Rammstein was founded by guitarist Richard Z. Kruspe. In 1989, he escaped to West Berlin and started the band Orgasm Death Gimmicks. At that time, he was heavily influenced by American music, especially that of Kiss. After the Berlin Wall came down, he moved back home to Schwerin, where Till Lindemann worked as a basket-weaver and played drums in the band First Arsch (loosely translated as "First Ass"-US - "First Arse" - elsewhere). At this time, Richard lived with Oliver Riedel, of the band The Inchtabokatables, and Christoph "Doom" Schneider (of Die Firma). Richard realised that the music he had previously created did not properly suit him. He envisioned something that would combine machines as well as the sound of hard guitars. The three started working together on a new project. Richard soon found it extremely difficult to write both music and lyrics at the same time, so he persuaded Lindemann to join Rammstein. Richard first discovered Till when he overheard him singing while he was working.
A contest was held in Berlin for amateur bands in 1994, the winner of which would receive the opportunity to record a four track demo CD in a professional studio. Kruspe, Schneider, Riedel, and Lindemann entered and won the contest, which sparked the attention of Paul H. Landers, who wanted in on the project upon hearing their demo. To complete their sound, Rammstein then attempted to recruit Christian "Flake" Lorenz, who had played with Paul H. Landers previously in Feeling B. At first, Lorenz was hesitant, but eventually agreed to join the band. Later, they were signed by Motor Records.
Rammstein began to record their first studio album titled Herzeleid in March 1995 with producer Jacob Hellner.[7] They released their first single "Du riechst so gut" on 17 August and released the album on 24 September 1995. Later that year, they toured with Clawfinger in
