The album “Liebe ist Fur Alle Da” (“Love is For All”) by German teutonic metal group Rammstein has been banned from public display in German stores with effect from November 11. German fans under 18 of home grown hard rock group Rammstein had until midnight on Tuesday to buy their latest album. This album can no longer be “publicly displayed” in German shops. The German Federal Office for the Examination of Media Harmful to Young People in Bonn has banned the album because of its depictions of sadism and masochism. Officials were offended by the song “Ich tue Dir Weh” (“I Want to Hurt You”), which includes such lines in German like “Bites, kicks, heavy blows, nails, pincers, blunt saws – Tell me what you want” and such phrases as “Barbed wire in the urethral tract” and “Needle, pliers, blunt saw. Make a wish, I won’t say no”. The chorus runs: “Ich tu’ dir weh. Tut mir nicht Leid! Das tut dir gut. Hohr wie es schreit!” (“I Am Going To Hurt You”, I’m not sorry! It does you good, Hear the screams!”).
Germany’s media watchdog also disapproved of the artwork in the booklet accompanying the album. Officials were offended as well by the cover showing guitarist Richard Kruspe with a masked, naked woman on his knees. The office also doesn’t like the single “Pussy“, which they reckon will lead to an increase in the number of AIDS cases, because it encourages unprotected sex. The video for “Pussy” has also caused some commotion as it shows what appear to be members of the band participating in sex scenes, although sources close to the band insist that the band members were doubled.
The album, “Liebe ist Fuer Alle Da” has been a big seller globally since its release (October 10) a month ago via Universal Music. It hit No. 1 in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Finland and the Netherlands on sales of over 300,000 units, going platinum in the process. It made No. 2 in France, and No. 3 in Sweden and Belgium. In the United States it entered the Billboard charts at No. 13, a record for the band. It made No. 16 in the UK on October 25.
“The ruling will be officially published on Wednesday,” said Petra Meier, the deputy president of the Federal Office for the Examination of Media Harmful to Young People. “Up until then, the album may continue to be retailed. The decision was made in accordance with Section 18 of the Youth Protection Act.” According to the statistics of the office, 131 albums had been placed on the restricted list in 2007 and 116 last year, while as many as 966 have been put on the list so far this year. She attributes this sharp increase to the fact that more and more records are being released with content which glorifies violence or is of a racist or pornographic nature, thus breaching the provisions of the German Youth Protection Act. This is the first time that an album by Rammstein has been placed on the restricted list.
Rammstein have a long tradition of trying to wind up the sensitive of mind with provocative, yet ultimately a bit daft, artwork and lyrics. Since launching in Berlin in 1995, Rammstein have courted controversy with their eight albums, which have touched on such subjects as sadomasochism, homosexuality, incest, abuse, necrophilia, pyromania, cannibalism and sexual violence. The cover of “Liebe ist Fuer Alle Da” shows the band stood around a naked lady lying in repose and surrounded by fruits of the fields and woods, giving an erotic cannibal sort of vibe. The band did a song about Armin Meiwes, a German man dubbed the “cannibal of Rotenburg” jailed in 2006 for killing and eating a willing victim. Both men tried to eat the dead man’s dismembered penis before he expired.
Rammstein happily court controversy, and with their new album they haven’t changed their tune so much as played it louder than usual. The album’s cover – a painting featuring the band eating the flesh of a naked woman – isn’t worse than many other heavy-metal album covers, nor do their lyrics break new ground in hard-rock horror.
Joerg Jaeger of the Pressezentrum retail store in Luebeck did not think that the ban would have much effect. “The album will sell even better than before,” he said. “We are not taking the album out of stock. From Wednesday, we will be selling it under the counter and will require customers to produce proof of their age. All it means is that the 18-year-old will buy it for his younger sister.”
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