Rammstein....I got to tell you guys, at first I had a LOT of issues with this band.
You see, as a european, from the Netherlands, any German band/artist always had a little weird connotation with me. Historically, our countries didn't have the greatest historic past (and that's putting it mildly) so when I first watched a bit of one of their live performance, (this was late nineties, mind you, an not all that long after the events at Ramstein, the illfated airshow accident which gave this band it's name), I was, at least a bit miffed at seeing how they portrayed a burning man on stage. I think, at the time, I just found it all a bit in poor taste, I must say.
Also, the singing in (rather Teutonic, at that) the German language has always felt very...wrong, somehow, to me, again, on the other hand, I never had any problems with listening to Schlager-music (folksongs/popular music) for some strange reason. Udo Jurgens's 'Du' being one of my favorite songs for ever.
Then a (then) girlfriend of mine bought their first two albums and I started listening to their songs a bit more, trying to look further then the first impressions and trying to put aside my personal disstastes for the language and really, REALLY, listen.
I must say, I was rather impressed with their songs. It also became clear pretty quick that there was more than a bit of 'self-parodying' going on here. I still think a lot of people still don't catch that side of them, though. But come on, 'Du riechts so gut', 'Buck dich', 'Dus hast mich'? Listen to the lyrics and you can't do anything other than at least smirk. And the beats are so damn cathy, it's damn hard to sit still.
Then I watched a bit of 'Live at Berlin' and I was fucking blown away by their show and their live sound.
Also, their videoclips were pretty well done and almost always 'tongue-in-cheek'.
So, you'll understand, I had a lot to overcome before I started liking their music, but I've come around pretty damn quick over the lasst couple of years.
Now I just think they're a pretty good band with a great show, but I also think they haven't captured the level of those first two or three albums, maybe even got a little more 'commercial', if you can put a label like that on their music. (there's still always some country banning their album cover art or something).
So yeah, RAMSSTEIN!!!!
Topic: Rammstein Discussion/Appreciation (Read 48717 times)
