In 1997, Rammstein released “Du Hast” from the album “Sehnsucht”. And it was the moment that most people became Rammstein fans discovering the militant sound of German Tanz-metal. Being one of Rammstein’s smash hits, “Du Hast” was included in the soundtrack of “The Matrix” and enjoyed heavy airplay on MTV.
But, it was much more than that.
Although Rammstein’s lyrics are mainly written in German, the group has achieved massive success. Despite several dismissive, yet expected critics, in the US, related to the group's distinctive Teutonic sound, Rammstein sing in German being pompously chauvinistic for their national identity. They do not find any reason to offer any official translation for the benefit of the US audience. They are simply satisfied to sell millions of copies in the US market, instead of ten millions of records that they normally sell across the globe.
Unquestionably and radical in sound and lyrics, Rammstein’s authoritative semi-industrial metal is compelling as it echoes the resonant bass voice of Till Lindemann. Profoundly distorted guitar reefs, military hard drums and synth sounds create a canvas of obvious influences from industrial hard rock, heavy metal and electronic music diluted by punk rock, and gothic sounds. Rammstein belong to the NDH (Neue Deutsche Härte) German groups, but they often differentiate their style from the German marching songs by including keyboards to imitate strings, choirs or piano sounds.
“Du Hast” has made a great impact on a broad audience across the world. Introducing pompous ear-bleed guitar grinds anchored by Tanz-metal keyboards, “Du Hast” reflects a melodramatic sense of melody although it is muscularly mannered. However, although it is mainly their powerful music that reflects the traditional elements of industrial and metal music, still Rammstein’s huge success is also attributed to their performance art. Being literally punks at heart, the six members of the group formed a metal band driven by an urge to take the punk ethos and transplant it onto a new music genre, namely the Tanz metal.
“Du Hast” has also attracted the audience because of its weird lyrics. The track begins with a wordplay, which Rammstein often use in their songs: “du, du hast, du hast mich” meaning “you, you have, you have me”. However, this line is often mistaken for the pronunciation of “du hasst”, which in German means “you hate me”. After a few lines the riddle is being resolved by “du hast mich gefragt” meaning “you have asked me”. Then, the audience realizes that the track describes the vows exchanged on a German marriage: “willst du, bis der Tod euch scheidet, treu ihr sein für alle Tage?” meaning “will you, until death separates you, be faithful to her for the rest of your days?”. Typically, the answer would be “Ja” meaning “Yes”; however, Rammstein, loving wordplay and being controversial have replaced the answer by “Nein” meaning “No”.
Despite the great confusing the song has raised and the arguments against its wordplay and anti-conformist lyrics, “Du Hast” has climbed in #5 of the German single charts upon its release. However, Rammstein’s fans know that the group is enchanted to use confusing wording to delude and create humour in their songs. Particularly in the case of “Du Hast” the group decided purposefully to play with “Du Hast” and “Du Hasst” considering this an efficient trick to attract the non-German speaking audience simply by intriguing them to understand what the track talks about. It was a sort of negative advertising which, however, achieved record sales making “Sehnsucht” twice platinum.