I am not into kink. Nor am I a sado-masochist. Nor am I personally acquainted with the sexual proclivities of Till Lindemann, or anyone else in the band. Their preferences and mine are not really relevant here.
I think I have a fairly healthy attitude to sex. This enables me to sympathise with people who favour sexual antics that I don't partake of myself, without judgement. I don't consider myself the be-all and end-all, so I'm aware that people get off on subject matter and situations that I don't find stimulating, and there's nothing wrong with that. I am simply able to use my imagination to render imagery that conveys certain messages.
Obviously there are lines I draw in the sand and choose not to cross. There has to be a limit somewhere, or we find ourselves in the antisocial or pathological areas where things just aren't 'right' by the standards we live with. Between consenting adults I think there is virtually no limit though. Sex is a very personal thing, and if you're an exhibitionist it's also very public (ha ha ha).
Anyone reading or listening to Rammstein's work, or mine, has to understand that poetic work does not necessarily represent the values or habits of those involved in its creation.
Realise that these lyrics do not make me or the band shitheads, even if you don't like the messages in the work, be they explicit or imagined. Suspend your disbelief to appreciate what the words convey, but don't take it so seriously that you start labelling the composers, or the adaptor in my case. You don't know me, and neither you or I know Rammstein. The message is not personal.
I'm posting this somewhat disclaimer-like piece because I am aware that fans of the more rabid type can easily feel they have a level of intimacy with and knowledge about their idols that simply doesn't exist in reality. That's an artifact of information-gathering. If you spend enough time and energy accumulating knowledge, be it real or fictional, about a public figure you begin to feel you have a relationship with the subject. This is NOT REAL. Don't project or assume where there are no grounds to do so.
I hope you, my small and hopefully growing readership, enjoy what I'm doing here, and that my work becomes more and more worthy of your attention. I also hope you will realise that tongue is firmly planted in cheek (no, not that cheek), and that this is entertainment, rather than a grand declaration of intent or fact.
Enjoy.
[discuss]
Update 1613hrs: Fuck, what a load of wordy crap that was. It's all true, but did I need to post that completely bloated cluster-fuck of explanation? No. Eh, who cares? Updated the post title to indicate pointlessness of this post.
Here here. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've tried to explain that just because it's in a song, it isn't necessarily what Till thinks or feels. He once said that R+'s songs were about love in all it's variations. Well, to someone (and not necessarily Till or the other band members), what's in "Mein Teil", z.b., is love to someone. I love the fact that (except for child abuse -- Till's a father and obviously can't abide by it) all forms of love and sexuality are presented in a non-judgmental matter. And anyway, just because a song seems to be about necrophilia, it may or may not actually be. That's the beauty of art ;)
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling that Till Lindemann is an agent provocateur, though not necessarily in the proper 'bringing out the worst in people' convention of the term. Think Sacha Baron Cohen, but musical.
ReplyDeleteI have one in my family and recognise the signs. Pushing people's buttons is the name of the game. I think it's irresistible to some people, and also fits with the eclectic range of musical styles Rammstein use. You don't want to be singing about subject matter that clashes with the style of a song, i.e. why sing about conventional love in an industrial song, when you can sing about a sexual sadist or necrophile? The material demands a degree of shit-stirring :)