Puppe

After listening to the album early Friday morning when it was released, one song stuck with me. A song that had me going through all of the emotions in my body - So strongly it made me shed a tear - Perhaps also out of simply being extremely overwhelmed. 

The song, of course, is "Puppe" - Puppet or doll, translated. 

The song starts with a simple, rather inconsolable guitar, sadly lulling you into the false sense of security - Possibly foreshadowing the sinister reality of the song, with the eerie guitar in the background - Which is very classic Rammstein: Making a dent in the surface of the emotion to show that there is typically a lot more underneath. I won’t be explaining the entire song, only the keypoints necessary to make my point. The lyric is an adjusted version of Till Lindemann's poem "When mommy goes off late to work” and replaces the mother figure with a sister - The second verse indicating that the sister is also a child, exposing the very dark subject of child prostitution. 

Although, I think that figuratively, the lyrics can be interpreted in a lot of different ways. 

This song shows an entirely new side of Till and his vocals, which made the song even more impactful, in my humble opinion. His voice is very soft and naive sounding during the verse and bridge - And then explodes into an inferno of madness, anger, hatred, frustration - Insanity. 

However, I feel like the lyrics can be interpreted quite differently as well; Like the antagonist child is one person with the sister in question – A sort of way to separate two parts of the persona. The child in the locked room represents the inner child playing with the doll, being kept away from the monstrosity happening in the other room.Victims of rape or sexual abuse will typically create sort of a safe zone in their minds when these things are happening – A 

coping mechanism if you will – So they can live through the horrible things that is happening to them. The child sitting in the room, cradling its doll which represents innocence, now has trouble shutting out what is going on with the sister – A representation of the child in a sexualized manner, perhaps at the hands of a pedophile or rapist. The child hears the screaming, and it rips off the doll’s head – Coming to the conclusion that his/her innocence is lost, and never being able to seperate again. Hence the overwhelming emotional response in the chorus. That very feeling echoes in the mind of abuse victims for the rest of their lives.

I loved this track because I honestly think that “Puppe” is quintessential Rammstein.The lyric balance between the acceptable and unacceptable, the music and the vocals weaver between soft and hard. The lyrics will make you feel hopeless, defeated and then during the chorus, it explodes into all the built up anger, intensity, fear. Some of Rammsteins genius is found in the little details of the music – If you listen closely, you will notice little tweaks between the guitar in the first and second verse -The second verse adds a disharmonic, quite crooked note, almost foreshadowing the insanity during the chorus.In my opinion, this is what Rammstein does best - Invoking all emotions, sending you for a rollercoaster ride and addressing subjects that are considered taboo in our society, forcing people to create an opinion and acknowledge that this is, in fact, the sad reality of some individuals around the world. 

Thank you, Rammstein for doing that yet again – Leaving me in tears and full of emotion.

Seemann

A weak echo leads my thoughts to an empty place. An abandoned place, where only the pulse

of the guitar reminds me of the waves hitting the body when one lies down on

the shore of a beach, a night where people just weren’t there and the beach

only sounds of the wind and the weak tuning of the waves…

Till’s voice falls on its knees before me, and his whimpering, longing singing

through the song sends me out to the bottom of the ocean where nothing can be

heard. Once you’re down there, you’re not going to get up again. A corner of

our souls is eternally trapped on.

Because the rock, Till, is a stern fortress where I can hide from what I relive

every day. Till’s hand that he reaches out to me during the song gives me

something to hold on to. And the boat that he paints so clearly in my mind, the

boat he stands on and being dragged by the rest of the band… I know I’ll move

forward. The music intensifies and I can see the canvas getting pulled.

And despite the calming shadow the music throws over me on my journey, I’m still all alone.

The song is from 1995, the first album Rammstein made. The band was once, just like today,

renewing and the only band of their kind. Rammstein isn’t for the broad crowd, and the accept from society has been absent, if not gone. No wonder he felt alone.

Till holds a light over me when he sings. I identify completely with these emotions. I feel like he’s right beside me when I stand before this light. Not just any light, it’s a flicking and weak light. It’s the only place I don’t feel wrong… I feel protected and sheltered in the only way that feels right.

People are trying to steal my light, and Till is the only one guarding it. My heartbeat synchronizes with the pulse of the drums and Till’s voice is guiding me forward – but not home.

Even though he captures my heart and takes my hand, I still have to live.

Till is only the messenger, the only one who’s both reality and fantasy. Sad he sings this hymn, a warning, a painting of my soul that he’s the only one who sees clearly. He doesn’t fully interfere, it would reveal what he does for me for too many people. He shows me a way, but he asks me to lay the bricks on the road myself, out of dreams and my chain of thoughts.

The dawn lies on the other side in this tale. Men tilts their heads in order to try and understand better, but Till knows; he’s seen it all before. Time stops. And he knows how cold I am. I find the only thing I have true passion for, the only thing that never lets me down, is him.

But people will never understand.

The last verse about the cruelty of the night, Till’s explanation – the sea we all come from – Just witnesses how hard it is to live right now, how easy it is to live in the past and in another reality

– The reality: Rammstein.

Music is the boat of death that we step into –through-

the music, that guides me in, and unable me to escape again. He’s on the boat

that saves me from all the dead places in my mind.

Understanding Rammstein

I’ve decided on having a bit of a different approach on this entry. Instead of writing about a particular song, I’ve made a bit of an analysis instead.

Recently I’ve been reading a lot of essays with different aspects and views of Rammstein, and it has made me think about something as simple as… What does Rammstein mean to people who do not understand the lyrics? How do they come across, and why is it this particular way? What kind of people do Rammstein attract, and how do they interpret the music? 

Richard Z. Kruspe even admitted that “99% of the people don’t understand the lyrics”. But existing since 1994 and with more than fifteen million records sold worldwide, the controversial and complex word-play that flows throughout Rammsteins lyrics, some of their other aspects must appeal. Such as sound and performance. I’ll try to define that here, and try to focus on addressing how Rammstein can appeal to audiences, even in political spectrums. 

Rammstein determined themselves as Neue Deutsche Härte when they first started. Their music is heavy, it’s militaristic and their image is hyper-masculine (For example, if one would take a look at the Herzeleid cover), and their use of Nazi-Era themes (Example, for their video “Stripped”, they used Leni Riefenstahls controversial film Olympia) has fueled the accusations of being Nazi-sympathizers. While at the same time, we have left wing supporters, such as Alec Empire (anarchist musician), who insist that “they are not a fascist band at all.”

While writing this essay, I had to ask myself what group I fell into before I learned the German language. And safe to say that none of them fit me perfectly, even before I knew German, I always viewed Rammstein as a glorification of masculinity, militarism and authoritarian tolerance. Rammstein quickly became a fix for me to get through the day; they fueled me to get myself to goals that I found hard to reach before. It’s not all wrong to say that Rammstein became my fuel for life, and it still is. Looking back, it would be a lie for me to say that Rammstein had not had an impact on every positive thing happening in my life so far. There is no way for me to describe how Rammstein energizes and motivates me. Their music can motivate me to push myself, to believe in myself and to become a better person. 

With Rammstein’s complex style and themes to matter in mind, the obvious questions under consideration are how Rammstein can be interpreted when focusing on their extra-lyrical content – Which would be their sound, performance, artwork, interviews and videos – and -why- they can appeal to audiences across the political spectrum.
I’m going to argue that Rammstein’s broad appeal is simplified by the character of their artistic form, which I would describe as Meta modern and not unclear, as some would call it.
It’s a mix between a modern interest and a postmodern irony.  

Artwork, sound, performance and music videos must appeal to a wider audience. I believe that they are well aware of the fact that their videos and such will be interpreted from every possible angle and view. So in a way, they always make sure to highlight a certain era, the bands references to industrial and technological motifs, their flair for science fiction, gothic and horror themes, all while collecting it all in a beautiful package of morbidity and sometimes hidden social transgression.

Rammstein assembles so many different groups of music. It layers the rough, German vocals, heavy metal guitar riffs, and techno motifs with industrial influences. I believe this definitely has something to do with the amount of people Rammstein has been able to capture, and there is no doubt either that they have some of the most loyal fans in the modern music business.

Rammstein’s music blends these hard drums, ‘non-musical’, and often distorted, repetitive, percussive sounds, built around this industrial machinery that is the band. This could be said to reflect feelings of alienation and dehumanization – with melodies obviously in minor, diminished and amplified tones, with drawn-out chord progressions, which therefore evokes feelings of melancholy, tension and longing, which are then emotionally resolved within the song when it reaches chorus or climax. This is all accompanied by sections of electronic beats and synthesizer riffs and interludes – which is exactly what adds the gothic flavor to their songs. Till’s deep and resonant voice with the harsh timbre, it has the rolling r’s, and his voice varies in songs from a virtually operatic style to a coarse bark. This, along the changing atmosphere in the music, shows diversity in Rammstein’s music.
My beloved boyfriend described it perfectly – “Rammstein masters the balancing between brutality and beauty”.
And from that statement, I will elaborate to my conclusion.

With its ability to mediate the social- temporally spatially and bodily – music is a powerful site of struggle in the organization of meaning and lived experience. Thus, the meanings of Rammstein’s music are a part of society’s overall political fabric, and they are very important for the preservation for the fans own political and moral views. They make songs about things that provoke and force you to think, to make your opinion known to yourself about the given subject. They constantly keep us on our toes mentally.
Rammstein have made a career and flourished by pushing limits and producing debate – making some of them politically touchy – but in doing so their true political messages have stayed hidden to the outside world, the fans too. I have argued that this branches from their works’ meta-modern form, which equivocates between a modernist commitment and postmodern sarcasm.
Rammstein’s show holds moments of each political point that an audience can clasp from their own identity and denotations. For those who don’t understand Rammsteins lyrical messages there is even additional under determination of their works meaning, allowing even more people to form their own ideas and meanings of the music and the videos, performances and what not.
Rammsteins music invites us to dream our own stories of affection, agony, rage, struggle, loss, improvement, conquering and victory.
Today in our post-ideological civilization, perhaps this is the most rebellious and significant section of Rammstein’s work.

Stripped

Stripped live from Völkerball - And Till teasing
an entire audience of poor females!

I’m back again! After a rather long break. Personal things have been keeping me from this blog, but I’m back, stronger and happier than ever, and of course eager to bother people with what mess is inside my tiny Rammstein-obsessed brain. So here we go!

Stripped. One of the only songs that Rammstein has done in all English.

Most people appear to, most of the time, only acknowledge this brilliant song for the vibes it sends out. No doubt that this is a very erotic song, Tills deep voice and electric guitar makes it easy to understand why a lot of people tend to view this as one of the most erotic songs by Rammstein, and on this layer, I will agree with them.

But I do believe that this song works on several powerful layers.

An imagine from the movie "Metropolis".

There’s a certain nostalgia that hits me when I listen to this song, and think outside of the obvious sexual intention. Being the sucker for German history that I am, my thoughts reflect back to a very certain time period in Germany. What I think about is the period around the late 20’s and 30’s.

The song uses the name Metropolis. It’s a sci-fi movie from 1927. “You’re breathing in fumes; I taste when we kiss”. Now this line becomes very relevant, as Metropolis is portrayed as a huge industrial city, which is constantly covered in smoke which produces fumes.

To prove this point, I also want to include the recordings that Rammstein decided to use for this song.

Rammstein used Leni Riefenstahl’s recordings of the movie “Olympia” from 1938, which I also believe that they did to emphasize on the specific period, and not to cause all the fuss that they had afterwards with all the nazi and political accusations. 

All of these nostalgic perspectives renews the lines of the song where he sings “Come back to the land”. It is as if he beckons us to come back to the Germany that existed back in the 30’s, and as he continues “Where everything’s ours”, which in my opinion gets scarily close to what happened in World War II, but clears it out with “For a few hours”, and reminds us that this is only a short nostalgic reminiscence.

From Leni's "Olympia". 

Rammstein, and Till especially, always seemed to be directly against mindless consumerism. In many interviews, he claims that traveling is one of his greatest joys, and that he dislikes staying in the big cities for too long; it makes him depressed.

In many other of his lyrics, he launches an attack on the capitalistic USA, and the consumerism that comes as a result. Just listen to “Amerika” for further confirmation.

“Let me hear you make decisions without your television. Let me hear you speaking, just for me” seems to me like a blatant attack on consumerism. The lyrics clearly imply that the person is not able to make a decision for themselves without having to consult their TV (phone, computers, etc). It makes you think of a mindless person, almost a drone, or a ‘slave’ worker from Metropolis. “Let me see you stripped” could also apply for this person, the urge to strip them from all the products that enslave him/her, simply to find personality in this person, find some core and life.

So what do I think this song is saying?

A story about how things used to be. Before the consumerist society. Till takes us on a nostalgic trip back to society before the introduction of the consumerist mindset. A time before Mc Donalds, TV, Starbucks, MTV, the internet, everything that we can associate with consumerism. Maybe to find the values which we have forgotten, since he wants us to be “stripped” from all of these things. 

Ein Lied

A pair of big, strong and warm imaginary arms wraps their way around my body and tiny brain when I listen to this song. Ein Lied. Allow me to start this entry with Blaise Pascal’s famous quote: “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.”

And let me just disagree. Because, there is indeed a hole inside of us all, that people fill differently. Some with money, travelling, marriage, drugs, philosophy, career. We really are looking for salvation all over, and many people never really succeed in finding the one thing that they can just lose themselves in, forget about the world and restore their energy.
I was lucky enough to find Rammstein. My solution, my comfort, my source to energy. A place I can always go to be myself, to be understood and to explain things that I cannot explain myself.

This song helps me in so many ways; Ein Lied comforts me when I’m upset, it helps me relax if I feel tense, and all in all it just makes me feel safe. I’ve never experienced this feeling elsewhere, the song opens a haven inside of my head, a place where I can go to get relief, to unwind and even to receive a big, warm psychological hug after a long day.

Photo of me, taken by my beloved Julie.
A little attempt to show my 'haven', with my beloved guitar faithfully by my side.

I go to my own safe-haven,  where I can let the music consume me, fill me and restore me.
The song has an almost “Guardian Angel” feeling to it, I feel a promise being given to me, that the band will always be there. It encourages me to be the best person I can be, “Wer Gutes tut, dem wird vergeben, so seid recht gut auf allen Wegen.”, and I aspire to meet my own standards every day.

Unlike most Rammstein songs, it’s played in a calm manner, turning the focus to the bass and Tills voice mainly. Not initially something I would have expected from a singer with such a naturally aggressive register. But it really does show how versatile the band, and especially Tills voice is.

For many people, they will probably be able to relate to the feeling of having something in their life happening to them, that they have never actually felt that other people ever quite understood completely. Maybe even something traumatic that they don’t feel they can vent in any other way than to listen to music that explains. One of the major reasons that I adore Rammstein for what they are.
If you want it to, music can always pull you through the darkest of nights; all you have to do is to let it.

Because, truth is, music reaches everyone. It matches everyone, regardless of your religion, political views, preferences and race.
This is what this song is to me. It expresses my love for music, my relief, my salvation. No matter the situation, music can soothe it. It’ll make you feel better in the morning, it will offer you hope to pull through, and give you the energy to fulfill your dreams.

Yet another photo of me, taken by Julie.
Nothing more to say really, than "Music - my savior." 

Weißes Fleisch

Weisses Fleisch… Oh, the controversy! One of the most aggressive songs, both lyrically and musically.
I’m going to do something a bit different this time, given that I actually have a college degree in music, and thought I’d put that into use. Most importantly because I feel that one of the things that makes Rammstein such a different, interesting band, is the way the music completely compliments the lyrics, blending together into an insanely perfect mix. 

Judging from the key signature, I would assume that the key is either D-major or H-minor. There are no other indications other than the two crosses in the beginning of the song, and after having played both scales on piano, both could fit the song. 

Weisses Fleisch is a song consisting of 109 measures and is played with 132 beats per minute, and a time signature containing of 4/4. There is no real dissonance to compliment the harmonics, because the song is played in an anti-harmonic way that helps underline the lyrics.

Now to talk about the lyrics! 

People often take this for a song about a pedophile raping an under aged girl. I’ve always had a different view on the song, maybe because I’ve liked it even before I knew German. What I seem to find myself agreeing on, is that the song is about a psychopath, or at least a persona containing some tendencies, enough to have the urges that a BDSM relationship requires. I made that sound an awful lot more negative than I meant to, but rest assured, I have nothing against such. Anyways, the point!

I believe the song symbolizes a somewhat atypical S/M relationship. The black blood mentioned coming from Till isn’t necessarily literal, but underlines his dark urges to have his way with the girl with the white skin and white dress, expressing a classical view on innocence. “Mein schwarzes Blut versaut dit das Kleid.”
It explains the way a person can get sexually aroused from causing pain to other people, the need to soil another person’s innocence in order to feel superior. “Rote Striemen auf weisser Haut, ich tu dir weh und du jammerst laut” clearly indicates spanking or such, leaving marks behind on the white, pure skin.
The beginning of the “Schulhof”, the schoolyard doesn’t indicate that it is a child to me. More like a metaphor that the punisher is older than her. She surrenders to him, because he is physically superior to her, bigger, taller and stronger, and she acts as a tool to his needs.

This is one of the most erotic songs from Rammstein in my book, having all the good aspects playing up and uniting to a beautiful anthem of a twisted facet of perversion, the urge to make the pure, innocent and untainted dirty, and the trust and expectation from the “white flesh”. And I adore Rammstein for putting out there instead of making a taboo. 

Photo of me, taken by my amazingly talented friend Julie,
attempting to portray the passion, lust and pervesion of the song.
And also because I'm amazingly pale!