Rammstein's 10 Biggest Controversies

Under the scrupulous gaze of Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien (or “the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons”), Rammstein saw their sixth record Liebe ist für alle da added to “the Index”: a record of media that was not fit for the general public to consume.

Subsequently, it was removed from store-shelves for violent sexual texts and imagery. One image in particular on the album’s unfolding sleeve that featured a nude woman straddling guitarist Richard Kruspe’s knee as he raised his hand did the band no favours. But it was the highly sexual lyrics for Pussy and Ich tu dir weh that proved to be a step too far.

In an interview, keyboard Christian Lorenz regretted the lack of appreciation for irony from the board who had made the decision and, when a reworked version of the album returned to high streets a month later, Rammstein made the most firmly Rammstein tongue-in-cheek move possible and changed the tracklisting: placing a horizontal strike through the title Ich tu dir weh, adding that it had been removed because of censorship.

In the ensuing months, the band continued to play the song live albeit instrumentally until performances of the song in any fashion were banned, even when it did not include the extreme BDSM-centric lyrics that caused the upset in the first place. During the spring and summer of 2010, the album found itself freed from its Index prison and Ich tu dir weh became a cornerstone of the Rammstein live setlist.