After a Rammstein concert, a young woman makes allegations against frontman Till Lindemann. The band denies it. But more women are coming out in public.
Vilnius/Frankfurt – February 2019. Cynthia A. (name changed) is 22 years old when she is said to dance with two other women in a disco ball during a solo concert by Rammstein frontman Till Lindemann. The alleged requirement of a concert employee: “It should only look cool”. Opposite of SZ Cynthia describes herself as a big Rammstein fan at the time, now she tells her version of the story. The offer of dancing suddenly gave rise to the possibility of getting to know Lindemann personally. So she took the chance and agreed. In the backstage area, Lindemann showed the three women a music video of the band with hard sex scenes shortly before the concert, later he waved the 22-year-old over to him.
“I thought right before the show he really wanted to show me something cool,” Cynthia says SZ further. But in the dressing room, which Cynthia says he takes her to, he doesn’t show her anything. Instead, the two have intercourse. “I don’t want to say that it was rape, because I agreed, but I wasn’t obviously happy about what was happening.” She was in pain, cramped, and bled afterwards, she reports to the SZ. “But I didn’t want to say that it hurts either, because it was Till Lindemann.”
Wave unleashed: Young women raise serious allegations against Rammstein frontman Till Lindemann
The story of Cynthia A. is by no means the only one that the world-famous band Rammstein is currently confronted with. Another fan, Shelby L., caused a media storm on May 25 when she on Twitter about her experience reported at a Rammstein concert in Vilnius last week. At an exclusive party for the show, she didn’t drink much alcohol, but later on she couldn’t remember much of the evening and woke up the next morning with bruises on her hip.
Shelby L. suspects that she was given drugs without being asked. The young woman emphasizes that Till Lindemann never touched and raped her. However, he reacted aggressively when she met the singer during a concert break and did not want to have sex. Rammstein also spoke publicly four days later and denied the allegations. “Regarding the allegations about Vilnius circulating online, we can rule out that what is being claimed happened in our environment.”
What really happens backstage at Rammstein concerts remains open. Nobody can prove what happened. Cynthia A. did not go to the police at the time because she only described the situation as an assault some time later through conversations with friends. But the stories keep piling up. Uneasy gut feelings at after-show parties, inquiries to young women before the concerts asking whether they want to sleep with Till Lindemann and dress codes for female fans who want to be in the front row are a common thread running through the reports that the NDR and the SZ collected from women. All testified under oath. The cases trigger a discussion that could have similar potential to the Metoo debate a few years ago: How sexist is Rammstein? What crimes might result from such a world view?
Kiwi-Verlag ends cooperation with Till Lindemann
On Friday, the publisher “Kiepenheuer & Witsch” took action and ended the collaboration with Lindemann. A statement on Twitter said: “Our sympathy and respect goes to the women affected.” Lindemann “celebrated sexual violence against women”, also in a porn video in which his book “In silent nights” also plays a role . Lindemann had published the book with the publisher.
Artistic freedom as a pretext? Rammstein polarizes with sexist lyrics
Against the background of the emerging allegations against the band’s front singer, the focus is primarily on the often sexual and violent content of the songs. A well-known example is the poem “When you sleep” by Lindemann. It says, among other things, “I like to sleep with you when you dream. And that’s how it should be” and it ends with the line “A little Rohypnol in the wine. You can’t move at all. And you sleep, it’s a blessing.” The lyrics are just one of many. There are also music videos that show hard sex scenes or violent acts.
The content is covered by artistic freedom. The legal text on the subject artistic freedom is: “Everyone has the right to freely express and disseminate their opinion in word, writing and image.” Content such as that of Rammstein must therefore always be viewed in a differentiated manner by the artist. For example, Lindemann does not officially express himself in his poem as a private person, but as an artist who has created a lyrical I for the poem and tells the story from his perspective. Rammstein’s texts must therefore be viewed separately from the current allegations against Lindemann. The music journalist Raphael Smarzoch addresses an elementary thought in this context.
“On the one hand, this is of course art and covered by artistic freedom and does not make anyone a perpetrator,” said Smarzoch on Deutschlandfunk Kultur about Rammstein’s texts. “On the other hand, you can also turn this argument around: artistic freedom can also be an excuse to spread sexist stories and glorify or downplay rape.”
The topic will probably keep the media and society in Germany busy for a long time to come. Rammstein is one of the most successful bands in German history and is known worldwide. It is currently statement against statement. However, it can be assumed that more women will come forward and tell their stories. (nz)