Mein Teil

Michael Krakowiak

Mein Teil

A nefarious melody roars into the vast darkness, enchanting the masses with its irresistible combination of supersonic resonance, primitive allure and intricately layered, synthesized harmony. Perfectly synchronized with the aural blitzkrieg are explosions, flamethrowers, and fireworks whose united efforts render the stage a blistering inferno. The masses howl in admiration as a lyrical madman stomps onstage in Imperial military regalia, assaulting their senses with a hellish bass. While entirely reminiscent of a scene straight out of Dante's Inferno, this dark opera routinely unfolds in the form of the industrial metal band, Rammstein's, live shows. Rammstein's sensational musical, lyrical and performance style have critics divided, but the evidence to suggest that, since its inception, Rammstein has never failed to ascend to new musical, lyrical and theatrical heights, is undeniable.

Rammstein is a six man industrial metal band formed in 1994. Its members include Richard Kruspe (Guitar), Paul Landers (Guitar), Till Lindemann (Vocals), Flake Lorenz (Keyboard), Oliver Riedel (Bass), and Christoph Schneider (Drums) (Rammstein.de). The band chose the name Rammstein, albeit adding an 'm', in commemoration of the German town Ramstein's American Air Force Flight show disaster in 1988, where 80 people were killed. The band name with the extra 'm' literally translates to "Ram stone", which is often interpreted to mean "battering ram" (en.affenknecht.com). With a name like that, how could they not skyrocket their way to worldwide fame?

To date, Rammstein has released 6 full length studio albums, titled Herzeleid (Heartache, 1996), Sehnsucht (Longing, 1998), Mutter (Mother, 2000), Reise, Reise (Adventure, Adventure, 2004), Rosenrot (Roses-Red, 2005), Liebe ist fur alle da (Love is there for everyone, 2009), and 3 DVDs, Live aus Berlin (Live from Berlin, 1999), Lichtspielhaus (2003), and Volkerball (2006). The most recent record of Rammstein's worldwide album sales is estimated to be over 15 million (Rammstein.de). Despite becoming a multi-platinum selling, world famous heavy metal juggernaut, Rammstein has never shirked its responsibilities in consistently providing the fans with the shocking live performances Rammstein is legendary for.

Most heavy metal bands find it sufficient to provide provocative lyrics about unsavory real life events, and some take it to the next creative level by using harmless props and elaborate makeup to create the atmosphere and get their point across. Rammstein, however, soars into the creative stratosphere by reenacting the scenes the song and live performance are based on to sensational, and even self-detrimental, effects. In the song based on the unfortunate events in the German town of Ramstein, the lead singer, Till Lindemann, oftentimes spends the entirety of the song lit on fire in a body-length suit of chainmail, transforming the song from a mere rendition of the calamitous events at the 1988 air show into a thought-provoking glimpse at the mindset of the victims in their final moments. Braving bodily harm in order to expand the artistic scope of Rammstein's music is a feat that no other band could possibly hope to match. Some critics, such as New York Times' Ben Ratliff, are not amused and go so far as to say Rammstein's live performances are "like dramatic readings of bad poetry" and has moments when it's essentially a German version of Gwar, the American band known for dressing up in superhero costumes and staging elaborate death matches, with tons of gratuitous fake carnage. But Rammstein isn't nearly as loony or inventive. And the music, one-dimensional metal riffs salted with thumping house-music synthesizer breaks, won't save it.

When selling 15 million records worldwide and setting yourself on fire during a live performance isn't enough, perhaps some critics are better left unimpressed. Rammstein's distinction for constantly rising to new creative levels isn't limited to their live performances, however.

In classic Rammstein fashion, the band goes on to prove that their worldwide fame isn't a fluke brought on by live show shock-value sales, in their song "Mein Teil" (My part) from the "Reise, Reise" album. Based on the gruesome Armin Meiwes case, where Meiwes, "a computer engineer from the tiny village of Wustefeld in Germany, cut off the penis of Bernd Brandes, a software designer from Berlin". The "pair had met on the internet...culminating in their both trying to eat Brandes' freshly severed penis. Three hours later...Meiwes decided to finish him off by stabbing him in the throat...eat 20 kg of his flesh, taking the time to film the whole thing."(www.channel4.com). The band, when tackling a topic as grisly and macabre as the Meiwes case, showcases its lyrical talents in fashioning the lyrics to be sung from the perspective of the victim in this case, using a dark, satirical voice, and in doing so blurring the line between comedy and tragedy:

Heute treff' ich einen Herrn

Der hat mich zum Fressen gern

Weiche Teile und auch harte

stehen auf der Speisekarte

Denn du bist was du isst

und ihr wisst was es ist

Es ist mein Teil - nein

Mein Teil - nein

Da das ist mein Teil - nein

Mein Teil - nein

Die stumpfe Klinge gut und recht

Ich blute stark und mir ist schlecht

Muss ich auch mit der Ohnmacht kpfen

ich esse weiter unter Krpfen

Ist doch so gut gewzt

und so sch flambiert

und so liebevoll auf Porzellan serviert

Dazu ein guter Wein

und zarter Kerzenschein

Ja da lass ich mir Zeit

Etwas Kultur muss sein

(Today I will meet a gentleman

He likes me so much he could eat me up

Soft parts and even hard ones [3]

are on the menu

Because you are what you eat

and you know what it is

It is my part - no

My part - no

There that's my part - no

My part - no

The dull blade good and proper

I'm bleeding heavily and feeling sick

Although I have to fight to stay awake

I keep eating while in convulsions

It's just so well seasoned

and so nicely flambd

and so lovingly served on porcelain

And with it, a good wine

and gentle candlelight

Yeah I'll take my time

You've got to have some culture)(Herzeleid.com)

To enhance the dark humor present in their adaptation of these horrific events, the band's live performance of this song plays out in operatic, exaggerated fashion. It begins with the lead singer arriving on stage in a bloodied butcher suit with a butcher knife shaped microphone, dragging along with him a cooking pot large enough to fit the band's keyboarder within it. After singing a few verses, the keyboarder is stuffed into the man-sized pot, after which the lead singer takes a large flamethrower to the bottom of the pot, comically "cooking" the "victim" until he emerges from the pot and begins to run around the stage in a suit of fireworks that explode at random, simulating his being flambd. In most cases, other metal groups don't have the courage to choose a topic so reviled and one that promotes such introspection into the darker nature of humanity, or if they do they render it poorly. As great as their live performances and lyrics are, however, Rammstein possesses a third quality that separates a great metal band from a legendary metal band: The art of the music video.

Unfortunately, fame can often prove to be a double-edged sword in its ability to generate negative press, infamy and blame for a heavy metal group whose best intentions in the pursuit of perfecting their craft are easily warped. Critics are quick to brand Rammstein as the cause for violent events, such as the Beslan hostage situation in Russia, where a hostage situation led to the deaths of 332 people, 186 of whom were students of Beslen's School Number One (Satter 1). Andrew Osman from The Independent notes "Some of the extremists are also known to have listened to German hard rock group Rammstein on personal stereos during the siege to keep themselves edgy and fired up". The most popular music video from the Herzeleid album, Du Riechst so Gut (You Smell so Good), paints quite a different picture when looked at from an objective perspective.

The video tells the story of a woman who attracts the attention of the band members by dropping a handkerchief with her scent on it in the woods, with the band members depicted as werewolves. They track her down to a 17th century mansion where a masquerade is being held, detecting her scent from a distance until they can distinguish her from the crowd. A band member and the woman meet outside, in the rain, and kiss passionately, after which the scene shifts to a bedroom in the mansion. While the woman is undressing and signaling the band member to join her in bed, he opens his shirt to reveal a pack of werewolves that proceed to attack her. The scene shifts to the masquerade downstairs, and the band member walks onto the ballroom floor covered in the shredded dress of the woman they attacked. They quickly disperse into a pack of wolves and run away from the crowd now hunting them, in the end escaping into the darkness in their human forms. The scene returns to the bedroom, where the assaulted woman wakes as though from a deep slumber, now transformed into a werewolf just as the band members were. The music video is a beautiful work of art in its own right, but when used to counter the baseless arguments that Rammstein has done anything to encourage or condone violent school shootings becomes very effective because the video contains no political or ideological agenda. It performs the function that a music video should: to convey the artistic vision of the band in a beautiful, meaningful and thought-provoking way, which Du Riechst so Gut does on several levels.

Perhaps more important than personal success, the worldwide sensation that Rammstein has become has blazed a trail for a new genre of music to arise: Neue Deutsche Harte (New German Hardness), a genre of heavy metal combining heavily distorted guitars, the use of synthesizers, and deep, clean, male vocals. As Claire Berlinski of the New York Times mentions, "Rammstein's commercial success opened the door for pop music in the German language and inspired scores of imitators". Berlinski then goes on to describe her experience of a live Rammstein show: "A huge curtain dropped... The guitarists descended from the ceiling like gods" and the audience was steamrollered by smashing drums, violent bass and the sound of a full choir, amplified to unspeakable levels. The auditory assault was not, however, merely loud: it was thrilling. Rammstein is popular for a reason. Its rhythmic craftsmanship, its eerily hypnotic chords, its command of musical tension and release make much American heavy metal seem childish and anemic (2) Regardless of her positive assessment, she also mentions "Anti-discrimination groups were appalled. Critics were none too pleased, either. "The Neue deutsche Hte," wrote the music journalist Martin Bser, "is playing with fire in many ways, and at the same time is trying to shirk any political responsibility"(2). The question, then, becomes: Why shouldn't they? For all the hysterical, unfounded controversy surrounding Rammstein, their positive impact on the industrial metal music scene is undeniable.

In their tireless pursuit of musical, lyrical and theatrical expression, Rammstein has shocked the masses into a state of sonic overload using outlandish stage theatrics, taboo subject matter and symbolically rich music videos. In their catatonic state of musical ecstasy, Rammstein fans worldwide wouldn't think twice about declaring the band a living legend. Such a distinction is rarely bestowed upon even the greatest among metal bands, and in Rammstein's case it's due to the fact that, since its inception, Rammstein has never failed to ascend to new musical, lyrical and theatrical heights.