{"id":532,"date":"2016-02-23T02:24:35","date_gmt":"2016-02-23T02:24:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=532"},"modified":"2016-02-23T02:29:33","modified_gmt":"2016-02-23T02:29:33","slug":"ftv-du-hast-or-du-hasst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=532","title":{"rendered":"FTV: Du Hast or Du Hasst?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are some bands that I have avoided over the years, Rammstein being one of them. \u00a0I only heard a track or two from them in the past and had written them off as a \u2018too\u2019 band: \u00a0too industrial sounding, too repetitious, too German, and just plain too foreign for me to like. \u00a0More recently, I happened to watch a bit of a 2005 concert DVD they recorded in an outdoor arena in Nimes, France and I got pulled in by the sheer spectacle of their live show. \u00a0I am not a huge fan of theatrical rock, but I had to give them credit because they stage their concerts in a way that makes perfect sense for their music. \u00a0From the other shows I have looked up, I am guessing that they also don\u2019t repeat their \u2018themes\u2019 from one tour to the next. \u00a0Perhaps they have taken their reinvention lessons from Cher or Madonna.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Rammstein\u2019s story began behind the Berlin Wall where the six musicians in the band got started. \u00a0Before the wall fell, life in East Germany wasn\u2019t terrible for them, but there were severe limitations placed on musicians. \u00a0Everyone had to have a job and only certain types of music were permitted if you wanted to work as a musician. \u00a0There really weren\u2019t any professional pop bands, only amateurs who labored as basket weavers, boilermakers, tool makers, and so on (and yes, these are the day jobs some of them held when the GDR still existed). \u00a0The bands they formed were mostly done on the sly and they remained underground for the most part until the reunification.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Originally a foursome, guitarist Richard Kruspe, drummer Christoph \u2018Doom\u2019 Schneider, bassist Oliver Riedel and vocalist Till Lindemann won a an amateur band contest in 1994. \u00a0First prize was the opportunity to record a four track demo. \u00a0Guitarist Paul Landers liked what he heard on their demo record and shortly after hearing it asked to join the band. \u00a0His former bandmate, keyboardist Christian \u2018Flake\u2019 Lorenz, was reluctant to follow Landers but eventually, they became the final pieces of a band whose members have remained unchanged since then.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Kruspe was highly influenced by American rock bands, particularly Kiss, but in the end, he found that writing that kind of rock music didn\u2019t suit him. \u00a0\u00a0Rammstein decided they wanted to pursue a musical concept that would meld heavy rock and machines. \u00a0The grinding guitar riffs and repetitive vocal lines certainly give their music a mechanical feel. \u00a0Their other conscious decision was to stage elaborate concerts with a lot of pyrotechnics added to the machine-like sets. \u00a0The pyro is such a big part of the show that Lindemann pursued formal training in the field, which is probably a good idea if one likes the idea of remaining untoasted on stage. \u00a0Rammstein uses a LOT of pyro!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Kruspe, Landers, and Riedel do the heavy lifting in their live shows. \u00a0The pulsating riffs they churn out drive the music, well, like a fine tuned machine. \u00a0Schneider isn\u2019t a flashy drummer, but he also does his part to make the music chug along. \u00a0Lorenz isn\u2019t a typical keyboard player as his job seems to be more as a \u2018colorist\u2019 who connects the song\u2019s lyrical parts together. \u00a0Lindemann writes most of the lyrics and his vocal style is best described as \u2018guttural\u2019, but it fits their music. \u00a0I don\u2019t particularly like Brian Johnson\u2019s voice either, but it fits the music of AC\/DC perfectly. \u00a0\u00a0Schneider says he doesn\u2019t like their first album as much as the later ones because, \u201con the second one, Till began to sing more than growl.\u201d \u00a0One would never accuse Lindemann of being a crooner, but it works for them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Whatever issues I had with \u00a0Rammstein\u2019s music were greatly tempered by the crowd reaction I saw in the DVD of the Nimes concert. \u00a0I checked out shows in Europe, Canada and the United States from various years and the more I watched, \u00a0the more amazed I was at the level that the audience interacts with the band. \u00a0The audience becomes part of the show and it doesn\u2019t seem to make one bit of difference that most of the lyrics are in German. \u00a0The band had considered doing more of their songs in English, but decided that they could express themselves better in their native tongue. \u00a0Indeed, there are nuances in the German language that allow them to write lyrics that work on multiple levels.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of their first singles is entitled <\/span>Du Hast<\/span><\/i> which translates as \u2018<\/span>You Have\u2019<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0\u00a0I was a little mystified when I saw the English subtitles that ran with the Nimes concert. \u00a0\u00a0They show the crowd singing \u2018<\/span>You, You Hate, You Hate Me\u2019 <\/span><\/i>in a massive sing along with Lindemann. \u00a0<\/span>Du Hasst<\/span><\/i> does mean \u2018<\/span>You Hate\u2019<\/span><\/i> and it sounds just like <\/span>Du Hast (\u2018 You Have\u2019)<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0Lindemann performs the song as a twisted version of the traditional German wedding vows eliciting a huge \u2018nine\u2019 (no) when he asks about future fidelity to the bride. \u00a0There are a lot of double meanings in Rammstein\u2019s songs – even in their name.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They were originally called <\/span>Rammstein-Flugschau<\/span><\/i> (Rammstein Airshow)<\/span> in reference to the 1988 tragedy that killed 67 onlookers and three Italian pilots at the Ramstein US Air Force Base airshow. \u00a0Landers claimed that the extra \u2018m\u2019 in their name was a mistake, yet when they became more widely known, they changed their tune and said the name comes from the large stones that were used to prop open gates called Rammsteines. \u00a0The extra \u2018m\u2019 does make the name translate as \u2018ramming stone\u2019, however, the first song they wrote as a band (and has been played on just about every tour) was <\/span>Rammstein<\/span><\/i> and it describes the airshow tragedy, not a gate prop. \u00a0Add to this Lindemann\u2019s habit of donning two flamethrowers to punctuate the live version of <\/span>Rammstein<\/span><\/i> with large columns of fire, and the band name backstory seems to be a bit of revisionist history at work.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Kruspe said that when they finally realized their dream to play Madison Square Garden, they were not sure how the American audience would react to their mostly German lyrics. \u00a0The show sold out in twenty minutes, which removed some of the doubts they were having. \u00a0He laughs when he recalls playing one of their better known songs in America called <\/span>Sehnsucht, \u00a0<\/span><\/i>which translates as <\/span>Yearning.<\/span><\/i> \u00a0They got the expected crowd sing along but instead of singing <\/span>Sehnsucht, <\/span><\/i>the American audiences would sing <\/span>Chainsaw<\/span><\/i> which is lyrically just a little bit different than <\/span>Yearning, <\/span><\/i>but as Kruspe said, \u201cIt works for them, it works for us.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Listening to them describe making the video for <\/span>Sonne (Sun),<\/span><\/i> I found that they are a typical band. \u00a0They haggled over a concept for the video with Lindemann favoring a boxing theme. \u00a0Riedel happened to see a clip of <\/span>Snow White<\/span><\/i> and they suddenly clicked on an idea that had them playing dwarves mining gold for a Snow White who is a little more tyrannical \u00a0than Walt Disney\u2019s. \u00a0Working with a normal scale set and a reduced scale set to give their Snow White the proper size perspective (versus their reduced size as dwarves), they commented that it was hard to film them in the correct size, with the exception of Landers who, \u201cmay have to be made larger because he is so short to begin with\u201d. \u00a0\u00a0Typical band stuff. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0While I do like the sense of humor and the spectacle of most of Rammstein\u2019s music, there are some elements that they purposely put out to shock their audiences. \u00a0Some of their bits are not as bad \u00a0(Gwar, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie) or as comical (Alice Cooper, \u00a0the Finnish monster band Lordi, or Ghost) as some bands I have seen, \u00a0but lewd just doesn\u2019t do it for me. \u00a0\u00a0Lindemann and Lorenz were arrested in Massachusetts after one particular performance. \u00a0\u00a0I only had to watch a few seconds of part of that show to agree with the decision. \u00a0I am not big on censorship in the arts, but in cases where a band goes too far with the shock-o-meter, I do know how to change the channel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Rammstein is currently ending the second year of a band hiatus that has its members working on various solo projects. \u00a0Krupse said during these breaks that they generally have a yearly band meeting to decide if they will tour or continue their break. \u00a0Time will tell if they will come together for yet another elaborate tour or go their separate ways, but there is more than enough material out there in videoland for even the most rabid Rammstein fan. \u00a0You may \u2018hast\u2019 or \u2018hasst\u2019 Rammstein at your own pleasure.<\/span><\/p>\n

The video clip shows them tweaking American inflence around the world with a little swipe at the authenticity of the Apollo moon landings. \u00a0Parts of the video were shot with the band ‘playing’ at double speed so when the playback was slowed down, it would give it more of a ‘spacy’ quality. \u00a0The band says it was a challenging shoot to say the least. \u00a0It remains a popular part of their live show.<\/p>\n