Pixies

The entire edition size has now sold out. We like audiences to grapple with our music, and people have become more receptive." (The Times, Jan 29, 2005). Many of the reunion shows, including that April 13 show in Minneapolis, were sold by DiscLive (http://pixies.disclive.com/) in sets of 1,000. But it serves a purpose. A "new retrospective compilation CD" is set for release in the near future. The band's own views of its image are sanguine: "We like being on the fringes of bad taste," according to Paul Landers, while Flake Lorenz comments: "The controversy is fun, like stealing forbidden fruit. In spring 2004, 4AD released Wave of Mutilation: The Best of the Pixies and a companion DVD which features a full concert, the music videos, and a documentary on the Pixies. The controversy did nothing to stop (and may even have helped) the single topping the German charts.

This was followed by a three-month world tour and four-month return to the US, ending on December 18 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City (see tour dates (http://www.pixiesmusic.com/live_04.php) for detailed information). It takes a darkly comic view of the Armin Meiwes cannibalism case, showing musicians of the band being held on a leash by a transvestite and rolling around in mud. It is rumoured that these dates hold the world record for fastest selling shows ever. In October 2004, the video for "Mein Teil" caused considerable controversy in Germany when it was released. Tickets for shows on this tour often sold out minutes after going on sale despite some rather moderately sized Canadian cities such as Winnipeg and Regina being stops. A Rammstein concert in Moscow scheduled for July 19, 2002 was cancelled due to fears that it would attract skinheads. It wasn't until 2004 when the Pixies would play their first "post-breakup" concert on April 13 at The Fine Line Music Cafe in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota and a 15 concert warmup tour of the western United States and Canada, culminating in the performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Following the tragic conclusion of the Beslan school hostage crisis in Russia in September 2004, the Russian authorities claimed that the hostage-takers had "listened to German hard rock group Rammstein on personal stereos during the siege to keep themselves edgy and fired up." [2] (http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=573206) The claim has not been independently confirmed and the Russian authorities are known to have been concerned that Rammstein was too appealing to "undesirable" elements in Russian society.

Roughly once a year on April Fool's Day someone would be led to believe that the band had re-united. In response, the band issued a terse statement:. In the 11 years since the band broke up, there were a number of rumors that would circulate regarding reunion tours. Rammstein came under heavy criticism from right-wing and Christian groups in the United States, who claimed (amongst other things) that Till Lindemann's rolling Teutonic r's were an imitation of Adolf Hitler's diction. This revitalized some interest in the band after they were gone. In April 1999, it emerged that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold - the two boys who perpetrated the Columbine High School massacre - were fans of Rammstein and had declared it to be one of their favourite bands. There are substantial parallels between the two groups' sounds and Kurt Cobain was known to have been a fan—in fact, in a Rolling Stone interview he claimed "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was his attempt to write a Pixies song. 22, 2001).

Right at the moment they were imploding, Nirvana was recording Nevermind, the album that would break alternative rock into the mainstream. If you want to put us in a political category, we're on the left side, and that's the reason we made the song." (The Grand Rapids Press, Jul. Musically, the Pixies were just slightly ahead of their time. According to Kruspe-Bernstein, it means that, "'my heart beats on the left, two, three, four.' It's simple. Santiago has appeared on Frank Black's solo albums, writes music for FOX television, and has a band called The Martinis with his wife, Linda Mallari. The song "Links 2 3 4" was written as a riposte to these claims. Lovering dropped back into obscurity, making occasional appearances as a "scientific phenomenalist", performing experiments on stage; he also drummed on one of Tanya Donelly's solo albums. Rammstein have denied this vigorously and the members of the band have said that they want nothing to do with politics.

Kim Deal has also recorded with The Amps. Back home in Germany, the band has faced repeated accusations of fascist sympathies due to the dark and sometimes militaristic imagery of their videos and concerts, including the use of extracts from a propaganda film by Leni Riefenstahl in the video for Stripped. The album, Title TK, finally appeared in 2002, with only Kim and Kelley remaining from the previous Breeders lineup. Their stage act earned them a night in jail in June 1999 after the infamous giant dildo was used in a concert in Worcester, Massachusetts. However, for several years they struggled to produce another album, mainly due to Kelley Deal's struggles with heroin. Rammstein have not been shy of courting controversy and have periodically attracted condemnation from moral campaigners. Deal returned to the Breeders, and scored a hit with "Cannonball" from that group's Last Splash in 1993. More unusually, the German composer Torsten Rasch has produced a classical opera cycle entitled Mein Herz Brennt, based on the album Mutter.

He then went on to form a band with Scott Boutier, Eric Drew, Rich Gilbert, David McGaffrey, and Dave Phillips called Frank Black and the Catholics. Rammstein's songs have been covered by a number of others, notably the Pet Shop Boys (who produced a cover of Mein Teil). Black Francis renamed himself Frank Black, and released several solo albums. The production of the followup album Mutter was an experience fraught with difficulty for the band, which nearly broke up as a result of the strains that resulted, but the differences were resolved by the time Rammstein produced (Reise Reise) (2004). Without telling anyone, Black Francis ended the band, and it wasn't until a year later that he faxed an official notice to the other members. While Herzeleid was well-received and is still the favourite album of the Band, Sehnsucht is widely regarded as Rammstein's breakthrough album. Trompe le Monde still featured little input from Deal and wasn't as critically regarded as their first few albums. Rammstein have so far released four full-length studio albums: Herzeleid (1995), Sehnsucht (1997), Mutter (2001) and Reise, Reise (2004).

Break-up announcements notwithstanding, one more album was to follow. It's a combination of humor, theater and our East German culture, you know?" (The Grand Rapids Press, Jul 22, 1999). The Pixies were at the height of their popularity, however, and while headlining at the Reading Festival in 1991, they played a highly enthusiastic version of "Debaser" which has become legendary among fans. We take the music and the lyrics seriously. Deal was not pleased, and unilaterally announced an apparent break-up of the band on-stage during the following tour. but we're not Spinal Tap. During this time, Black Francis limited Deal's contributions to the band; the first two albums had been partly written by Deal, but when Bossanova was released in 1990, all songs were by him. We do laugh about it; we have fun ..

After Doolittle, Black Francis temporarily went solo, while Kim Deal formed The Breeders with Tanya Donelly of Throwing Muses and Deal's sister, Kelley. We do have a sense of humor. Their sophomore album, Doolittle, featured three prominent singles: "Debaser," "Here Comes Your Man," and "Monkey Gone to Heaven." It was a top 10 hit in the UK and reached the top 100 in North America. We like to have a show, we like to play with fire. For the remainder of their career, the Pixies remained large-scale stars in Britain and cult figures in the US. The aim is to get people's attention and have fun at the same time: "You have to understand that 99 percent of the people don't understand the lyrics, so you have to come up with something to keep the drama in the show. We have to do something. The band remained unsigned in the US for a while, but after a foray up the UK pop charts and some inroads into American college rock stations, they were picked up by Elektra Records. And overdo it!").

4AD was a British music label, and the notoriously rabid British music press immediately clutched the Pixies to their collective bosoms and refused to let go. According to Kruspe-Bernestein, the on-stage wackiness is entirely deliberate (Rammstein's motto according to Schneider is: "Do your own thing. It was followed by their first full-length album, Surfer Rosa in early 1988. During the current "Reise, Reise" tour they have worn lederhosen, corsets and vaguely military uniforms with steel helmets, while during "Mutter" the group kept to the themes of the album artwork and descended onto the stage from a giant uterus, wearing diapers. Eight tracks from the demo were selected for the Come on Pilgrim EP, the band's first release. The band's costumes are equally outlandish. The demo fell into the hands of Ivo Watts-Russell, owner of 4AD, who signed the band. After some unfortunate early accidents the band took to employing professionals to handle the pyrotechnics; Lindemann himself is now a qualified pyrotechnician.

Smith became the band's manager and produced a 17 track demo (known as the "Purple Tape", publicly released in 2002). Rammstein's shows have become increasingly elaborate since the first ones 10 years ago, when their effects were confined to pouring kerosene around the stage and setting it alight. During a concert with Throwing Muses, the band was noticed by Gary Smith, a producer at Fort Apache Studios. The band's on-stage antics have included:. They arrived at a name ("Pixies") by selecting an entry from the dictionary at random, and began playing shows in the Boston area. The variety of the pyrotechnics can be seen in a recent concert playlist, which includes such items as "Lycopodium Masks", "Glitterburst Truss", "Pyrostrobes", "Comets", "Flash Trays" and "Mortar Hits". Reportedly, the ad asked for a bass player who liked The Mamas and the Papas and Husker Du. The heat is so intense that on occasion, people have been carried out of Rammstein concerts suffering from heat exhaustion, and lighting gantries have been seen glowing red-hot from repeated fireball hits.

Bassist Kim Deal joined the band after she responded to a classified ad Black Francis had placed which requested an unusual combination of musical influences. Rammstein has achieved particular fame (not to mention notoriety) for its hugely over-the-top stage show, using so many pyrotechnics that fans eventually coined the motto "Other bands play, Rammstein burns!". The band was formed in 1986 in Boston, Massachusetts by Joey Santiago and Black Francis (born Charles Thompson IV). Rammstein's song videos also tie in quite closely with films as they frequently "quote" from movies, including Tarrantinos classicsReservoir Dogsin "Du hast" and From Dusk Till Dawn in "Engel". Most notable was their use of soft verses and hard choruses, which was later popularized by Nirvana. Rammstein's movie appearances to date are as follows:. Their style of music influenced many aspects of alternative rock throughout the 1990s. The directors David Lynch and Rob Cohen appear to be particularly strong fans; explaining why he set the first 10 minutes of his thriller xXx in a Rammstein concert in Prague, Cohen said:.

Frank Black (vocals, guitar), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim Deal (bass, vocals), and David Lovering (drums). Within only a few years of starting their career, Rammstein soon caught the attention of Hollywood for their explosive stage performances and energetic music. The band's lineup consists of Black Francis a.k.a. 9, 2005) commented that on the stage "Mr. Lindemann gave off an air of such brute masculinity and barely contained violence that it seemed that he could have reached into the crowd, snatched up a fan, and bitten off his head." That said, Rammstein has also attracted praise for their inventive lyrics (Kurt Cobain is said to have been a fan) and their uncompromising style. The Pixies are a band which toured and recorded in the late 1980s and early 1990s, then reunited in 2004 and began touring again. 17, 1999) suggested that Till Lindemann's "booming, sub-sonic voice" would send "the peasants fleeing into their barns and bolting their doors", while the New York Times (Jan. Download sample of "Holiday Song" from Come on Pilgrim. Rammstein's style has tended to divide critics, some of whom have responded with memorably dismissive comments: Jam Showbiz (April 2001) described Mutter as "music to invade Poland to", New Zealand's Southland Times (Dec.

French might be the language of love, but German is the language of anger." (Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia), October 24, 2004). Explaining why, Oliver Riedel comments: "German language suits heavy metal music. The band almost always sings in German. Their songs show some unexpected influences; "Du Hast" is a play on German marriage vows (">>You have<< asked me and I didn't answer" but it can also be understood as "You hate" what would be written "Du Hasst"), while "Dalai Lama" is an adaptation of a famous poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

and in the last lines:. Similarly, the song Amerika features the tongue-in-cheek lyrics:. Zwitter ("Hermaphrodite") is a bizarre take on narcissism:. Rein Raus ([Get] in, [get] out), for example, is clearly tongue-in-cheek.

Despite their brutalist image, they show a sense of humour in their lyrics. Although it cannot really be said that Rammstein stick to any particular genre of music, they are most often described as an industrial band; they are also often associated with heavy metal and hard rock. Their first album was released a year later. "Flake" Lorenz was the last member; he had played with Landers before in the band Feeling B and was initially reluctant to come on board, but was eventually persuaded to join.

The four entered a contest for new bands and won, attracting the interest of Paul Landers, who knew them all and decided to join the band. I came back [to Germany] and said, 'It's time to make music that's really authentic.' I was starting a project called Rammstein to really try to make German music." He invited Till Lindemann, a basket weaver and drummer for the band First Arsch, to join the project as a vocalist. As Kruspe-Bernstein put it, "I realized it's really important to make music and make it fit with your language, which I didn't do in the past. Riedel, Schneider and Kruspe-Bernstein were the original founders of Rammstein, following an attempt by the latter to compose American-influenced music with a West Berlin band called Orgasm Death Gimmicks.

They are:. The band's members all come from the former East Germany, specifically East Berlin and Schwerin. Even though the lyrics are not in English, the band has enjoyed huge success outside of Germany, and with the album "Reise, Reise" (2004), they became the most successful German-language band of all time worldwide. The extra "m" in the band's name means that it translates literally as "ramming stone", or "battering ram", an appropriate name given the in-your-face nature of the band's music.

The band's signature song, the eponymous "Rammstein", is a commemoration of the tragedy that took place at the Ramstein Air Base. Rammstein takes its name indirectly from the western German town of Ramstein, site of an airshow disaster in 1988. The songs are performed almost exclusively in German. Their musical style, which they have dubbed Tanzmetal, or "dance metal", incorporates elements of metal, industrial and electronic music; similar in many ways to that of the band Laibach.

Rammstein are a German band formed in 1994. Lichtspielhaus (2003). Live Aus Berlin (1999). Keine Lust ("No Desire/Don't Feel Like It").

Ohne Dich ("Without You"). Amerika ("America"). Mein Teil ("My Part"). Feuer Frei! ("Fire At Will!").

Mutter ("Mother"). Ich Will ("I Want" lyrically according to a marriage; can also be translated with "I do"). Links 2-3-4 ("Left 2-3-4"). Sonne ("Sun").

Stripped. Du Riechst so Gut '98 ("You Smell so Good '98"). Du Hast ("You Have/You Hate"). Engel ("Angel").

Rammstein. Seemann ("Sailor"). Du Riechst so Gut ("You Smell so Good"). Keine Lust (2005).

Ohne Dich (2004). Amerika (2004). Mein Teil (2004). Feuer frei! (2002).

Mutter (2002). Ich will (2001). Links 2 3 4 (2001). Sonne (2001).

Single Collection (1998). Stripped (1998). Du riechst so gut '98 (1998). Das Modell (1997).

Du hast (1997). Engel (1997). Engel, Fan-Edition (1997). Seemann (1996).

Du riechst so gut (1995). "Moskau" ("Moscow"). "Keine Lust" ("Not In The Mood"). "Ohne Dich" ("Without You").

"Amerika" ("America"). "Dalai Lama". "Mein Teil" ("My Part"). "Bück Dich" ("Bend Over").

"Feuer Frei" ("Fire At Will"). "Sonne" ("Sun"). "Engel" ("Angel"). "Rammstein".

"Du Hast" ("You Have", also a homophone of "You Hate"). Reise, Reise (2004) (literally "Arise, Arise", from the now largely disused Middle High German verb "risen", to rise). Mutter (2001) ("Mother"). Sehnsucht (1997) ("Longing").

Herzeleid (1995) ("Heartache"). Band members surfing the crowd in a rubber dinghy. Rockets fired along cables strung above the audience;. Flake Lorenz being roasted in a giant cauldron by a flamethrower-wielding Lindemann;.

Exploding drumsticks, drums, microphones and boots;. Simulated sodomy and a giant custard-squirting dildo;. Till Lindemann singing an entire song while on fire (he now uses twin flamethrowers strapped to his arms);. Band members using head-mounted flamethrowers ("Lycopodium Masks") while singing/playing;.

Christian "Flake" Lorenz (Keyboards). Christoph "Doom" Schneider (Drums). Oliver Riedel (Bass). Till Lindemann (Vocals).

Paul Landers (Guitar). Kruspe-Bernstein (Guitar). Richard Z.