Heavy Metal

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Rammstein takes its name indirectly from the western German town of Ramstein-Miesenbach, site of an airshow disaster in 1988. The band's signature song, the eponymous "Rammstein", is a commemoration of the tragedy that took place at the Ramstein Air Base. The extra "m" in the band's name allows the word to mean "battering ram" (literally "ramming stone"), reinforcing the image of the band's music as fierce and relentless. Despite lyrics that are in German, the band has enjoyed success outside of Germany, in Europe, North America, Mexico and South America, as well as Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand. With the album Reise, Reise (2004), they became the most successful German-language band of all time internationally. Rammstein has had several top ten singles in Europe. The asteroid 110393 Rammstein is named in the band's honour. The "Keine Lust"(The German phrase "Ich habe keine Lust" equals English "I do not feel like") video, filmed in January of 2005 and finally presented only a month later, portrays the band with an incredible amount of gained weight. The film appears to be a reunion of sorts set much in the future with visibly aged band members. Out of all of the band members only keyboardist Flake appeared not to have gained any weight. He appears in a special motorized wheelchair for people who have trouble walking. At the end of the video, the rest of the band abandons Flake, after he arrives late. The video was up for a nomination for the MTV European Music Awards in November 2005. On the video "The Making of Keine Lust", guitarist Richard Kruspe-Bernstein discussed the meaning of the song and video. "You know, after all of these years we're full-up! Fame, success, money. We don't want to do anything anymore! Nothing! That's the idea in the song. We've returned to the starting point again. We just want to make music again. We don't want all the circus that goes with it anymore. So, we meet up again, one more time, for one more performance- just to make music together. The fact that we are fat is just symbolic for excess. It's really just about returning to the beginning." The band's members all come from the former East Germany, specifically East Berlin and Schwerin.