The fact that Rammstein singer Till Lindemann is repeatedly in the crossfire of criticism because of his lyrics, some of which are explicitly about violence, is nothing new. However, due to the current allegations of abuse, some of his pieces are taking on a whole new explosiveness.
Due to the latest allegations of abuse against Rammstein frontman Till Lindemann, his lyrical work is increasingly coming under fire. In art, of course, it is important to note that the lyrical I is not to be equated with the author. What is certain, however, is that Lindemann’s texts repeatedly contain explicit fantasies of violence of all kinds – including descriptions of sexual abuse and humiliation.
“I’ll Hurt You” (2009)
“I hurt you” was released in 2009 on the album “Love is for everyone”. The video of the song, which was directed by Swedish director Jonas Åkerlund, was published on a porn video platform (as was the previous single “Pussy”). The content of the song: sadomasochistic fantasies, which in the eyes of many critics smack of the dehumanization of the sexual partner. “You bleed for my salvation /A small cut and you get horny / The body is already totally disfigured / It doesn’t matter, whatever you like is allowed’ the piece says, for example — and later in the chorus: ‘I hurt you / I’m not sorry / That’s good for you / Listen how it screams“. Lines like these (as well as a violent depiction in the album’s booklet) prompted the Federal Review Board for Writings Harmful to Young Persons to put the album on the index. According to the verdict at the time, the song was “brutalizing” and “immoral” and endangered the development of young people — against which the band fought a legal battle.
“Gag” (2019)
Also in “Knebel” (released in 2019 on the Lindemann album “F & M”) there are several sadomasochistic violent fantasies. It says something like: “I like the tears on your face I like myself, don’t like myself / The heart is broken, the soul is so raw / And you look at me / With a gag in your mouthd”. Of course, SM aesthetics are something that not only appear again and again in Lindemann’s texts, but also in other aspects of his self-portrayal. For example, in 2018 he appeared at an autograph session in Moscow with a woman whom several media referred to as “SM dog lady”, whom he led on a leash.
“Bend Down” (1997)
The piece “Bück dich”, released in 1999 on the Rammstein album “Sehnsucht”, gets down to business with very sexually explicit text. “‘Bend down!’ I command you’ / Turn your face away from me / I don’t care about your face / Bend down!‘ Lindemann sings in it.
“White Meat” (1995)
In “White Meat” the lyrical self lies in wait for its victim in the schoolyard – and pours out its rape fantasies. “I’m getting hornier and hornier from your screeching / the sweat of fear there on your white forehead / hails into my sick brain‘ it says in the text.
“When You Sleep” (2020, poem)
Last but not least, we don’t want to devote ourselves to a song text, but to a poem by Lindemann. The outcry was great in 2020 when Lindemann published “When you sleep”. Found in his volume of poetry, 100 Poems, the poem could certainly be read as a rape fantasy. “I like to sleep with you when you sleep / When you don’t move at all“It says about it. “A little Rohypnol in the wine (a little Rohypnol in the glass) / You can’t move at all. / And you sleep, it’s a blessing.”
The poem caused a heated debate. Lindemann’s then publishing house Kiepenheuer & Witsch, through which the said collection of poems was published, argued in a statement at the time that Lindemann was investigating “phenomena of violence and toxic masculinity” and displaying them “in his art in an exaggerated, garish, sometimes satirical, sometimes brutal manner ” Job. In the course of the current allegations the publisher has now separated from the musician.