Rammstein: “Row Zero”: sexualized violence, drugs and rock’n’roll

A guessing game: Jérôme Boateng signs a new professional contract and is celebrated by his new club as a “sought-after exceptional player” and “model athlete”. Rammstein are going on a European stadium tour and are being celebrated by hundreds of thousands of fans. which year do we have? 2017, 2021 or 2024? Or does it almost no longer matter? Probably the latter. Unfortunately.

In the sphere of professional football and the universe of the A-list music world, you can have a good time – no matter what nonsense you made in “a previous life”. Fame, power and money not only guarantee that you can get away with problematic behavior, they also often guarantee that you can retreat into a cozy cocoon called a “career” after scandals and accusations. The super-rich and super-successful get away with a lot – especially when they are not only rich and famous, but also male.

Since the summer of 2023, the one mantra has often been repeated in the reporting on Rammstein frontman Till Lindemann’s behavior towards young female fans: It’s about “abuse of power in the music business.” It’s a catchy term that, of course, points to obvious injustices in the entertainment business. In the spirit of #MeToo, it is suggested that there are power structures in working life (here: professional musician business) that can promote problematic, violent and perhaps even criminally relevant behavior. It is important that these grievances are discussed – and further important research has recently been published on the Rammstein case. The NDR podcast “Rammstein – Row Zero” tells the stories of young women who in the past ended up in the Lindemann recruitment system, which ensured that sexualized encounters between the Rammstein singer and his colleagues before, after and during Rammstein concerts fans could take place.

The book “Row Zero – Violence and Abuse of Power in the Music Industry” by Lena Kampf and Daniel Drepper now looks even deeper behind the scenes of fan exploitation in the music industry. They spoke to over 200 people from the music industry and demonstrated, among other things, how not only the power of individual stars, but also the collaborating and cover-up actions of many other protagonists from the music scene promote unpleasant dynamics, morally questionable or even abusive behavior. And they show that these are not rare slip-ups by highlighting well-known individual cases from recent years: From criminally verifiable examples (R. Kelly) up to Asshole behavior that cannot be legally resolved (Ryan Adams) the whole bouquet of shit stories is there. True to the motto: Not nice and unfortunately not rare either.

Illuminating the perspective of those affected is the linchpin of Kampf and Drepper’s book. »Row Zero« is not only an important archive of sexist and misogynistic incidents in pop culture, but also a work that brings the narratives of those affected to the fore. As a dynamic long-term project, so to speak: the fact that the research was carried out very openly and the door was opened wide for those affected has been evident for twelve months now – with articles, with projects, with research. That’s why “Row Zero” is actually a book that could be continued to be written – after all, that’s how big the field is.

However, when reading “Row Zero” it is worth remembering again and again that it is not just a diffuse concept of abuse of power that can explain social practices. Overall, you have to actively think about what actually means that male perpetrators can indulge in their “vices”™ without worry and usually without consequences. Because in the worst case scenario, things that also need to be talked about remain in the background: misogyny, cis-male violence, heterosexism, rape culture, queer hostility.

A scandal surrounding the behavior of US singer Lizzo towards her team is used as an example to show the possibility that abuse of power is not just a problem for men in the music business. But that seems unfortunate: Why should it be the behavior of a black artist to show that women in the pop business can also be at the forefront of those who abuse power?

Because in the sum of the problems that “Row Zero” describes, one thing above all becomes clear: morally reprehensible and/or violent and/or abusive behavior in the entertainment world is always embedded in patriarchal-capitalist structures, which are of course also racist. These are structures in which perpetrators are supported and protected – especially if they benefit from the system. And these are structures in which those affected are only heard on a large scale if the power structures of the attention economy make it possible.