History of the Rammstein group: group, albums, concerts. Rammstein - what is behind the talk about the breakup of the group What the group Rammstein sings about

Music is part of our spiritual development, and musicians try in every possible way to create masterpieces that can truly be listened to endlessly. The Ramstein group is strength, power and stern character rolled into one. The famous one has gained popularity on almost all continents and today occupies a leading position in rock music. Who became a legend and when was the group formed? What compositions have conquered the world and why are the songs of Rammstein (German legend) so loved?

History of origin

The Ramstein group was formed more than 20 years ago, in 1994. The musicians were able to reach the pinnacle of their careers, worldwide recognition and millions of fans around the world. The composition of the Ramstein group is a collection of truly qualified musicians and performers:

1. Richard Z. Kruspe (guitar);
2. Till Lindemann (vocals);
3. (Bas-guitar);
4. (drums);
5. "Flake" Lorenz (keyboards);
6. (guitar).

Today these names are recognizable, but the musicians were working in a joint project long before 1994. Earlier, in 1993, in the summer they were able to win the right to record music in a professional studio at the Berlin Rock Festival. It was this moment that became the starting point, and from this temporary place the life of Rammstein begins.

The choice of name is not accidental!

The Ramstein group performs music of a special class: sharp, impetuous, powerful and extravagant. The harsh style and created image are fully justified by the group’s compositions. Rammstein translated from German means “ram stone”. The performers themselves claim that this name is an exceptional accident that can unite the tragedy that happened in 1988. Then the disaster that occurred during demonstration flights at a NATO base led to enormous losses: two planes collided and fell directly on the spectators. That day, at least 50 people were burned alive, and another 20 seriously wounded died in intensive care. After that moment, the composition of the group Ohne Dich was released, which translates as “Without You”. The Ramstein group is a prominent figure in the music industry, which still delights with new compositions at various rock festivals and, in particular, in the solo performances of the main soloist Till Lindemann.

Till Lindemann - voice of Rammstein

Now it is difficult to imagine another main songwriter in Rammstein. Till Lindemann is the lead singer of the Ramstein group, who was able to bring the group to record chart positions with his voice. The main feature of the group is that they do not “mow” to the West. They are Germans and sing in German, they do not hide their true roots, but, on the contrary, clearly demonstrate their beautiful native land. Till Lindemann is the most prominent figure, he is also the lead singer of the Ramstein group, on whose shoulders the performance of the compositions fell. At the moment, the performer is already more than 52 years old, and he celebrated this date with the release of a solo album. A solo career does not mean that the group is breaking up - they still tour well as a group and earn decent fees from it.

Till Lindemann has a special, hoarse, harsh voice who, until this year, sang exclusively in German. The first solo album was released in English, which amazed fans. In less than two weeks since the video was released on the Youtube channel, Till Lindemann has collected more than two million views.

Music and songs of the group

Those who have a brief idea of ​​what the German musicians Rammstein perform will understand the basic mood of these compositions and their style. The songs of the Ramstein group are sharp, motivational and even sometimes provocative compositions. Their translations from German are sometimes impressive: “How can you even sing about this???” For example, it is enough to read the translation of the song Mutter, the essence of which is “I am from a test tube,” to understand how harsh the composers of this group are in their statements. Although this performance may seem shocking to us, this particular song has become a real legend, a recognizable melody of this legendary German rock band. The most famous songs of the group are considered to be such compositions as Du hast, Rosenrot, Sonne.

Rammstein video clips

It's hard not to notice such an important part of the band's career as video clips. They, like music, received special attention. The songs of the Ramstein group, such as Mutter, Amerika, often have “indecent” overtones, and the video clips fully correspond to the same characteristics. Some “decent” albums and videos for songs are recordings from festivals or concerts, but the older the group gets, the more “unreal” the video clips are made. Main singer Till Lindemann appears completely naked in some songs. On many screens in the country, such video clips are prohibited or shown only at night. The direction gives "challenging" scenarios that perhaps reflect the spirit of Rammstein - tough, powerful and strong...

Till Lindemann is a face, a significant figure who also takes great care of his body - regular trips to the gym allow the singer to look fit and courageous even at 52 years old. The rest of the group members do not lag behind and therefore clearly demonstrate their bodies and even imperfect areas in the video clips.

Rammstein is a legend who is still with us

The German group "Ramstein" is no longer young, but still delights its fans with new compositions and regularly demonstrates that hits that sounded almost 20 years ago are still relevant in rock culture. Rammstein - achieved success with great and hard work. Every festival, every new concert is a challenge. The public that comes to their performances often expresses their emotions in a negative way (flyers, obscene slogans). Till Lindemann is the main soloist of the group, who still delights listeners with his voice, but at the same time is already participating in the creation of his own solo album. Rammstein is real rock, listening to which is a pleasure for connoisseurs of this musical movement.

Over the 22 years of its existence, the German band Rammstein has become one of the most famous groups in the world. Even if you have never seen provocative speeches Rammstein, you’ve probably heard their songs more than once and know the name of the vocalist Till Lindemann.

The German rocker came to Moscow to present a collection of his own poems entitled “In a Quiet Night. Lyrics". This is Till’s first book published in Russia; it contains the rocker’s previously unpublished works in the original, their translation into Russian and provocative illustrations by his friend, the artist Matthias Matthies.

On the eve of the presentation of the book, Till met with a journalist from AiF.ru and talked about his work.

Photo: Eksmo Publishing House

“In Germany, few people are interested in the writers of the past”

Elena Yakovleva, AiF.ru: This is your first visit to Russia as a poet. How do you think your book will be received by Russian readers?

Till Lindemann: Russia and Russian culture can probably be compared with Bulgarian; they have many common features. I was just recently in Bulgaria (in the city of Sofia we filmed materials for our Lindemann project). So, there are a lot of small shops where they sell books, and people read them everywhere: in banks, in parks, on the street. I think that in Russia the situation looks similar. As far as I know, people here still love to read, which means they will read my book.

Here literature and books have a different status than in Germany. Young people in Russia still know and read those writers who belong to the golden fund of national literature: Dostoevsky, Pushkin, Tolstoy. In Germany, to be honest, few people are interested in writers of the past.

— Have you yourself read Dostoevsky and Tolstoy in the original? It is known that you know a little Russian.

— No, unfortunately, I haven’t read anything in the original Russian. In Russian, I know mostly curse words, and my friends are always happy when I utter such expressions (laughs).

— Speaking of swearing, the Russian publishers of your book warn that the collection contains obscene language and is intended for readers over 18 years of age. Is your work really impossible without obscene language? Why don't you avoid these phrases and replace them with more literary expressions?

“I’m not replacing it, because it’s hardly possible to express the same strong emotion in other words.” Strong curse words exist to express strong emotions.

Plus, maybe it’s such a childishness in my character. Like in school when the teacher tells you: “You shouldn’t do that.” And you disobeyed and get a thrill from it.

— Your father wrote good fairy tales for children. Have you ever wanted to write a children's book?

— In fact, I have already written a book for children and even drew illustrations for it, but it is not yet clear when it will be published. Sorry, but I need to watch my reputation (laughs).

By the way, my children's book also turned out to be “evil.” Its main character is my grandson Fritz. Every poem in it is dedicated to him. It all starts like this: “Dear Fritz, take my hand.” Then he and I go to the zoo, ride on the railroad, fly on a plane... At the zoo, for example, we watch how someone is devoured by lions, a plane crashes, train collisions occur on the railroad, and so on. But nothing happens to us: we come out of any situation alive and healthy.

Thus, I become a big hero for little Fritz because I help him avoid bad consequences.

— Yes, an unusual children's book... Have you already read it to your grandson?

— Yes, and he was a little shocked (laughs).

— It turns out that you already have two poetry collections (the first of them, called “The Knife,” was not published in Russia— editor's note) and a children's book. Anything else planned?

— Yes, perhaps a collection of short stories will appear in 2018. But we are still discussing this with the publisher.

— Is there a difference for you between writing a poem and writing lyrics for a song?

— Writing poetry is something that is free from any corset. As for writing lyrics for songs, you need to take into account a lot of different factors: you need to pay attention to the structure, the rhythm, the musical mood. Writing lyrics for a song is like a tailor making a suit. Each song text is written to specific music. And in ordinary poems there is more freedom: put on your swimming trunks and go.

— You write lyrics for songs that you perform yourself. But I know that you don't like to read your poems out loud. Why?

— Singing your own lyrics is also not always easy, but I have the support of the group behind me, we are together. And here you are standing alone, with people in front of you... This is really like a nightmare for me.

I am looking forward with great interest to this evening, when my poems will be read by artists on the stage of the Gogol Center Theater. I'm very curious to see how they do it because I can't imagine how I would do it. I saw a video on the Internet, in which one of the actors reads my poem. He does it fantastically. You can see both passion and work with your hands... I can’t do that.

“My father would be happy for me, but not without envy”

— I’m interested in your opinion about the Nobel Prize in Literature, recently awarded to Bob Dylan for “creating new poetic expressions in the great American song tradition.” To be honest, many in Russia were surprised by this decision, and not everyone considers it fair.

— My feelings are also ambiguous. I don’t know how in Russian, but in German “Nobel” is even a separate word, which means something that is head and shoulders above everything else: nobler, better quality, etc. It is clear that both the life and work of Bob Dylan - These are significant phenomena in culture. But on the other hand, literally this year a writer like Umberto Eco died, and this is on a completely different scale. Again, for me personally. If I were to decide who should be given the Nobel Prize in Literature, I would probably say Eco. But we live in strange times when a real estate dealer becomes an American president...

— Do you yourself expect recognition of your literary work?

- In general, I don’t care. The best prize for me is that the entire print run of my new book is sold out. It's hard to find anything more pleasant about the book. As for the prizes, you receive them, put them on a shelf, they gather dust there - that’s it.

— By the way, do you think your father, a recognized writer, would be pleased if he read the book “In a Quiet Night. Lyrics"?

- I often think about this. I think he would be happy for me, but not without envy (laughs).

— And, of course, the inevitable question: what is Rammstein doing now, what are their plans?

— We are currently working in the studio, recording a new record. I think that if everything goes without problems, we will be able to present a new album in the fall of 2017. And if there are any delays, then in the spring of 2018. This spring we will go on tour and, by the way, we will come here to Russia again.

Those who do not like the work of this group, please do not read further.

1. Rammstein is probably the only band in the world that can turn a love song into a march.

2. All Rammstein songs have meaning, unlike many similar groups.

3. Most Rammstein songs use puns and/or made-up words.

4. Rammstein draws attention to the problems of society through an exaggerated depiction of these problems, even to the point of awakening feelings of hostility.

5. All Rammstein albums feature playing with listeners in one form or another.

6. Many of Rammstein's songs are based on real events, customs or famous works of fiction.

7. The disc "Reise Reise" shows a black box of an airplane. And the hidden track in the European version of the disc is a recording of the black box of the Japanese Boeing 747, Japan Airlines Flight 123, which crashed on August 12, 1985, crashing in the mountains half an hour after takeoff from Haneda Airport. 520 of the 524 passengers and crew were killed. This is the worst plane crash in history.

8. The song "Dalai Lama" is based on Johan Wolfgang von Goethe's poem "Erlkönig" ("King of the Forest"), and has nothing to do with the Dalai Lama except that the current Dalai Lama is afraid of flying.

9. The song "Mein Teil" ("My part", slang for "My dick") is based on the story when the German programmer Armin Meiwes posted an ad on the Internet in 2001 saying that he wanted to meet a man in order to slaughter him and eat him . Which is what he subsequently did. The first lines of the song are the verbatim text of Armin's announcement.
On January 12, 2006, Armin Meiwes, sentenced to 8 years for "unauthorized euthanasia", sued Rammstein for using his name for commercial purposes.

10. The song "Rosenrot" is based on the poem "Heidenröslein" by Johan Wolfgang von Goethe and the fairy tale "Schneeweißchen und Rosenrot" by the Brothers Grimm.

11. The song "Hilf Mir" is based on the fairy tale "Die gar traurige Geschichte mit dem Feuerzeug" by Heinrich Hoffmann.

12. Song "¡Te Quiero Puta!" is currently the only Rammstein song performed in Spanish, and also the only one in which a trumpet is heard.

13. On the cover of the album "Rosenrot" there is a retouched photo of the icebreaker USS Atka, taken on March 13, 1960 in Antarctica, at McMurdo Station.

14. The album "Rosenrot" was originally supposed to be called "Reise Reise Volume 2".

15. Rammstein's videos express a non-standard vision of the song on which they are filmed.

16. The name of the group is ambiguous - on the one hand it is consonant with the name of the city Ra m stein, in which, during an air show at a NATO base in 1988, two planes collided and crashed into a crowd of spectators. In memory of this tragedy, the group wrote the song "Rammstein". The second "m" in the word "Ra mm stein" turns the band's name into a "bump stop" that demarcates highway lanes.

17. Chorus of the song "Du hast" - quotes from a German wedding ceremony.

18. Initially, the title of the song "Du hast" ("You have") was conceived as "Du hasst" ("You hate"), which introduced an alternative interpretation of the song.

19. The chorus of the song "Rosenrot" consists entirely of quotes from Till Lindemann's folder, in which he keeps interesting phrases that he once heard or read.

20. Initially, the song "Spieluhr" did not have the last verse, but since it was a potential hit, it was necessary to add the last verse in which the child is dug up, and major chords sound in the melody, so that even housewives would buy CDs with the song.

21. The song "Mutter" is Rammstein's word against cloning.

22. The song "Links 234" reflects Rammstein's political leanings.

23. The song "Ein Lied" is dedicated to the fans of the group.

24. The so-called Rammstein-TÜV (Rammstein-technical inspection agency, when Rammstein musicians express their opinion about Till's lyrics) forced Til to throw out one verse from the song "Spring".

25. Till Lindemann: Vocals, lyricist. Born January 4, 1963 in Leipzig (father, Werner Lindemann, poet; mother, Brigitte "Gitta" Lindemann, artist and writer). Height is 191 cm. Before Rammstein he was a musician in the group First Arsch. He worked as a basket knitter. Vice-champion of Europe in swimming.

26. Richard Zven Kruspe-Bernstein: Guitar, backing vocals, keyboards. Born June 24, 1967 in Wittenberg. Height is 180 cm. Before Rammstein he was a musician in the band Orgasm Death Gimmicks. Worked as a salesman. In his youth he was a wrestler.

27. Christoph "Doom" Schneider: Drums. Born May 11, 1966 in Berlin. Height is 193 cm. Before Rammstein, he was a musician in the group Die Firma. Worked as a telephone technician.

28. Oliver Riedel: Bass, guitar. Born April 11, 1971 in Schwerin. Height is 198 cm. Before Rammstein, he was a musician in the group The Inchtabokatables. He worked as a plasterer.

29. Paul H. Landers (born Henry Hirsch): Guitar, backing vocals. Born on December 9, 1964 in Belarus. Height is 175 cm. Before Rammstein, he was a musician in the group Feeling B. He worked as a boiler operator.

30. Christian "Flake" Lorenz: Keys, backing vocals, vocals. Born November 16, 1966 in Berlin. Height 201 cm. Before Rammstein, he was a musician in the group Feeling B. He worked as an instrumentalist.

31. Rammstein melodies cannot be played in MIDI version.

32. You can listen to Rammstein for a long time, and their music does not tire you.

33. Snow White in the video for the song “Sonne” was played by Russian actress Yulia Stepanova.

34. Richard Kruspe's daughter, Khira Li Lindemann, is his daughter with the ex-wife of lead singer Till Lindemann.

35. In 2006, Rammstein took the first vacation in its history.

Last update 03/23/2006

First of all, I would like to say that views on the history of the group are sometimes as controversial as the work of the group itself. Various sources provide a wide variety of information about the group, and usually this information contradicts itself. We tried to bring all this information together, weeding out what is logically fiction, and leaving what, in our humble opinion, is true. Many thanks to those who translated the articles and interviews that served as the basis for the creation of this text.

All this is done to tell you how six ordinary Germans went through more than a ten-year journey from fifteen spectators to fifty thousand crowds of fans, from a tiny Leipzig club to thirty-four countries around the world, from four-track tape recorders to one hundred and twelve thousand watts of sound installations, from several firecrackers and a wooden stage to six-meter pillars of fire and thirty-five tons of steel...

To begin with, let's introduce the immortal composition, noting that no one has a musical career from scratch in " Rammstein"didn't start.