Rammstein, on October 16th of 2009, released their most recent album Liebe Ist Für Alle Da (English: Love is for everyone). Previous to the album dropping only one single was released, but still to much success, the single titled ‘Pussy’ became an instant fan favorite. In Finland the album went platinum on pre-orders alone. In Germany it went double platinum despite being censored (in Germany explicit music is treated like R+ rated films, M rated video games or alcohol and tobacco are handled - so no one under 18 could buy the album legally) by the German government for a time. Within weeks of release, it peaked at number one in 9 countries Album Charts, and was in the top 10 album charts of 22 other countries. Reaching number 13 on the US charts makes it the most successful Rammstein album to date in the United States. Of all the songs off the album, Ich Tu Dir Weh (English: I Hurt You) maintains the claim of being the song to gain the album its explicit title and becoming banned by the German government. Without a full translation of the song, or full knowledge of the German language, it just sounds like a normal badass Rammstein song. Digging a little deeper finds that the song is about incredibly rough and downright disturbing sadomasochistic sex. With (translated) lines such as “Barbed wire in the urethral tract. Throw your flesh in salt and pus” and “Bites, kicks, hard blows. Needles, pliers, a blunt saw. What you wish, I don't say no.” It becomes rather clear why the German government chose to ban the song. Only to lift the ban several months later in May 2010. Even the chorus of: “I hurt you, I'm not sorry, It's good for you, Hear how it screams” is just downright wrong. Despite lyrically being an incredibly fucked song, it is actually a quite fantastic song, and is a huge fan favorite. During live performances band members Till and Flake have a staged fight on stage that ends with Till chasing Flake into a bathtub of which Till pours sparks into from a massive milk carton. After several explosions Flake emerges, unscathed, in a silver holographic suit. For obvious reasons, the song Pussy immediately draws attention to the English speaking crowd, those who have seen the video can agree on how attention catching it is as well. Being the first single released from the album, it definitely set the pace that this was an album that would push the boundaries further than any other Rammstein album had before, and that is really saying something considering how they have sung songs about murder, cannibalism and *gasp* anal sex. Opening with the lines “Too big, too small, size does matter after all.” It doesn’t take a genius to realize Pussy is simply a song about fucking, it has no deeper meaning, and was written mostly as a joke by Till (lead vocals) who at the time was still learning to speak English more fluently. With the catchy chorus of “You got a pussy, I have a [sic] dicka. So what’s the problem? Lets do it quick.” It is hard to not love the song. The video, released two weeks before the single, was featured on a porn site due to how dirty it is. For those who don’t wish to get fired from their jobs out of curiosity, the video features the band playing the song wearing leather outfits, interspersed with 6 hardcore pornographic videos featuring each of the band members as a different stereotypical pornographic character: Till as the Playboy, Christoph as the CEO, Paul as the Cowboy, Oliver as Mr. Pain (a BDSM fetishist), Richard as the Partyboy, and Flake as a Shemale. However, body doubles were used for all of the band members.As is to be expected as the video progresses it follows the typical setup of a porno, beginning, middle and finishing if you will. To this day video services such as YouTube make it incredibly hard to find due to the pornographic nature of the video. During live performances Till will mount a massive cannon in the shape of a penis and spray the crowd with “foam” from it’s tip. Perhaps Rammstein's most beautiful song, Roter Sand (English: Red Sand) begins with a stark whistle, and begins to tell the story of a man dying for a woman who he loved. In an unspecified way, the protagonist is on the losing end of a duel, (translated from German) he says “One love, two pistols. One is aiming at my face. He says, I had stolen you. That you love me, he doesn't know.” The implied story is that they were caught in the act by a jealous father, boyfriend or otherwise. It is also a possibility that the protagonist was having an affair with a woman and the husband found out and sought vengeance. The fact that the song never specifies further adds to the mystery of the song. Later on it’s said “One love, two pistols. One was able to draw faster. Well, it wasn't me. Now you belong to him.” Which further promotes the idea of a jealous husband but also invites the idea of the two were dueling to the death for the love of the woman in a very cowboy type duel. The final verses of the song are talking of how he is bleeding out and won’t be of use to anything anymore aside from food for the birds. Curiously enough on the deluxe edition of the album there is a track called Liese with the exact same music but with a much more exact and rather disturbing story. It tells the tale of a man named Jakob constantly trying to get a girl named Liese to have sex with him in a wheat field they both tend to. Eventually she gives in after so long and they rush off and spend the rest of the day hidden in the wheat. Given that they sound to be the same song it is possible that it is Jakob who is the protagonist who dies in Roter Sand but there is no concrete evidence to back up this claim. Also on the Deluxe version of the album there is a version done of Roter Sand with an orchestra that adds further to the dark beauty of the song. In the last 7 years Rammstein has been on a hiatus from which they just returned from. On June 4th they played their first new song in over 7 years, the name of the song is Ramm 4. It has not been released yet on any conventional music shop websites but you can find the song easily on YouTube from their recent concerts. Rammstein currently is on a full world tour. Making one and only stop in the US at Chicago’s Open Air festival this Friday the 15th. For further information, please head on over to Rammstein's official website, or the Chicago Open Air Festival. Written by Coby Andrews
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