Rammstein at the Olympia Stadium in Helsinki, May 2023
Photo: Redferns, Venla Shalin. All rights reserved.
Radio one has announced that it no longer wants to play Rammstein songs – even though the public prosecutor’s office has stopped the investigation against Till Lindemann. However, the RBB broadcaster has a plausible explanation for this decision.
A spokesman for the Berlin-Brandenburg broadcasting company responded to a request from the “Berlin newspaper” confirmed that they will not be playing any Rammstein songs at the moment and until further notice. The station, which advertises with the slogan “For Adults Only,” is not known for having many of the band’s songs in its repertoire. Nevertheless, it has already happened that one or two of the band’s songs were played on certain topics and occasions.
The station’s statement now says: “Rammstein songs were not played on summer Sundays; they were not an essential part of the daily program before.” Radio one used the summer Sundays from July 16th to August 27th to play a top 100 on topics such as separation, body parts, scandals and water. The songs for this were selected together with a jury of musicians. Rammstein made it onto the scandal list with three tracks. Unlike the other placements, these songs were not played on the radio.
“Ethical questionability”: Radio one does not include Rammstein in its program
However, “possible criminal relevance” was “never the only – nor the decisive – argument.” “Rather, the ethical questionability of the unchallenged casting system is at issue.” Because: Even if Till Lindemann could not be proven to have committed any wrongdoing from a legal perspective, the musician and those around the band are still accused of allegedly having established or tolerated a selection system , where Lindemann was introduced to female fans.
The broadcaster emphasizes in its statement: “The band has not yet addressed this practice in terms of content. Therefore, Radio Eins is currently sticking to its previous stance.” Therefore, they want to continue to monitor the situation. This also has consequences for Rammstein’s keyboard player. Because Christian “Flake” Lorenz also has to pause his radio show, which also appears as a podcast, until further notice.