Rammstein's 10 Biggest Controversies
9. Da, Das Ist Mein Teil
Rammstein’s lyrics over the years have covered many boundary-pushing topics. The band refer to their choice to cover these subjects not as praise but choosing to hold a mirror to the darkness of society to challenge their listeners and the media.
In 2004, the band selected one hell of a lead single for their upcoming Reise, Reise album in the humorously titled Mein Teil (“my part”, the German equivalent of saying “my thingy”). A silly title for a truly dark tale. The text of the track was centred around cannibalism, directly inspired by the case of Armen Meiwes that vocalist Till Lindemann called “so sick and so fascinating that there has to be a song about it”. Meiwes was imprisoned for posting an ad online looking for a man whom would allow him to remove and consume their sexual organ. In fact, whilst not present on the album, the single edit of Mein Teil features the exact wording of the internet advertisement as spoken word.
Whilst the music video that accompanied the song did not reflect the story itself, it was a very clear display of dark and violent human emotion. The controversy saw MTV take the music video off its normal airtime, restricting it from playing before 11pm. Furthermore, Armen Meiwes himself did not appreciate the release and brought a lawsuit to the Rammstein door claiming that they had used his story without permission.