Germany (Rammstein-Lied)

Germany
Rammstein
publication	March 28, 2019
length	5:23
Genre (s)	New German Hardness
Author (s)	Rammstein
Producer (s)	Olsen Involtini , Rammstein
Label	Universal Music
album	Rammstein

Germany is a song of the new German hardship - band Rammstein , which was released as the first advance single from their seventh studio album Rammstein, released on May 17, 2019 .

publication

It is Rammstein's first single release with new material since Mein Land from 2011. It was released on March 28, 2019 as a download. The 2-track single contains the original version and a 5:46 minute remix by Rammstein lead guitarist Richard Kruspe .

On April 12, 2019, were CD - single and 7 "single released.

Music and lyrics

The piece of music begins with a synthesizer sequence based on Anne Clark's dark wave hit Our Darkness (1984). Emerging plagiarism to debilitated Anne Clark himself.

The text sung by Till Lindemann already indicates the many conflicts within Germany.

"You
have cried a lot
Separated in spirit,
united in heart"

Lindemann takes up this theme again in the chorus:

"Germany!
My heart in flames
wants to love you and condemn you
Germany!
Your breath cold,
so young and yet so old "

Lindemann later took a stand on the question of love for the country :

"Germany!
Your love
is a curse and a blessing
Germany! I can't give you
my love
"

In addition, the band uses the stylistic device of alliteration with regard to the country in the historical context . She also uses an allusion to the controversial first verse of the former German national anthem, in which Lindemann sings in the transition to the chorus:

“Arrogant, considerate, take over, hand over, surprise, attack.
Germany, Germany above all "

and later:

“Overpowering, superfluous, weary of supermen .
Whoever rises high will fall low.
Germany, Germany above all. "

Music video

The accompanying music video was released on YouTube on March 28, 2019. Two days earlier, the band had published a 35-second teaser in which the band members were shown as concentration camp prisoners with gallows around their necks. At the same time, the director of the music video Eric “Specter Berlin” Remberg published a few short scenes from the video shoot on Instagram .

The video shows scenes from over 2000 years of German history ; from the Germanicus campaigns to Germania magna in 16 AD , to knights , the witch hunt , the November Revolution at the end of the First World War , the hyperinflation in the early years of the Weimar Republic , the Roaring Twenties , the book burnings in 1933 , the “Hindenburg “Disaster , the Second World War , the Holocaust , the history of the German Democratic Republic , the Red Army faction , right up to the May riots . Ultimately, all periods of time end with violence , which runs like a red thread through the centuries. The members of the band always take on different roles in the different epochs.

The black Germania , accompanied by wolves , cuts off the head of the apparently dead singer of the band, Till Lindemann , who represents a Roman, at the beginning, when the Roman Legion arrives . This opening scene alludes to the uprising of the population against the Roman occupiers. Later, Germania reappears in different costumes in all epochs, often surrounded by German shepherd dogs . She is shown repeatedly carrying the dead man's head. She often seems to accompany the events passively, but occasionally they also engages actively, for example by handing out brass knuckles to two men at the time of the Weimar Republic, when they awakened knight after a battle back to life, or an army on a horse riding leading. Occasionally she is also a victim of events; She lies as food with sauerkraut in front of monks who eat her , is burned on a stake by knights , shot in the face by concentration camp inmates as a general of the SS or is a fearful hostage of the RAF terrorists. In addition, her costumes mix her with historical figures from the respective epoch, for example with St. Mauritius , to whom the imperial insignia was traced, or with the dancer Josephine Baker , who lived in Berlin in the 1920s. After the head of the dead Roman kissed , has she becomes pregnant and later by an obstetrician from several Leonbergers released . In the end, the supposedly dead, but perhaps just sleeping Germania is sent into space in a future scenario in a glass coffin reminiscent of Snow White . During the end credits, a piano version of the Rammstein piece Sonne , recorded by Clemens Pötzsch , plays an equally ambiguous role in the music video Snow White also ended up in a coffin and later emerged alive.

In addition to the music by Rammstein and Pötzsch, the intro of the music video uses the piece The Beast by composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, who died in February 2018, from his soundtrack for the film Sicario .

In addition to the band members, the Afro-German actress Ruby Commey appeared as Germania . Other extras included Manny Marc , Frauenarzt , Olexesh , Harris and DJ Maxxx . The cameraman was Armin Franzen , the editing was done by David Gesslbauer and the costume design was by Dorota Budna . MMAATTCCHH Berlin and DRKNSD took over the production , production manager was Ronja Prinz .

The filming locations for the video included the former Keibelstrasse remand prison of the GDR - People's Police and the Spandau Citadel . In the latter, the band used the permanent exhibition “Unveiled. Berlin and its monuments ”, which has been housed in the citadel's provisions magazine since April 2016 and shows the political monuments that once shaped the cityscape of Berlin. In addition, the Crown Prince bastion belonging to the citadel was the setting for medieval monk scenes.

reception

Reviews

Shortly after the teaser was published, there was outrage over the advertising campaign for the song. The criticism was sparked by the fact that four band members appeared as concentration camp inmates who were on the verge of execution , recognizable by the Jewish star and pink angle on the prisoner's clothes. The picture obtained statements from representatives of Jewish associations, politicians and historians. According to Charlotte Knobloch , "the band has crossed a line", Karin Prien spoke of a "disgusting lack of taste" and according to Felix Klein , staging the band as doomed concentration camp prisoners was "crossing a red line" and a "tasteless exploitation of artistic freedom " , provided that it "only served to promote the new album". The Yad Vashem spokeswoman Iris Rosenberg noted that a “respectful artistic representation” of the subject can be “legitimate as long as it does not offend, belittle or desecrate the memory of the Holocaust”. Karl Freller , director of the Bavarian Memorials Foundation , did not want to make a final judgment and instead invited the band to the Dachau concentration camp memorial.

After the full video was published two days later, the SPON author Arno Frank wrote that the teaser was just a “trap”, a “ honeypot ” that triggered “the concerns of the questioners”, while “but the full video was just starting in the hands “play.

The world -author Henryk M. Broder saw in the video "a masterpiece". For the FAZ author Elena Witzeck, Germany is a “circus spectacle” and “an epically overloaded, sometimes embarrassing young fantasy”, but also an indication that “it is not that easy with hasty judgments” . According to the right-wing conservative weekly newspaper Junge Freiheit, Rammstein says there is “nothing new” besides provocation, and since the band has “musically missed its powder”, they only “strikingly fall back on the low points in German history”.

Commercial win

Germany immediately reached the top of the German single charts and stayed in the top 100 for 22 weeks. The accompanying video, which the band published on the Internet video portal YouTube , received more than 25 million views within a week. In 2019, the single occupied position 20 in the German annual single charts .

Chart placements Charts Top ranking Weeks Chart placements  Germany (GfK) 1 (22 weeks) 22nd  Austria (Ö3) 4th (12 weeks) 12  Switzerland (IFPI) 1 (15 weeks) 15th  United Kingdom (OCC) 98 (1 week) 1

Annual charts Charts (2019) placement Annual charts (2019)  Germany (GfK) 20th

Awards for music sales

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Germany (BVMI)	gold	200,000
All in all	1 × gold	200,000

Main article: Rammstein / Awards for Music Sales

Web links

• Music video about Germany on YouTube
• Germany in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Germany at Discogs

Individual evidence

1. ^ Lothar Gerber: Plagiarism allegation: Anne Clark defends Rammstein . In: metal-hammer.de from April 2, 2019.
2. ↑ XXVIII.III.MMXIX . In: youtube.com from March 26, 2019.
3. ↑ Rammstein: New video teaser is online . In: laut.de from March 26, 2019.
4. ↑ Norbert Koch-Klaucke: Rammstein is now rocking with Lenin . In: berliner-kurier.de of March 22, 2019.
5. ↑ André Görke: Cool when Rammstein discovers Spandau . In: tagesspiegel.de of March 21, 2019.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Outrage over Rammstein advertising video . In: Deutsche Welle of March 28, 2019.
7. ↑ ^{a b c} Rammstein shocks with concentration camp video: Historians, politicians and Jewish associations react indignantly . In: Bild.de from March 28, 2019.
8. ↑ Arno Frank : A trap . In: Spiegel Online from March 28, 2019.
9. ↑ Henryk M. Broder: This Rammstein video is a masterpiece . In: welt.de of March 29, 2019.
10. ↑ Elena Witzeck: To love and damn . In: FAZ.net of March 29, 2019.
11. ↑ Alexander Graf: Rammstein and the black Germania . In: Junge Freiheit from March 29, 2019.
12. ↑ rollingstone.de: Rammstein defeat Capital Bra - "Germany" displaces rap from the top of the chart , article from April 5, 2019
13. ↑ ^{a b} Top 100 annual single charts 2019. officialcharts.de, accessed on December 28, 2019 . 
14. ^ Rammstein - Germany. GfK Entertainment , accessed April 5, 2019 . 
15. ^ Rammstein - Germany. Ö3 Austria Top 40 , accessed on April 10, 2019 . 
16. ^ Rammstein - Germany. Swiss hit parade , accessed on April 7, 2019 . 
17. ^ Rammstein - Germany. Official Charts Company , accessed April 5, 2019 .