E.F. – Emanuel Fialik (Director this video & Rammstein’s manager).
T.L. – Till Lindermann (Vocalism).
R.Z.K. – Richard Z. Kruspe (Solo-guitar).
P.H.L. – Paul Heiko Landers (Rhythm-guitar).
C.S. – Christoph Schneider (Drums).
C.F.L. – Christian Flake Lorenz (Keyboard).
O.R. – Oliver Riedel (Bass-guitar).
С.S.: None of us had ever made a video like this before. We also didn't have much of a budget or very many possibilities. And our manager back then was full of ambition, regarding his visual expectations and so on and he really wanted to have just one real try, to shoot a video in just the way, he imagined it to be. We said: OK, Emanuel, let's do it all ourselves.
R.Z.K.: He is the kind of guy who liked expressing himself visually and had ideas and I know, that he had a favourite video back then by Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U". He dreamt of this video from this one single setting. I think it was an inspiration for him, to make a video in which you can always see the faces.
P.H.L.: We thought, you get videos like that, offered to you on a tray. You just say "a video please" and get it. That you have to be active yourself, if you want it to be good, or that it reflected the band in it, is something we had to learn.
T.L.: That was unusual and in some ways really, a bit like the first gig, something completely new. It was difficult. We had to get accustomed to not laughing about the others and stay serious. There were two mutts on the set, who wouldn't do what they were meant to. That was in reality a lot more fun than... the rigour it was supposed to have. My knees just used to tremble. It was a bit strange, everything.
C.S.: In retrospect, I think: What in hell were we doing? What was going on in our minds? What in hell did we look like? That was ajoint band feeling then, it was our sense of time. We wanted to be masculine... and appear aggressive and hard.
T.L.: Sport was a big thing in East Germany. It had it's own aesthetics, it's own movement. It always looked good. So we only made use of those attributes, which we had practically used when we were on stage: Bare chests, braces, second-hand black suit bottoms. And at times, it all displayed a kind of gym-shirt appeal. We have tried to incorporate this in the video. Of course, we had to rub oil on our bodies, that always looked good.
The flower thing? I think, that was just someone's idea, to give this relatively teutonic, warlike appearance some contrast.
R.Z.K.: This is true of our first record cover. It was also down to a certain natural naivety that is always important during creative processes, without censoring oneself. People notice, the guys have ambition.
T.L.: We just stood there for a photo, but that it would be so polarising, brought us down and got on our nerves. But on the other hand, it polarized and stirred people's awareness. Either you liked us, or you thought we were absolute shit. To put it simply: Something's happening. This appealled to us, because it created attention. What could be better for us, than when people notice us?
That was in the mid 90's. A time of awakening, this spirit of optimism. Things were happening all over stuff like, designer stores, clothes shops in trendy parts of Berlin. I drove past this opticians store every day, no one was ever inside. I bought these glasses there. They were incredibly expensive. They are either motorbike glasses or pilots glasses from the second world war, where water is repelled via this slits. It was just one method of helping me to stop buying sunshades. I used to have 20 sunshades on top of each other. Aluminum with a leather strap and somehow it fit.
Whilst making the first album and afterwards during the tour, I had several knee operations. It began with a meniscus injury I once picked up from swimming and I had extremely sprained cruciate ligaments. At some concerts, if I stood the wrong way, I never thought of twisting my leg, I just used to whack it, to knock it back onto my kneecap again. Three or four whacks and it was back in place again. Paul always said: "Do it more often, it looks great." From then on, it just grew into a habit.
R.Z.K.: In those day, you delivered videos, and even when the videos were finished you didn't know whether they would be screened or not. There are a lot of jokes told about that. I think that was delivered back then, but never played. If I remember rightly, but I am not really sure. Then we just said: Now we'll make a big story. Then "Du riechst so gut" Part 2 came out.
P.H.L.: We just thought, if we make a more "normal" video-like video, especially considering the song was subdued initially, that we would do the song more justice, by polishing it up a bit and get rid of some things. The one version is an art video with more or less static images and the second video has somehow overshot its mark too.
С.S.: We showed the video to the friends and acquaintances, we had in our circle, also those people who had worked with us. All said the video sucked. Some were slightly more diplomatic and just said: OK, it's different and is... well... But I certainly can't remember any gushing enthusiasm.
R.Z.K.: It was 18 years ago? Jesus Christ!
С.S.: It makes me happy to look at it again. I think: Man, how young we were then.
