The impact of LV-bound Rammstein’s music, favored by the Littleton killers, stirs debate

Kimberly McGee

Friday, June 18, 1999 | 9:45 a.m.

-- Rammstein's "You Hate"

Rammstein facts

What: The bands Rammstein, SoulFly and Mindless Self Indulgence.

Where: House of Blues at Mandalay Bay.

When: Monday; doors open at 7 p.m.; show at 8 p.m.

Cost: $25.

Information: Call the House of Blues at 632-7600 or TicketMaster at 474-4000.

Rock music has long been tied to the corruption of youth, and one band that has recently come under particular scrutiny is Rammstein.

The East German band, which plays at the Mandalay Bay's House of Blues Monday along with fellow bands SoulFly and Mindless Self Indulgence, sings only in German. Its name, lyrics and photos were posted on the website of the two Littleton, Colo., high school students -- Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold -- who gunned down 12 of their peers and a teacher at Columbine High School before committing suicide.

The teens entrenched themselves in Nazi culture and spouted Rammstein's lyrics. The day of the massacre, April 20, was chosen by the teens as the day to carry out their carnage because, besides being Adolf Hitler's birthday, it also marked the one-year anniversary of the release of Rammstein's second album, "Sehnsucht" (Hunger).

The band -- comprised of fortysomething family men who dress in leather onstage, and T-shirts and jeans off-stage -- expressed its sympathy for the Littleton tragedy in a statement released shortly after the shootings:

"The members of Rammstein express their condolences and sympathy to all affected by the recent tragic events in (Littleton). They wish to make it clear that they have no lyrical content or political beliefs that could have possibly influenced such behavior. Additionally, members of Rammstein have children of their own, in whom they continually strive to instill healthy and nonviolent values."

Local Rammstein fan Charles McCann, a 16-year-old high school junior, says it's not the lyrics ("they're boring") that are to blame, or the fans -- it's the personalities of troubled individuals that can create such tragedies.

"It's not the music -- it's you," he says.

Rammstein's draw is its stage show -- a technological spectacle, the teen says. "Things catch on fire and you don't know if it's supposed to be there or not. It's unpredictable and dangerous."

During some tours, front man Till Lindemann, a former Olympic swimmer for East Germany, has exploded on to the stage in flames.

Sky Daniels, general manager for the trade publication Records & Radio Magazine, has followed Rammstein's career for six years and says its antics are done all in good, over-the-top fun for teenage boys.

"If you start with the lead singer in flames ... that is going to get a 15-year-old's attention," Daniels says.

"It's $100's worth of entertainment for $15. In the sense of sensationalistic fodder that teenage boys flip out for, this band delivers. Every other song, something blows up."

Daniels says Rammstein's lyrics "are about, 'You don't like me, I don't fit in.' It is desperate, but this is it (for teens)."

The band's stage show may be "twisted, no doubt about it," he says, but the theme is more satirical than serious. "They do some pretty outrageous things on stage, but it mostly revolves around sex, not violence."

Nothing new

In its infancy, rock was reviled as "the devil's music" by some outraged parents and critics, and Elvis Presley was condemned for his hip-swiveling performances.

We've come a long way since then. Rammstein's outrageous productions share a heritage with those of metal music rockers Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Kiss, Metallica and Marilyn Manson, all of whom have had run-ins with the media over their lyrics, costumes and stage shows. (Manson's name was repeatedly mentioned in the wake of the Littleton tragedy, but there is no evidence that the killers were devoted Manson fans.)

"Alice Cooper started out as the king of shock rock," Daniels says. "He would mount the stage with his boa constrictor, and (featured) a scene where he had his head lopped off in a guillotine.

"Ozzy Osbourne's adventures are pretty well-documented, biting off the head of a dove or a bat and all the controversies he created ... and eventually lawsuits (were filed) from parents who said their kids committed suicide from listening to that (type) of music."

And in that sense, Daniels says he's starting to see it happening again with the recent Rammstein controversy.

"This is all about people (not wanting) to take individual responsibility," he says. "Parents don't want to take the individual responsiblity for their children. Somebody has to take the brunt, and rock music is the scapegoat.

"For the most part rock really provides a sense of belonging for a lot of these people that don't have any."

This is Rammstein's third U.S. tour, which will feature 11 dates -- much larger than last year's "Family Values Tour" which also included the bands Orgy (which performs Monday at the Hard Rock hotel-casino) and Korn.

"Internationally (Rammstein is) huge. (It is) a real sensation in Europe, playing to 50- to 60,000" fans, Daniels says.

Now it wants to take on U.S. audiences. "(Rammstein's) thing is, America will be the next to fall after Europe," he says.

Name that band

Ironically, the band took its name from a catastrophe that occurred during the '80s in the German town of Ramstein (the band added an extra m) when a U.S. Air Force air show went terribly wrong. Jets crashed into the audience, killing and injuring more than 80 people. (The band's first release, "Ramstein," was about that event.)

In a recent interview with MTV's Kurt Loder, lead vocalist Lindemann said: "(The name Ramstein) also became somewhat of a provocation, by just repeating (Ramstein), it kind of became like a symbol for us, an anthem."

Responding to critics

In a November 1998 interview with NY Rock magazine, Rammstein guitarist Richard Kruspe responded to the German press' attack that the band was fascist and Nazi-inspired, and mentioned that Americans were much more open-minded about its performances.

"Accusing a band of having fascistic tendencies attracts a fascistic audience even if the band is not," Kruspe said. "(The American) audience took our show for what it is: entertainment. They're not trying to find a political meaning in everything."

McCann, however, doesn't like the "rough comments" of the songs, as well as his aforementioned boredom with them. But the music is exhilarating, he says, and the lyrics are in German, so he doesn't have to listen to the message.

"What they say is not really very cool, so I pretend I just don't know" what the words mean, he says.

Musical impact

Some sociologists and music researchers agree with the theory that music doesn't push teens towards committing violent acts. It can, however, reach into the recesses of their minds and stir up violent tendencies.

Dr. Robert Parker, an associate professor of sociology at UNLV, says music can be a trigger for latent feelings of aggression, hatred, and/or violence that may be dormant inside a relatively easygoing teenager.

"Music doesn't have the power to create (hate) on its own, but certainly it can fan the flames," Parker says. "If themes in music are analogous to youth culture, it is going to reinforce (those feelings)."

Hate smolders in our society, he says, and it is reflected through television, magazines, video games, radio and even the workplace. "We haven't ended racism, it's just more covert and subtle," Parker says. "Music sustains and reinforces the racism and plays a part in persisting hate crimes."

But music is not the single evil culprit preying on teenagers, he says.

"It's not something that we can look at as one thing, we have to look at the way we were raised as children," Parker says. Also, society is more mobile, so connections to home are tenuous. "The transient nature of communities lays the groundwork for creating these kinds of problems," he says.

Music has physiological effects on the human body, increasing heart rate, blood pressure and brain waves.

"Music does effect people in profound ways," says Dr. Donald Hodges, music director of the Institute for Music Research at the University of Texas, San Antonio.

"The music (by itself) did not make (Harris and Klebold) go in and shoot those kids, but it may have been a part of the whole" problem, Hodges says. "To blame (their actions) on music is simplistic. It's in the middle someplace, and there is no good scientific research out there that can prove" music or lyrics were to blame.

Simply put, the purpose of music is to make people feel.

"When you are sad or lonely, you go home and put on music that will help you express those feelings," Hodges says.

And, in certain circumstances, music is played to incite feelings.

"Clearly, music has an effect on us or it wouldn't be in our environment," he says.

If wedding music makes a person cry, tears will spill when the bridal march begins. "It exacerbates feelings and emotions," Hodges says. But if the music is heard, say, walking by a wedding chapel on the way to the craps table -- as often is the case in Las Vegas -- the response is probably less dramatic.

Likewise, hearing '60s icon Bob Dylan rasping on the radio today can take baby boomers back to their youth, when music made them feel as if they were on the eve of a revolution -- and that anyone over 30 couldn't be trusted.

"Music is going on in the moment, and then in the future," Hodges says. "We are all shaped in many ways by music."

That continues today: Most, if not all teenagers, rock to a different beat than their parents did -- and the more irritating the music, the further it sends mom and dad out of earshot.

"(Teens) need their own vehicle to express what they are feeling," Hodges says. "(Music) expresses feelings that are already there. It is all part of growing up."

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