Rammstein-Deutschland

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xBlackHeartx
Rammstein-Deutschland

Postby xBlackHeartx » 2019-04-01, 1:01

For the record, I just found out about this video today. I used to be a fan of theirs, but haven't really paid much attention to them in quite a while because I lost interest in whole 'dark' thing. And yes, I know Deutsch, so I know what they're saying. In fact, they're the reason I learned German in the first place!

The song, for those who don't know, is about Germans coming to terms with their own past. Its certainly not your typical Rammstein song. They're actually trying to say something serious and important in this one. A lot of people are flipping out over the video though, due to a scene where the band's members portray Holocaust victims (seriously).

I've love to talk about this video, but youtube isn't exactly the best place to have any kind of discussion on anything anymore, but then i remembered this site which I don't really visit anymore. I was hoping to find someone else's thread on the topic, but there doesn't appear to be one, so I decided to make my own.

Personally, even though I'm hardly German, I can fully understand where they're coming from. I'm well aware that Germans don't have the best relationship with their own history. My own German teacher, who was actually from Germany, told us that 'no one was proud to be German anymore'. I've been told that's a bit of an exaggeration, but from what I've seen it is at least partially true.

What intrigues me about this song and video is that, even though it was obviously aimed at Germans, honestly as an American I can identify with what they're saying a lot. America right now is contending with its own dark past which is now making a resurgence. And of course we're having a huge problem with the alt-right, so Nazis, in a way, are also having a negative effect on our own country. I actually wish that they would add English sub-titles to the video, because honestly I think Americans need to this too, for our own reasons. I don't know if that's actually going to happen or not, since foreign music videos don't seem to get subtitles very often. Also, they appear to have disabled the comments on that video, and of course anyone can easily see why.

We live in such a dark world right now. Its feels like the dark era that was the second world war is coming back. A lot of Americans are honestly afraid that we may in fact turn into a dictatorship, or even fall into a civil war. I mean, we seriously have holocaust deniers in office! The alt-right rules pretty much every social media site there is. And no one wants to talk reason anymore, anywhere. I think the video really speaks about what the present era is like. People evil people are wanting to restore the past, and either change, justify, or erase the atrocities committed in the past. The Nazis are seriously returning, and so far, at least in the US, they seem to be winning.

Also, honestly, I would like to have the video explained to me. Yeah, I get what the video's about, but I'm assuming that it contains a bunch of references that only a true German would catch (in particular I'm curious as to whether the 'medieval' outfits you see in the video are historically accurate or not). I'd also like to know what events the brawling scene and the prison scene are referring to. I can find explanations for some things, like the guy in the office and the rockets in the holocaust scene, but they don't cover everything. I also don't get the symbology of the scene with the monks. I believe the woman is supposed to be a personification of Germany (I believe she's supposed to represent a character called 'Germania'). And yes, I know what the lyrics mean, and I already found a video explaining what they reference (such as the one line taken from the German national anthem). The guy in the video, who actually is German, interpreted the song as being about Germans and their relationship to their own national identity.

edit: As for the 'German national anthem' thing, I misread that. I originally thought the text I got that from said that German's don't use their national anthem anymore, but apparently they do, just not that part (and by 'that part', I mean the entire first two stanzas). Oops :oops: I'm sincerely sorry if I offended anyone, I just made a minor mistake with history there. I'm not exactly European here :(

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Re: Rammstein-Deutschland

Postby Tenebrarum » 2019-04-13, 11:56

The song itself is... fine? I guess? Not the best they've done, and the lyrics could be a bit more hard-hitting, with more wordplay as they've always done, and maybe just saying a bit more in general. I find it a bit too sparse and disjunct. It really just says what most Germans already feel about their country - yes, we love this country and it's our dear homeland, but at the same time we can't love it blindly because look where that led us to. That message shouldn't be shocking to anybody with a brain. Digging the electronic sounds in background though.

I also don't get what's the fuss about the video either. It's a glorious hot mess attempting to capture German history in a very Rammstein way. To do that and leave out WW2 and the Holocaust would be a scandal. And I like that they identify with the victims on the gallow, with all the appropriate concentration camp badges. The outfits worn by Germania are just fabulous. The production value blows my mind away. Cinematic, well directed and expensive looking. They're a well established band with lots of money to spend now, and it shows.

("Sonne" played on piano at the end is sublime. If this melody is not a world cultural treasure, I don't know what is.)

What I disagree with is the teaser they released prior. It can be seen as a viewbait and generating words of mouth on the back of Holocaust victims, which left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. A little more context would be more tasteful.

I don't know if you have caught winds of German media, but they were making a big deal out of nothing. (Looking at you, Bild). The head of the Jewish organisation was not happy about it, and then there's the rightwing idiots who think it's anti-Germany. The frontman of Oomph!, the band that kickstarted this Neue Deutsche Härte genre, recently posted on his Facebook accusing Rammstein of being unpatriotic. That's some insane hypocrisy, because they essentially make the same type of music, and with Oomph! being another one of my favourite German metal acts, I couldn't help but feel disappointed. That Oomph! frontman guy seems to be an intelligent person and used to be reasonable and leftwing in the past, but he increasingly buys into those alt-right conspiracies as he gets older, which is sad.

Btw, I'm going to Latvia this August to see Rammstein on their 2019 tour. It's a bit absurd to go from Germany to Latvia to see a German band, but this was the only show that I managed to nab a ticket to, so yolo. This would make my NDH dream complete, because I just saw Oomph! on tour last month 😬 Living in Germany and the EU is worth it after all. I don't want to say that seeing these bands are as important as getting my degrees, but in a way, it is. You truly only live once and it's the experience and memories that count.
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