Sehnsucht (album)
Sehnsucht is the second album by Rammstein. It was released on 22 August 1997, in Germany and on 13 January 1998, in the United States. Whilst being the second album of the band, "Sehnsucht" was their debut album in the United States, and was promoted as such.
| Sehnsucht | |||||
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| Studio album by Rammstein | |||||
| Released: | GER: 22 August 1997 US: 13 January 1998 |
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| Recorded: | Temple Studios, Malta, 1996 - 1997 |
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| Genre: | Neue Deutsche Härte | ||||
| Label: | Motor | ||||
| Format: | CD | ||||
| Price: | 17.00€[1] | ||||
| Producer: | Jacob Hellner | ||||
| Stream / Buy: | Spotify iTunes |
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| Discogs: |  |
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| Rammstein album chronology | |||||
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| Singles from Sehnsucht | |||||
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Contents
Recording
The recording of the album began in November 1996 when Rammstein and their long-time producer, Jacob Hellner, entered Temple Studios in Malta.
In total, 13 songs are known to have been recorded for the album. Beside the eleven songs from the album, these two songs have also been recorded:
Alter Mann, Sehnsucht, Spiel mit mir, Bück dich, Bestrafe mich and Tier had already been performed live before the band entered the studio (Alter Mann even dating back to 1994 concerts). Also, despite being recorded for the album, Das Modell and Kokain only ever got released on a single. Some song had the working title Sadist, it is still uncertain which one it was.
Album
Cover
Most countries got six different cover artworks. In Germany, even a censored version was released, with a black paper in front of the cover and a warning written on it. Also in most countries, the album title and band name are printed in silver on the jewel case, not on the cover. Exceptions make Japan and Australia. Australia has album and name in grey print on the cover, Japan in white print.
Booklet
The booklet shows single pictures of each band member. The photos were taken by Gottfried Helnwein in his castle in 1996. Each band member's face is painted white with various devices attached to it. The instruments used are surgical tools from the original collection of famous German surgeon Ferdinand Sauerbruch (1874-1951), who was head of the surgical department at the Berlin hospital Charité from 1928 to 1949.[2]
While the surgical tools are antique, Paul Landers seems to have a lung retractor in his mouth, Till Lindemann appears to have trachea retractors in front of his eyes, Christoph Schneider seems to have some kind of spreader attached to his mouth, and the masks that Till Lindemann and Flake Lorenz are wearing could possibly have been used for anesthesia or for breathing in the pressure chamber Sauerbruch developed.
The trachea retractor "glasses" were also used on the cover of Blackout by the Scorpions.
The booklet is a fold-out booklet including six pages (12, when counting both sides). One side is showing each band member, the other one shows a stock image of a beach and all lyrics and credits. Depending on the front cover of the album, the arrangement of the band members differs on the booklet. Several editions of the album contain additionally translated lyrics: the XIII Bis edition features Engel and Du hast on the CD inlay and all translated titles on the tracklist in French, the Brazilian edition features every title in English on the backside of the artwork, while an European pressed release from 1997[3] features English lyrics for all songs and German ones only for Sehnsucht, Engel, Tier and Spiel mit mir, the Japanese release from 1998 contains English lyrics for all songs and German ones only for Sehnsucht, Engel, Tier and Du hast and finally the Ukrainian cassette features English lyrics for all songs except for Sehnsucht, Engel, Tier and Spiel mit mir being all four present in German only.
Formats
Japanese copies of Sehnsucht on CD included the English versions of Du hast and Engel. They also included card OBI strips around the spines of the CD cases.
The album was released in CD format in Germany, the UK, France, South Korea, United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and even Venezuela; the booklets of these CDs had variable artwork; every CD would have a random band member's face on the front. European copies (with the exclusion of the XIII Bis Records copies) featured the Rammstein logo, as well as the album title on the front of the jewel case itself, foil-printed in silver. Other non-European countries received CDs with the logo printed on the actual booklet.
Some of the first German copies had black cards slotted in front of the front artwork, censoring the band members' faces on the front as they were considered 'graphic'. This card could be removed at any time, revealing the artwork.
A later German limited edition version was released including Du riechst so gut '98 as a final bonus track. Typically, Flake's face would appear on the front of these copies.
To promote the upcoming tour, Sehnsucht also got a MotorWare Tour box featuring a Rammstein T-Shirt, and a Sehnsucht CD which is now considerably rare.
In Germany, Sehnsucht was released in a limited digipack case. In France, the album was released as a standard jewel case, but also in two different digipacks. Both digipacks are numbered and have Till on the cover. The first digipack has the standard 11 tracks on the CD, while the second version includes three bonus tracks. It is not known how high the limitation of both versions is.
An Australian Tour Edition of Sehnsucht was released in 2001 with two CDs to promote Live aus Berlin; the original Sehnsucht album with Stripped as a final track, and the Asche zu Asche EP, stylized to look more like a Sehnsucht-style CD. An earlier 1997 version was released in Australia, excluding the additional CD.
Some US / Canadian copies of Sehnsucht had the English versions of Du hast and Engel as the final two tracks, making a total of 13 tracks.
Others from the same region included Stripped as a final track, making a total of 12 tracks.
A very exclusive limited edition version of the album was released by XIII Records in France - bizarrely, it is comprised of a French digipack featuring 3 bonus tracks, suspended behind a plate of clear Plexiglas which is signed by all six band members in pink marker. The Plexiglas itself is attached to a large base made of a white, hard stone-like material by four large metal bolts, inserted in a diamond formation around the digipack. This item comes with two A4 paper letters of certification from the then-president of XIII Records. This item is speculated to be limited to only ten copies, although, the source for this exact information is unknown.
On 4 December 2015, the album was part of the XXI vinyl box set. It was the first time the album was released on vinyl. Two years later, on 8 December 2017, the vinyl of the album was made available separately.
Polish text
On Polish cassettes Till introduces the listener to the album in Polish. This is what he says:
Hallo! Cześć jesteśmy Rammstein, pozdrawiamy całą Polskę i życzymy wielu miłych wrażeń w słuchaniu naszej nowej płyty pod tytułem Sehnsucht.
Translation:
Hello! Hi, we are Rammstein. We're greeting whole Poland and we wish you a lot of nice experiences while listening to our new album named Sehnsucht.
Promotion
The following text is taken from a promotional letter, that was sent out for the promotion of the album:
Wie gerufen die ersten Abmahnungen. Das übliche Schreckensvokabular, die üblichen Denuntziationen. Trotzdem ein ordentlicher Erfolg. Immer wieder in die Charts, und dann der Durchmarsch, schließlich auf Platz acht der Album-Charts, nahezu 400.000 verkaufte Tonträger, Goldstatus in Deutschland. Zudem internationale Anerkennnung und unzählige Veröffentlichungen im Ausland inklusive Italien, Spanien, Griechenland, Schweden, Frankreich, Mexico. Auftritte auf den größten Sommer-Festivals in Schweden, Holland, England, Belgien, Frankreich...
Das war das Debüt von Rammstein, "Herzeleid", eine Sensation mit Zeitzünder, eine beispiellose Erfolgsgeschichte.
Dazwischen kam David Lynch, kam der "Lost Highway", zwei Songs auf dem famosen Soundtrack neben Bowies "I'm Deranged". Bewunderung für die Teutonen beim Film-Team. zentrale Momente im Film mit Rammstein-Gruselromantik. Vielleicht, spekuliert einer der Gefängniswärter in "Lost Highway", sei das alles "weird shit". Verstehen kann man es jedenfalls nicht. Aber warum auch ! Das Reizvolle an Lynchs Rätselspielen wie an den nicht minder enigmatischen Attacken von Rammstein ist das Locken des Unheimlichen, die Erotik des Mythos, die Wucht der Gewalt. Es ist ein beliebtes Mißverständnis, den Künstler mit der Kunst, die Handelnden mit den Erfindenden zu verwechseln, die Imagination mit der Tat.
Allerdings beschäftigt der Fall Rammstein neben den Musikzeitschriften, neuerdings auch die Illustrierten und Stadtmagazine. Erst Kopfschütteln, dann Ratlosigkeit oder mildes Amüsement. Was ist nur dran an dem Ensemble aus Ost-Berlin und Schwerin ? Ein Jugend-Phänomen ? Spaß am Sadomasochismus ? Die neue Lust am Obskuranten ? Der Sound sozialen Abstiegs ? Der Beat der Krise ?
Nicht unwahrscheinlich, daß die Depressionen des ausgehenden Jahrtausends, die Unüberschaubarkeit und Ausweglosigkeit der postindustriellen Endzeit solche Entladungen möglich macht. Dabei sind Rammstein keine dumpfen multiplikatoren kollektiven Unbehagens, sie exekutieren auch keinen simplen Zerstörungswillen. Das Spielerische der Rammstein-Welt - das den "stern" undvermeidlich an "Hollywood" gemahnt, obwohl David Lynch dort gar keinen Zutritt hat (und nicht mehr haben will) - wird selbstredend ignoriert; schlauere Interpreten erkennen immerhin das "Comichafte" der Inszenierung. Und in der Tat: Wir sind ja nicht im Philosophie-Seminar. Obwohl es dort einiges zu diskutieren gäbe.
Zumal jetzt, da das zweite Album veröffentlich wird. Angekündigt durch die TOP 3 Gold-Single "Engel". Der Titel: "Sehnsucht", ganz einfach, ein großes Wort für Gefühle, die mit Sehnen und Süchten jenseits des Heimwehs zusammenhängen. "Ich möchte Deine Träne reiten/ Übers Kinn nach Afrika/ Und zwischen deinen Schenkeln suchen/ Nach dem Schnee vom letzten Jahr." Der ist natürlich nicht mehr da. Man kann sich nicht helfen: Mag ja lachhaft sein, doch besser gelacht hat man selten. Fast beängstigend, wie Rammstein ihre Sprachbilder schöpfen (und woher!), wie die Texte in der Schwebe gehalten werden, immer gerne eine zweite Ebene parat, eine listige Deppelbedeutung, eine finstere Andeutung, einen fiesen Halbsatz. Wie in "Bestrafe mich" oder "Bück Dich" der Sadomasochismus eine plötzlich auch musikalisch verhandelbare Angelegenheit wird, die der stimulierenden Albernheit von der praktizierende Experten immer berichten! - entspricht. Das Grauen der Lust stets auch eine schwarze Komödie, der Eingang zur Spaß-Hölle. Bedrohlich und bombastisch sind diese Lieder, wenn man sie so nennen darf - wie die synthetischen Streicher grell und schräg irrlichtern, wie der schönste Kitsch - schon in der Single "Engel" - exekutiert wird, und wie Till Lindemann in "Klavier" unvermutet wie ein verzärtelter Minnesänger singt, wo sonst geknurrt wird. Das Idyll ist glaubhaft. Aber etwas stimmt im Refrain schon mit der Musik nicht. Und siehe: "Ich goß ihr Blut in das Feuer meiner Wut". Dann kippt der Song in den Abgrund, und die Genre-Bilder werden als Schauer-Tableau wiederholt. Ein fast klassisches Bänkelied, bei dem Täter und Opfer am Ende die Rollen vertauschen: Nun sitzt der Lauschende selbst am Klavier, und sein Spiel beginnt.
Das Spiel auf der Klaviatur unserer Ängste und Obsessionen nämlich. Wenn künftig über Rammstein nachgedacht wird, sollte das Archetypische gründlich bedacht werden als das Phänotypische. Unter der Oberfläche einer perfekten Show und attraktiven Budenzaubers schwärt der Brand der Leidenschaften. Rammstein sägen am Urgrund.
Certifications
| Certification | Certification date | Certified units | Country |
| 2x Platinum[4] | 2004 | 160,000 | Switzerland |
| Platinum[5] | 29 Sep 1998 | - | Austria |
| Platinum[6] | 10 Jul 2001 | - | Canada |
| Platinum[7] | 1997 | 500,000 | Germany |
| Platinum[8] | 1 Jul 1999 | 1,000,000 | United States |
| Platinum[4] | 1997 | 50,000 | Switzerland |
| Gold[5] | 15 Jan 1998 | - | Austria |
| Gold[6] | 30 Nov 1998 | - | Canada |
| Gold[7] | 1997 | 250,00 | Germany |
| Gold[8] | 2 Sep 1998 | - | United States |
| Silver[9] | 22 Jul 2013 | 60,000 | Great Britain |
The certified units are based on the minimum need of sales to receive the award.
Awards
| Sehnsucht | ||
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| Type: | Platinum | |
| Units Sold: | >1,000,000 | |
| To: | XIII Bis | |
| From: | IFPI | |
| Other: | This award was given to XIII Bis records in France by IFPI for over one million sales of Sehnsucht in Europe. | |
| Herzeleid, Sehnsucht, Live aus Berlin & Mutter | ||
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| Units Sold: | 200,000 (each) | |
| To: | Rammstein | |
| Sehnsucht & Mutter | ||
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| Type: | Gold | |
| To: | Rammstein Emanuel Fialik |
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Tracklist
| Standard album |
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| Promotional album cassette |
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| Bonus tracks |
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Polish cassettes:
US/2001 Australian bonus:
Japan bonus: 1998 German bonus:
French bonus:
2001 Australian bonus CD:
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| French translation |
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| Only featured on the XIII Bis edition. |
| English translation |
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| Only featured on some editions. |