Originally posted by
Chuckie
Originally posted by
Aragorn
Originally posted by
Chuckie
They're interesting for sure ... they're not Neo-Nazis or anything like that, huh
Not that I know of, no.
Just wanted to be sure ...
Source: Wikipedia
Political views
The band wrote the song "Links 2-3-4" (Links being German for "left") as a riposte to early claims that the band were neo-Nazis, and to affirm that they reside on the left side of the political spectrum. In a 2011 interview with Rolling Stone, when asked about Nazi accusations, Lindemann stated "We come from the East and we have grown up as socialists. We used to be either punks or Goths – we hate Nazis! And then, such a far-fetched accusation. We are doing exactly the same thing today, but no one in America or in Mexico would even get the idea to come up with something like that. This only happens in Germany. Our reply to this animosity was, "Links 2-3-4", and with that, we had made it clear where we stand politically." Regarding the song, Kruspe said: "'My heart beats on the left, two, three, four'. It's simple. If you want to put us in a political category, we're on the left side, and that's the reason we made the song". The song's title refers to the refrain of the German Communist Party song Einheitsfrontlied, written by Bertholt Brecht: "Drum links, zwei, drei! Drum links, zwei, drei! / Wo dein Platz, Genosse ist! / Reih dich ein, in die Arbeitereinheitsfront / Weil du auch ein Arbeiter bist". (Then left, two, three! Then left, two, three! / Here's the place, Comrade, for you! / So fall in with the Workers' united front / For you are a worker too.) Another key lyric expressing the band's allegiance to the left paraphrases the titles of newspaper columns published side by side for several years in the German newspaper Bild: "Mein Herz schlägt links" ("My heart beats on the left") by The Left Party co-chair and former Social Democratic Party of Germany chair Oskar Lafontaine, and "Mein Herz schlägt auf dem rechten Fleck" ("My heart beats in the right place") by Peter Gauweiler of the conservative Christian Social Union. Lorenz stated that the song was created to show the band could write a harsh, evil, military-sounding song without being Nazis.
The band also wrote the song "Amerika" as a critique of the worldwide cultural and political imperialism of the United States. In their book Envisioning Social Justice in Contemporary German Culture, Jill E. Twark and Axel Hildebrandt found that the song's text and most of its video's images point toward a critique of America's cultural imperialism, political propaganda, and self-assumed role as global police force. The song responds critically to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. They also found that another song of theirs that is critical of the United States is "Mein Land", believing that it critiques American racism and nationalism.
During the Eastern European leg of their Europe Stadium Tour, the band showed support for the LGBT community on several occasions. At a concert in Chorzów, Poland on 24 July 2019, drummer Christoph Schneider surfed the crowd in a rubber boat, holding a rainbow flag. At their concert in Moscow five days later, guitarists Kruspe and Landers kissed onstage, while they embraced each other during a concert in Saint Petersburg on 2 August. The band's support for gay rights was met with criticism from some Russian politicians. Vitaly Milonov, a member of the State Duma called the band "idiots" and said: "If they think it possible to behave in such a way, they should also consider it possible to keep this garbage away from us."
Source: Wikipedia