Rammstein singer Till Lindemann on tour in 2023
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The band has so far been rather cautious about the allegations of abuse against the Rammstein camp – after Till Lindemann, keyboarder Christian “Flake” Lorenz is now also being accused of abusive behavior. There are two statements on behalf of the group, one on Instagram, one on Twitter, plus a longer, rather mocking post from drummer Christoph Schneider on Instagram, in which he emphasizes that no law has been broken. Meanwhile, singer Till Lindemann tries to keep the solidarity front of his fans stable with short thanks addressed to his live audience.
Occasionally, the 60-year-old also rewrites lines of text from Rammstein songs, which can be interpreted as an interpretation of his thoughts on the allegations. At the concert on July 15 in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, Lindemann caused a stir with a text change. The song “Angst” (released on the 2022 long player “Zeit”) actually says: “And the fear grows into the night/door and gates are guarded/the backs are wet, the hands are clammy/everyone is afraid of the black man” . In Berlin, however, Lindemann changed the last line. The “black man” in the text became “Lindemann”, so the text line read: “Everyone is afraid of Lindemann”.
At the second concert in the capital (Sunday, July 16) he rewrote the Rammstein classic “Ohne Dich”. In the second stanza, Lindemann replaced the line “Weh mir, oh weh. And the birds sing no more” to “And the singers fuck no more”. Apparently his humorous attempt to set an example of abstinence from now on – regardless of the fact that many of the women who made allegations against him did not report sexual intercourse, consensual sexual intercourse, i.e. “shag”, but made concrete allegations of sexual abuse. There were involuntary actions at after-show parties, with women also recruited in “Row Zero”, also carried out in a room that was located under the Rammstein stage and some called the “Suck Box”.
Till Lindemann denies all allegations of abusive behavior and has engaged his lawyers. The Berlin public prosecutor’s office is investigating against Lindemann.