From hard German rock music, to English pop all the way through to American Geek Rock. But it is just proof that I have never really liked a certain genre I've always just liked music.
But the band I'd move the earth for has always been Rammstein.
I don't know why I love Rammstein, I can't even remember how I found them. I know that I was younger then you'd think... Possibly my mum had picked up their album, more likely I picked up the album and my mum brought it (I probably loved the cover art, I mean one reason I got my first ICP CD was because I picked it up and loved the cover work...) But since before I can remember I have loved Rammstein, I don't own albums on CD (I own all the middle albums Mutter, Reise Reise and Rosenrot) but I've brought all their music on iTunes. I also have all their DVDs, only recently buying Videos 1995-2012. I've never seen them live though I hope that changes sometime soon!
So were to start?
Quick History
Rammstein are a German band, all members are from eastern Germany.
Their members are:
Till Lindermann - Singer
Richard Z. Kruspe - Guitarist
Paul Landers - Guitarist
Christoph Doom Schneider - Drummer
Oliver Reidel - Bassist
Christian "Flake" Lorenz - Keyboardist
They are classed as an "industrial metal" band according to our good friend Wiki, I like to think of them as good heavy rock. Their songs are sang in German (with a few exceptions), their band have been around since about '94. They have 7 albums (their last one was a best of album) and 4 DVDs (2 video and 2 live DVDs.)
What everyone seems to know about Rammstein is that their live shows have a lot of fire. I believe once I heard a interview that said they didn't really know what to do on stage so they brought the fire element in. They use a wide range of pyrotechnics, and when you watch the videos or see the photos from live shows you know it is something special.
All band members are now in the 40s (Till is 50!) that isn't important really, I just like telling people that because I think they all look magnificent for men reaching their 50s (other than Ollie who is only 41! He is the baby of the band.)
They don't really have a "image", well if they do I wouldn't like to say. Personally I think they are the most unique looking band, and they don't relay on make up or gimmicky costumes for it. They just look unique, they are real men even if Richard does wear heck of a lot of make up at times.
Band Members
I can't really tell you a favorite band member, I love them all to pieces. If I had to choose a group of favorites it would be Paul, Christoph, Richard and Ollie. That only leaves Till and Flake and I always feel bad saying that so I always end up just saying the lot of them. Which is the truth! I like them all for different reasons.
When I was younger I used to fancy Richard, as I grew up Schneider was everything to me. Paul always makes me laugh in interviews, he has the kind of personality I wish I had and if I could meet one member it would probably be Paul because I would just want to see if he's bigger than me. I don't know why I like Ollie, there is something about him that just seems so calm and normal. Tills voice is something I hear every day, in fact I probably hear his voice more than my mums at the moment! And Flake makes me laugh, I love how he seems to be anti everything in some interviews.
The thing I think I love most about the members is that they don't try and fit in. They don't dress in a way that would make them a generic band, it wouldn't work anyway as their music is too unique. Their videos aren't generic rock videos either. To be honest you could look at a photo of them and think "fuck I don't want to meet one of them in a dark alley" then you watch a Making Of video and by the end of it your dream is to spend even an hour in the presence of all of them.
I've always loved their interviews, they seem to have so much to say and I'd love to sit down and just spend a day talking to them.
You see if pushed I'd have to say Schneider or Paul are my favorite members because my life just gets taken over by photos of Schneider and I quote Paul all the time!
Songs
If its hard choosing a favorite out of 6 band members its near on impossible to find a favorite song!
Even though I have a lot of Rammstein on my phone my Rammstein play list is:
Engel, Du Hast, Ich Will, Mein Teil, Amerika, Moskau, Ohne Dich, Benzin, Mann Gegen Mann, Rosenrot, Te Quiero Puta!, Sonne, Asche zu Ache, Sehnsucht, Pussy, Liebe ist fur alle da, Haifisch, Mein Herz Brennt, Los, Reise, Reise, Amour, Stirb nicht vor mir, Mein Land....
Oh you get the bloody picture! I have every other song on there just not all of them are in the play list... Not because I didn't want them in the playlist mind you, they just somehow never got added to it... Yeah that'll be changed.
I love Pussy I have to say. Yeah, yeah alright it isn't the best song to admit to being in love with but no matter how I feel, what is going on, where I am or how important whatever I'm doing is the moment I hear that come on my phone, even just by the opening bars I start to smile inanely and within seconds am laughing.
Liebe ist fur alle da is another that I love just because I want to sing along to it, sucks that languages aren't my strong point and I never did German anyway.
Rosenrot is another that I love, I can kind of sing along to that one as well... In the same way I sing along to the Italian National Anthem (hell it HAS to be done when Ferrari win!)
Engel was probably my favorite until Reise, Reise came out, I love the whistled part of it, I can kind of whistle along to it... Kind of.
Ohne Dich makes me cry and I want it played at my wedding/funeral which ever comes first!
Benzin, Moskau, Te Quiero Puta!, Mein Teil, Mein herz brennt.... I tell you why I love these so much, because I watch F1 with the mute button on and these songs playing and it really makes everything more exciting. I love watching Alonso wins whilst Te Quiero Puta! plays I don't know why but that is my Alonso song. Benzin is my angry race song, Moskau is my Raikkonen song, Mein Teil for some reason ends up being the Vettel song (he is nicknamed The Finger) and Mein herz brennt is just brilliant...
Amerika. Well you can guess why I love that one. Same with Mein Land.
Now with every other band I love there are songs that I can't stand. Most of Make Believe (Weezers fifth album?) sounded like a big love in for some strange reasons, Take That have MANY singles I can't stand, especially when they were a boy band (the man band stuff ain't bad.) But Rammstein, I don't care what their song is, how different one album sounds to another everything is just wonderful to listen to. I don't even care that I don't understand half of it, their songs just mean more to me. Heck Ohne Dich made me cry first time I listened to it, Patience didn't and that was after what 10 years waiting for Take That to get back together?!
Albums
This I can kind of say I have a favorite. I love Rosenrot. Don't ask me why, I just do.
Don't get me wrong I love all their albums but Rosenrot is that one CD I'll never lose.
Singles (Video)
Well now you ask a pretty good question!
Benzin and Amerika are two of the ones I loved because.... Well Schneider dressed as a fireman and an astronaut.... Especially Benzin because he had such adorable hair.
Keine Lust made me laugh. Pussy.... Well... Moving on.
Mein Land is wonderful, I watch it all the time.
Ohne dich made me cry.... Again.
I love how different their videos are and I adore how they will do about anything. I mean just look at Pussy! As I said early they look like these big, burly, scary German men and actually they are just normal fun guys. I love how unlike a lot of videos which are meaningless fluff their videos, even if the story doesn't match the lyrics, have a story. A wonderful, dark story. And when you start learning more about the band (their personalities in interviews and things like that) you end up with Rammstein on stage, Rammstein in music videos and Rammstein the people and its fun watching the videos after you fall in love with the real people. I'm constantly looking at Paul seeing if he's giggling.
DVDs
My favorite DVD is by a wide margin Live Aus Berlin. The first DVD I brought, the DVD that has made me want to see them live. I watch it all the time in the dark to make it feel like its real.
Again I love all their DVDs and have spent most my "me" time this last week watching and rewatching all the Making Ofs on Videos, but I love Live aus Berlin.
Biggest Regret...
I brought my ticket for TNA about a week before Rammstein announced their UK tour. This was in 2011 but the tour (and TNA) were both the beginning of last year. I didn't have enough money for both and I couldn't get money back after paying for my TNA ticket.
It will forever be my biggest regret. I loved going to London, the show wasn't too bad either, but I would have had a better time going to see Rammstein.
I was stuck behind a (funnily enough) 7 foot tall German, hardly saw much of the matches, got hit in the face by James Storms hat just for it to bounce off me (I nearly cried) and spent stupid amounts of money on tickets to "meet" the stars when in fact your book got thrown down the line by the wrestlers and you hardly had time to breath let alone meet them.
I might not have met Rammstein, I could have been right at the back of the room and never see a clear thing happening on stage, but I would have been at a Rammstein concert. It is the bad thing about being out of touch with a certain part of your fandom. I had no clue Rammstein was going to tour because I hadn't been on their website, I don't go to a forum that talks about them and was so into TNA and Doctor Who that they were the only things I thought about. But I would have loved to see Rammstein.
So a conclusion to this blog?
I love Rammstein, I love all the members, I love all the songs, I love all the videos. If it wasn't for the fact Download is so expensive and I dislike most of the other bands going to the festival I'd go see them this year.
Schneider takes over my life at least once a year, I think he is the most perfect human being in the world. That isn't enough to make him my favorite member though, I can't really choose a favorite, but he is probably number one in a list of 100 good looking men.
My one dream that will never happen is spending a day-week with the band, just talking to them, they all seem so interesting I would just love to give them a topic and listen to them talk about it. In fact out of everyone I could ever meet Rammstein are number one. They are an important part of my life. I listen to at least 5 of their songs every day on my iPhone, I play their DVDs at least once a month each. I have a column of photos of them on my wall still. Usually when I sit here writing blogs I'm listening to them.
For people I'll never meet they've probably had one of the biggest impacts on my life. No matter how sad things get they always make me feel better.
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| Making Of video |
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| My column of photos |
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