Rammstein's 10 Biggest Controversies
Whether intentional or otherwise, Germany's big metal export have a history of controversy.
In an era where ageing rockers, both fans and beloved performers, cry that rock may well be dead because people just aren’t as shocked as they used to be, we need bands like Rammstein. I realise as I type this “bands like Rammstein” is a misnomer - the German sextet are absolutely one of a kind. Thumping, militaristic metal with the most bombastic and face meltingly pyro-heavy stage show you’ll ever see.
As we draw close to the band’s eighth record Zeit (releasing on Universal Records on 29th April 2022), there is always a certain level of expectation and excitement bubbling under the surface. Not just because the band has a nearly 30 year career of almost non-stop musical success but also because there is always, always a new controversy to be had.
Sometimes it’s intentional, other times it’s completely out of their hands but whatever the case, Rammstein have never shied away from confronting the ruffled feathers that their music and image creates to ask the question “but why does this make you so uncomfortable?”.
10. The First Album Art Controversy
The title of this entry, much like many Rammstein lyrics, has a bit of a double meaning. Not only was there controversy surrounding the artwork for the band’s first full length record, but also it was the first of several throughout Rammstein’s nearly 30 year career. We won’t get too ahead of ourselves but it’s safe to say that the release of Herzeleid really set the stage for the controversy-laden careers of the German sextet.
The artwork in question features the six men shirtless superimposed over a flower. The stark contrast of beauty in nature; masculinity and flesh, the fragility and delicate cycle of life. It was a bold image for a band forging a path, many of which were coming out of fractured relationships that lent the album its namesake “heartache”. However, that was not what some chose to see.
Press referred to the band as “herrenmenchen”, compared the image to the propaganda of Nazi Germany’s “Strength Through Joy” youth campaign and in general called the men supremacists. In North America, the cover got swapped in for a more straightforward photoshoot. The band were shocked by these claims and comparisons and simply chose to laugh it off, with guitarist Richard Kruspe reflecting on it later as “a bad photo” and “more like an ad for a gay porn video”. Hard to disagree with that take, really.