Rammstein: the story behind their debut album Herzeleid.Or, it can mean: ‘Do you want her, until the death of the vagina – and also love her during bad days?’ Coming from the man who, twelve years later, wrote a song with the chorus, ‘You’ve got a pussy, I have a dick, so what’s the problem, let’s do it quick’, our money’s on the fruitier translation. But then, in the penultimate refrain, Till switches it up: ‘Willst du bis zum Tod, der Scheide, Sie lieben auch in schlechten Tagen?’ Depending on where you apply stress to that sentence, it can mean: ‘Do you want her, until death separates you – and also love her during bad days?’ Written as above, that line in the chorus does suggest something soppy and nuptial. And for me, this song is a bit like that promise of faith we know from weddings, that’s kind of been integrated into this family.” We have a strong awareness, a strong sense of tradition in this band. “This song is actually about a kind of loyalty,” said Richard at the time. It’s ambiguous, as is the chorus, which you’ve no doubt mangled in an abattoir of vowels whenever you’ve sung it: ‘Willst du bis der Tod uns scheidet, Treue sein für alle Tage.’ Which, roughly translated to gibbon’s English, is something along the lines of: ‘Do you want, until death separates you, to be faithful to her for all days?’ Wedding vows, essentially. It’s within this relative simplicity where Till hides his lyrical dexterity, which is often missed by us English-speaking pillocks. Its pounding, militaristic drumbeat supports a riff reminiscent of Ministry’s Just One Fix, but less heroin-y Till’s rich, bassy voice juxtaposes Christian ‘Flake’ Lorenz’s cheeky, video-games-meet-goth-club synthesisers across the song’s four-minute duration. They must have done something right, as Du Hast came fully-formed from those sessions, flying in the face of the nu metal revolution rolling across the globe bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit and, lest we forget, Insane Clown Posse had captured the zeitgeist, dressed it in baggy jeans and forced it to chug two pints of Faygo.ĭu Hast fit right in, by virtue of sounding nothing like any of those bands. (Image credit: Niels van Iperen/Getty Images)