A handcuff, a tube of lubricant and six dildos. That was the deluxe edition of Liebe ist für alle da, the sixth studio album by the German industrial metal band Rammstein, released in a limited aluminium case on 21 December 2009. The title translates from German as 'Love exists for all' — but in Germany, the authorities decided some of that love was not for everyone. Rammstein released Liebe ist für alle da on October 16, 2009.
Release and chart success
The album had arrived on 16 October 2009 in Europe, and the reaction was immediate. In Finland it went platinum before release, on pre-orders alone. In Germany it started at number 1, the strongest opening for any album that year. Rammstein were at the height of their power, and the record's mix of Neue Deutsche Härte and industrial metal gave fans exactly what they expected: heavy riffs, theatrical vocals and lyrics that pushed against every limit. The album was released through Universal Music and produced by Jacob Hellner together with the band. Its running time is 46 minutes, and fans often shorten the title to LIFAD.
Then the German state pushed back. The Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons placed the album on its list of materials dangerous to minors. The reasons were the track 'Ich tu dir weh' and a booklet photo of guitarist Richard Kruspe spanking a naked woman. The request for the review came from Ursula von der Leyen, then the federal minister for family affairs, senior citizens, women and youth.
Censored version and consequences
The consequences were severe. The album could only be sold to adults, and shops accessible to minors could not display it. On 16 November 2009 a censored version appeared in Germany without 'Ich tu dir weh' and without the offending picture. On that version's case, the band printed: 'Ich tu dir weh Removed after censorship by the authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany.' The censored track was replaced by four seconds of silence.
Rammstein did not stay quiet. The video for 'Ich tu dir weh' appeared on the adult site Visit-X on 21 December 2009, and the single followed on 5 February 2010. Then, on 31 May 2010, the administrative court in Cologne ruled to suspend the censorship. A day later the German authority removed the album from its list. On 9 June 2010 the band announced on their official site that the original version was available again in their shop.
The censorship fight revealed how Rammstein operated: they treated restriction as material. The deluxe edition with handcuffs and dildos was not a response to the ban — it had been planned and released the same winter. The band's six members — Richard Kruspe, Paul Landers, Till Lindemann, Christian Lorenz, Oliver Riedel and Christoph Schneider — wrote every track themselves, and they made a point of controlling how their provocation was packaged.
In the United States, the cover was censored differently: a sheet of paper with the same artwork but an empty table hid the explicit image. The song title 'Pussy' was covered with a sticker reading 'P***y'. The American edition reached number 13, the band's highest position there, but it left the chart after four weeks. Rammstein had finally crossed into the mainstream, and the mainstream blinked. In February 2012, twenty-six demos from the album sessions leaked online, including early versions of two songs that had not yet been released. One of them later became 'Gib mir deine Augen' in 2012, and the other was reworked into 'Was ich liebe' on the band's 2019 album.
Liebe ist für alle da became the last Rammstein studio album before a long silence — the next one arrived in May 2019. The censorship episode stayed with the record. The title promised love for all, but for a few months in Germany, only adults were allowed to buy it. The band's response was not to apologise but to print the government's decision on the record itself, turning the ban into a badge.
The band's response was not to apologise but to print the government's decision on the record itself, turning the ban into a badge.