Rammstein Group Net Worth

Biography of Rammstein

Rammstein is a legendary German rock band that has been delighting millions of its fans since the early 90s with an original combination of heavy rhythms with a brutal performance style and spectacular special effects that turn their concerts into an epic show. The participants themselves characterize their style as industrial metal with elements of hard rock, electronic music and alternative directions.

From the very beginning of their joint creative activity, the musicians relied on rude, “growling” performance of vocal parts, provocative lyrics, sometimes not entirely politically correct, and pyrotechnic shows, which have become an integral attribute of all performances.

History of creation

The future members of the cult group were born in the mid-sixties in the GDR and, unlike their peers from West Germany, grew up in some isolation from the rest of the world. They didn’t know each other as teenagers, but they were all into music, listening to hard-earned records from cult American rock bands, and dreaming of starting their own.

Perhaps the lack of freedom and protest moods that began to soar in the air in the late eighties, and persuaded the guys to create their own musical group, which would be fundamentally different from what the local music industry offered at that time. In the GDR, it was not possible to implement the provocative ideas that were born in their heads due to strict censorship. In addition, parasitism was prosecuted by law, and due to employment at the main place of work, there was practically no time left for music. But, fortunately for them, in 1989 the Berlin Wall collapsed, and a wide field for activity suddenly opened up before young musicians.

The founder and ideological inspirer of Rammstein was the guitarist Richard Kruspe, who fled to Germany in 1988. After the reunification of Germany, he returned to his homeland and one by one met Till Lindemann, Oliver Riedel and Chris Schneider. The guys at that time played each in their own group, but after a general acquaintance, they decided to organize their own team.

Over time, the musicians agreed that they should play monotonous, sometimes even oppressive music, vaguely reminiscent of classical German marches. They confirmed this decision by going to America, after which they finally stopped imitating their overseas colleagues and relied on their own national traditions.

For the desired “machine” sound, they needed a keyboard player, and Flake Lorenz appeared in the group. And with the arrival of the second guitarist Paul Landers, the main line-up of the band was completely formed and remains unchanged to this day. It only remained to come up with a sonorous and formidable name that would correspond to the concept of the group.

It is still not completely clear why the musicians settled on the name Rammstein, opinions on this matter vary. Most likely, they liked the sound of this word, which is translated from German as “a stone for a ram” or simply “blank”.

There is a version that the name of the group is associated with a plane crash in the sky over the town of Ramstein, where in 1988 three NATO fighters collided during demonstration flights. Several hundred people were injured under their rubble, and the musicians were often accused of profiteering from this tragedy. And although the group tried in every possible way to distance themselves from connection with this event, there is a song about this incident in their repertoire.

The main stages of creativity

In 1994, the musicians signed a contract with the Motor Music studio, and a year later their first album Herzeleid was released, an international tour was organized in support of it. The audience did not immediately accept the strange German group, which evoked horror with the vocalist’s guttural growling voice and the rattle of musical instruments. To stir up the audience, Till began to set firecrackers on stage, and soon pyrotechnics began to be present at all Rammstein concerts, turning into a kind of calling card for the group.

Soon the team received international recognition. David Lynch used two of their songs as soundtracks for his new thriller Lost Highway, making Rammstein a household name in America and, after their music videos aired on MTV, around the world. However, the group’s relationship with MTV did not work out at first, after Till, who had previously assured the channel’s management that he would not cheat anything in their corporate style, at a live performance in March 1996, nevertheless crushed a bag of fake blood.

In the spring of 1997, the musicians presented a new single, Engel, for which they shot a spectacular video. He immediately took the top lines in prestigious chat rooms, and the next Sehnsucht album, which followed him, went platinum. In support of him, the group went on a large-scale tour of Europe and America, which was a resounding success.

The song “Bueck Dich” (“bend over”) from this album was included in every performance of the band. During a live performance, Till and Lorenz colorfully imitated sexual intercourse, and Rammstein gained a reputation as homosexuals, and in one of the US cities the police arrested the performers and sentenced them to two years probation. “In the precinct, we were forced to wash in the bathroom together. Well, who is the pervert after that?” Till wondered for a long time.

This was followed by a three-year hiatus, during which anxious fans speculated about creative differences within the band and the band’s possible breakup. But in 2001, the album “Mutter” was released, which was recognized as the most successful in the history of Rammstein and took fourth place in the list of the best collections in this musical style.

One of the most memorable songs from the album, “Mein Teil” was based on a true story. In 2001, butcher Armin Meiwes from Rothenburg, Germany, filed an ad in a newspaper looking for a man “to stab.” It didn’t take long to search – a certain Jürgen Brandes was glad to be killed and eaten. Lindemann was delighted: “We cannot ignore the story of the cannibal from Rothenburg. It’s so disgusting it’s hypnotizing!” The song received a clip no less frightening than the story itself. According to the already established tradition, the musicians went on a world tour, within the framework of which they also visited the territory of the former CIS. This time, the spectacular pyrotechnic effects were supplemented with new attributes in the form of an inflatable boat and numerous extras in baby diapers.

In 2004, Rammstein delighted fans with the next collection “Reise, Reise”, which, despite a slightly changed style, went platinum again. In the fall, the musicians went on a large-scale tour, visiting Russia again, and since January of the following year, they took a time out and went about their personal affairs. Fans did not expect to wait for a new collection soon, but what was their surprise when the next Rosenrot album was released in the fall, which received many prestigious music awards. The presentation of the sixth studio collection Liebe ist für alle da took place in autumn 2009 and was marked by a huge scandal. The album was sharply criticized by state regulatory authorities for inappropriate artwork and the lyrics of one of the songs, which were seen as propaganda of violence and sadomasochism. The open sale of the album was banned, as was the sale to minors. Some of the discs were destroyed, and some were frozen in a warehouse, which caused the group to suffer considerable losses.

This is not the first case of this kind: the musicians have been accused of glorifying the aesthetics of the Third Reich, demonstrating bare body parts and defiant behavior on stage, and some of their videos were banned from viewing. For example, the clip “Pussy” – its full version “without cuts” was presented not on music channels or YouTube. The musicians immediately posted it on the site with an 18+ video. What was subsequently played on TV is a stripped down version.

Scandals

Outrageous and Rammstein go hand in hand all these years. It is not surprising that the group was disliked in Russia. How many times the home-grown guardians of morality tried to ban the collective, do not count. Here are just a few of the episodes.

Deputy Vitaly Milonov tried to fine the group for promoting same-sex relationships, and retroactively: the group’s concert took place on February 13, and the law banning the propaganda of LGBT views was adopted on the 29th.

In 2013, Dmitry Sivirkin, a Samara deputy, went up against Rammstein. After watching a recording of the group’s concert from the Rock on the Volga festival, where they traditionally performed “Bueck Dich”, imitating sexual intercourse and pouring foamy water that imitates sperm on the audience, he stated the following:

– Whom did young Russians slip as a spiritual bond? It’s disgusting that this vulgar and cynical porn nonsense has become the apotheosis of, in general, a well-conceived event.

In 2016, LDPR deputy Roman Khudyakov prepared a report addressed to Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky, demanding a ban on the sale of Rammstein discs in the Russian Federation in connection with “propaganda of sadism, incest and cannibalism.” By the way, earlier this parliamentarian tried to ban a hundred-ruble bill (the deputy saw a sexual organ on it near the statue of Apollo depicted on it).

In the same year, Till announced that his group would no longer come to Russia because of the completely overflowing anti-Western propaganda. He was furious because of the photos circulating on RuNet, in which a portrait of Putin was added to him in a photo editor on a T-shirt. In addition, the Russian media erroneously attributed to him the authorship of the phrase “Putin is the most popular politician in Germany, and even Angela Merkel can envy him.” The leader of Rammstein decided not to make any political statements, but hired lawyers to defend his honor and dignity.

Discography

• Herzeleid (1995)
• Sehnsucht (1997)
• Mutter (2001)
• Reise, Reise (2004)
• Rosenrot (2005)
• Liebe ist fur alle da (2009)
• Rammstein (2019)

Rammstein now

In 2017, rumors spread about the group’s breakup. Western tabloids, citing a German source, reported on Rammstein’s farewell tour, which is supposedly scheduled for 2019. Members of the team did not officially confirm this information. Moreover, in April 2018, photos from the studio appeared in the official community of the group with a promising caption “in progress”. “I think this will be our last album,” Kruspe said in an interview.

In May 2019, after 10 years of silence, Rammstein finally presented to the public a new album, consisting of 11 songs and bearing the band’s name. In support of the disc, the Germans gave a large-scale tour, the main symbol of which was a large burning match – similar to the one depicted on the album cover. The first single to get a video clip was the song “Deutschland”.