "Amerika". Also, the final fantasy appears to be a shout out to the movie Se7en.
During the end of "Mein Land", the band members are wearing Joker-style facepaint.
A Taste of the Lash: Used in the context of mortification of the flesh in "Rosenrot".
Transvestite: Frau Schneider in the "Mein Teil" video.
True Companions: Subverted in the video of "Haifisch". The video takes place at Till's funeral, and we see that the other band members have had fantasies of murdering him. They end up getting into a fight, which culminated in Flake crashing into Till's casket, which is when they found out he faked his death.
Wet Sari Scene: The "kissing in the rain" scene in the "Du Riechst So Gut '98" video.
Worst Aid: As tearjerking and heartwarming the "Ohne Dich" video is, it's not always a good idea to move someone with a broken bone.
Misc tropes
All Germans Are Nazis: They are frequent victims of this, for no other reason than singing in German.
Attractive Bent Gender: Schneider makes a surprisingly attractive woman, as do Ollie and Paul.
Butt Monkey: In the Made in Germany tour, Flake's status as the band's Butt Monkey is alleviated somewhat by the performance of "Bück dich", in which the entire band falls into Butt Monkey status. Till, Paul, Flake and Ollie are led on all fours and abused by Frau Schneider towards Richard, who also gets abused as well. Then, later, Till squirts his dildo right into Schneider's face mid-performance.
East Germany: All of the band's members hail from here, though it had ceased to exist by the time the band was formed.
Easter Egg: The voice clip hidden either in the pregap of Reise, Reise for European pressings or at the start of the song for the US pressings. The clip itself is the last 38 seconds of the cockpit voice recording from the JAL123 disaster of 1985. What with the wee tiny matter of it being the deadliest single aircraft incident in history, said easter egg was removed from Japanese pressings and later US pressings. It's complicated.
Gag Penis: The cannon used during live performances of "Pussy".
Great Balls Of Fire: All of their live shows and a fair few of their videos too.
Iconic Logo: The font used for the band name on CDs and DVDs, and the Rammstein cross.
Impressive Pyrotechnics: 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 Pyro Maniac.
Long Runner Lineup: The band was founded in 1994 and there hasn't been a single lineup change since then.
Made of Explodium: It's not uncommon for things like Mic stands to either burst into an explosion when slammed into the ground... or burst into flames (while still being sung into) for no real reason.
Moral Guardians: 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".
Myspeld Rökband: The band took their name from the Ramstein airshow disaster in 1988 and added an extra M.
Pyro Maniac: 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.
Shirtless Scene: 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 Volkerball, Ollie and Paul both end up shirtless by the end of the show.
And, as mentioned above, the original "Herzeleid" cover.
Also, Frau Schneider makes a reappearance in the Made in Germany tour.
True Companions: The band has repeatedly stated that if any of its members were to leave, the entire band would quit. They have had the same lineup since they first began in 1994.
Whip It Good: During the Made in Germany performances of "Bück dich", Schneider (in full "Frau Schneider" mode) whips the other band members around with a riding crop.
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