German court rules sado music 'not harmful' to youth
mainIt has earned them two years’ worth of headlines and high sales but the game is over for Rammstein, the hardcore German band. A track titled “Ich tu dir weh” (I wanna hurt you) from the Love is For All album, whose promo video featured real-life porn stars, has been taken off the protection Index for young people by a court in Cologne. Apparently, sadism is fine in pop music so long as it fits within a stable, loving relationship, or some such free-speech legal eyewash.
Rammstein won’t mind. They’ll feature sheep slaughter on their next release. And Universal will be laughing all the way to the bank. It’s the public that are being taken for fools. There’s a good wiki article on the background.
If they want real sado they must put music to political rallies
Rammstein is very popular with neo-Nazis in Germany and abroad because the band’s lyrics and imagery often have double meanings related to Nazi ideologies. The group denies any relationship to the Nazis even though they have done things like use clips from Leni Reifenstahl’s propaganda films in their videos. The Dresden Sinfoniker has recorded a song cycle by Thorsten Rasch based on the texts of Rammstein. The works tread a fine line between irony and ideology that is rather troubling, especially given some of the reactionary views that are still common in east Germany. Here are a couple examples, though most people in the English-speaking world won’t understand the implications:
Ich Will, Orchesterlied VII
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLXgOqA1Mb0
Mein Herz Brennt, Orchesterlied V
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-saw_CkEMDE