Sehnsucht (Rammstein album)

Sehnsucht (German pronunciation: [ˈzeːnˌzʊxt]; "Desire" or "Longing") is the second studio album by German Neue Deutsche Härte band Rammstein. It was released on August 22, 1997, through Motor Music in Europe and Slash Records in the United States. It is the only album entirely in German to be certified platinum by the RIAA in the US. The album peaked at No. 1 on the Austrian and German charts.

Sehnsucht
One of six different cover arts for the album, with this one featuring Till Lindemann
Studio album by Rammstein
Released	22 August 1997
Recorded	November 1996 – July 1997
Studio	Temple (St. Paul's Bay)
Genre	Neue Deutsche Härte industrial metal
Length	43:51
Label	Motor
Producer	Jacob Hellner Rammstein
Rammstein chronology
Herzeleid (1995) Sehnsucht (1997) Live aus Berlin (1999)
Singles from Sehnsucht
"Engel" Released: 1 April 1997 "Du hast" Released: 19 July 1997

In 2020, Metal Hammer included it in their list of Top 10 1997 Albums.^[1]

Cover art

The album booklet folds out to reveal six different covers, one for each band member (each photo depicting the member with vintage medical / surgical instruments). The cover most commonly seen shows Till Lindemann with a surgical metal wire utensil worn as a muzzle and surgical forks over his eyes. The cover art was created by Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein,^[2] who also created the cover for the Scorpions' Blackout album, which the Sehnsucht cover resembles.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[3]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	^[4]
Pitchfork	2.9/10^[5]
Q	^[6]
Rolling Stone	^[7]
Rock Hard	9.0/10^[8]
Spin	5/10^[9]
Sputnikmusic	4.5/5^[10]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Rammstein, except "Sehnsucht" (written by Rammstein and Orgasm Death Gimmick) and "Tier" (written by Rammstein and Jürgen Engler)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Sehnsucht" ("Desire")	4:04
2.	"Engel" ("Angel"; featuring Bobo)	4:24
3.	"Tier" ("Animal")	3:47
4.	"Bestrafe mich" ("Punish Me")	3:38
5.	"Du hast" ("You Have"^[nb 1])	3:55
6.	"Bück dich" ("Bend Over")	3:22
7.	"Spiel mit mir" ("Play with Me")	4:46
8.	"Klavier" ("Piano")	4:24
9.	"Alter Mann" ("Old Man")	4:24
10.	"Eifersucht" ("Jealousy")	3:37
11.	"Küss mich (Fellfrosch)" ("Kiss Me (Fur Frog)")	3:30
Total length:		43:51

Additional notes

1. The spoken form of the title is a play on homophones (in German) that mean "you have" ("du hast", the translation of the written form) and "you hate" ("du hasst"); the English version uses "you hate" in the lyrics.

Special editions

Multiple special editions of Sehnsucht were released, offering different bonus tracks:

• The following songs as tracks 12 and 13 for the North American and Japanese releases:
  • "Engel (English Version)"
  • "Du hast (English Version)"
  • These songs are also included on micro-cassettes, and may be hidden tracks on certain editions.
• "Du riechst so gut '98" as track 12. A version also includes the video for "Du riechst so gut '98".
• Polish cassettes included a short Polish introduction to the album, spoken by Till.^[11]
• A limited edition release in Europe features 14 tracks:
  • "Rammstein (Eskimos & Egypt Radio Edit)"
  • "Du riechst so gut '98"
  • "Du hast (Remix by Clawfinger)"
• "Stripped" as a twelfth track, which may be included on the micro-cassette version and/or be included as a hidden track.
• "Stripped" as a twelfth track and the "Asche zu Asche" single as a second CD. The "Asche zu Asche" single may be included on the first CD to make a total of 18 tracks.
• A 2001 Australian Tour Edition, which had "Stripped" as a twelfth track, and a second CD with the "Asche zu Asche" single as the first track, followed by five live songs.

Anniversary Edition^[12]

On 15 April 2023, Rammstein released a short teaser to their social media channels, showing the album's various front covers along to the intro of Bück dich. A day later, another teaser was posted, with footage of the band rehearsing Engel on 18 April 1997. The caption of that video announced the "Sehnsucht Anniversary Edition". On 17 April 2023, a third teaser followed, including footage from Live aus Berlin and the announcement, that the pre-order of the anniversary edition would start the next day, 19 April. The Anniversary Edition of Sehnsucht was made available for pre-order around 10 AM CEST.

The Anniversary Edition was scheduled for release on June 9th, 2023.

Besides being remastered, the album features an exclusive new mix of Spiel mit mir, titled "2023 Mix", and a 40 page booklet with previously unreleased photos of Gottfried Helnwein.

Personnel

Rammstein^[13] Till Lindemann – lead vocals Richard Kruspe – lead guitar, backing vocals Paul Landers – rhythm guitar, backing vocals Oliver Riedel – bass, backing vocals (track 1) Christian "Flake" Lorenz – keyboards Christoph Schneider – drums Guest vocals^[13] Bobo – vocals in "Engel"

Production^[13] Björn Engelmann – mastering Emanuel Fialik – management Jacob Hellner – producer Gottfried Helnwein – photography, portrait photography Ronald Prent – mixing Dirk Rudolph – cover design, sleeve design Mark Stagg – programming

Charts

Weekly charts Weekly chart performance for Sehnsucht Chart (1997–2023) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)^[14] 25 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)^[15] 1 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)^[16] 36 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)^[17] 28 Europe (European Top 100 Albums)^[18] 7 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)^[19] 13 French Albums (SNEP)^[20] 76 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[21] 1 Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)^[22] 28 Lithuanian Albums (AGATA)^[23] 7 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)^[24] 23 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)^[25] 23 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)^[26] 17 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)^[27] 3 US Billboard 200^[28] 45

Year-end charts Year-end chart performance for Sehnsucht Chart (1997) Position Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)^[29] 16 Europe (European Top 100 Albums)^[30] 53 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[31] 6 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)^[32] 40 Chart (1998) Position German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[33] 40 US Billboard 200^[34] 161

Certifications

Certifications for Sehnsucht

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Austria (IFPI Austria)^[35]	Platinum	50,000^*
Canada (Music Canada)^[36]	Platinum	100,000^^
Germany (BVMI)^[37]	5× Gold	1,250,000^‡
Netherlands (NVPI)^[38]	Gold	50,000^^
Poland (ZPAV)^[39]	Gold	50,000^*
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)^[40]	2× Platinum	100,000^^
United Kingdom (BPI)^[41]	Gold	100,000^‡
United States (RIAA)^[42]	Platinum	1,000,000^^
Summaries
Europe (IFPI)^[43]	Platinum	1,000,000^*
^* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ^‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

1. "The Top 10 best albums of 1997". Metal Hammer. Future plc. 31 July 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
2. . Helnwein Music. 22 July 1997. Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2009.
3. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (13 January 1998). "Sehnsucht – Rammstein". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
4. "Robert Christgau: CG: Rammstein".
5. . Archived from the original on 27 June 2007. Retrieved 27 June 2007.
6. Q review 13 November 2004 at the Wayback Machine
7. . Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 10 March 2007. Retrieved 27 June 2012.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
8. "RAMMSTEIN - Sehnsucht". Rock Hard. 22 August 1998. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
9. "SPIN Mar 1998". Spin. 1 March 1998. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
10. STAFF, Simon (29 June 2015). "Rammstein – Sehnsucht". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
11. "Sehnsucht". RammWiki. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
12. "Sehnsucht". RammWiki. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
13. "Sehnsucht credits". AllMusic. All Media Guide (Rovi). Retrieved 19 May 2016.
14. "Australiancharts.com – Rammstein – Sehnsucht". Hung Medien.
15. "Austriancharts.at – Rammstein – Sehnsucht" (in German). Hung Medien.
16. "Ultratop.be – Rammstein – Sehnsucht" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
17. "Dutchcharts.nl – Rammstein – Sehnsucht" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
18. "Eurochart Top 100 Albums - September 13, 1997" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 14, no. 37. 13 September 1997. p. 13. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
19. "Rammstein: Sehnsucht" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
20. "Lescharts.com – Rammstein – Sehnsucht". Hung Medien.
21. "Offiziellecharts.de – Rammstein – Sehnsucht" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts.
22. "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2023. 24. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ.
23. "2023 21-os savaitės klausomiausi (Top 100)" (in Lithuanian). AGATA. 26 May 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
24. "Charts.nz – Rammstein – Sehnsucht". Hung Medien.
25. "Album 2022 uke 30" (in Norwegian). topplista.no. 29 July 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
26. "Swedishcharts.com – Rammstein – Sehnsucht". Hung Medien.
27. "Swisscharts.com – Rammstein – Sehnsucht". Hung Medien.
28. "Rammstein Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
29. "Jahreshitparade Alben 1997". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
30. "Year in Focus" (PDF). Music & Media. 27 December 1997. p. 7. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
31. "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
32. "Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1997". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
33. "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
34. "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1998". Billboard. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
35. "Austrian album certifications – Rammstein – Sehnsucht" (in German). IFPI Austria.
36. "Canadian album certifications – Rammstein – Sehnsucht". Music Canada.
37. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Rammstein; 'Sehnsucht')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
38. "Dutch album certifications – Rammstein – Sehnsucht" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved 28 August 2019. Enter Sehnsucht in the "Artiest of titel" box. Select 2003 in the drop-down menu saying "Alle jaargangen".
39. "Wyróżnienia – Złote płyty CD - Archiwum - Przyznane w 2001 roku" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
40. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Rammstein; 'Sehnsucht')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.
41. "British album certifications – Rammstein – Sehnsucht". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
42. "American album certifications – Rammstein – Sehnsucht". Recording Industry Association of America.
43. . International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 2 February 2020.