Break-up, MDFMK and reforming
KMFDM disbanded, albeit temporarily, on January 22, 1999. According to Sascha Konietzko, the split was due to "a deep rift between some of the co-members and unsurmountable difference regarding visions and objectives for a possible future."[5] The album Adios was released three months later, with the title originally intending to symbolize the band's departure from the Wax Trax! label, but later signaling the break-up of the band. Günter Schulz and En Esch formed the band Slick Idiot, and Konietzko and Tim Skold temporarily regrouped as MDFMK with the addition of singer Lucia Cifarelli. MDFMK released one self-titled album with Republic/Universal Records. KMFDM reformed in 2002 with Konietzko, Skold, Cifarelli, and former members Raymond Watts and Bill Rieflin. Günter Schulz and En Esch were invited to rejoin the band but declined.
Currently KMFDM comprises Sascha Konietzko, Lucia Cifarelli, Jules Hodgson, Andy Selway, and Steve White, with contributions from Raymond Watts.
[edit] Controversy
[edit] Copyright infringement
The song "Liebeslied" from KMFDM's 1990 album Naïve contains an unlicensed sample of "O Fortuna" from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. The band was threatened with legal action by Orff's publisher (Orff himself died in 1982), and the album was withdrawn from production in 1993. The following year, a new version of the album was released entitled Naïve/Hell to Go, containing remixes of several songs, including the offending track (with the sample removed) which was renamed "Leibesleid (Infringement Mix)" (the modified name is a play of words in German: Liebeslied = "love song", Leibesleid = "physical pain"). Consequently, the original release of Naïve has become highly collectible among KMFDM fans. KMFDM still occasionally performs the original version of "Liebeslied" in concert. Live versions, complete with the controversial sample, can be accessed on both the Beat by Beat by Beat and 20th Anniversary World Tour 2004 DVDs.
[edit] Columbine High School shootings
In wake of the Columbine High School massacre it was revealed that lyrics to KMFDM songs ("Power", "Son of a Gun", "Stray Bullet", "Waste") were posted on the website of shooter Eric Harris, and that the massacre coincided with the release date of the album Adios and the birthday of Adolf Hitler. The media was quick to jump on the apparent connection of the massacre to violent entertainment and Nazism. In response, Konietzko issued a statement the following day:
First and foremost, KMFDM would like to express their deep and heartfelt sympathy for the parents, families and friends of the murdered and injured children in Littleton. We are sick and appalled, as is the rest of the nation, by what took place in Colorado yesterday.
KMFDM are an art form — not a political party. From the beginning, our music has been a statement against war, oppression, fascism and violence against others. While some of the former band members are German as reported in the media, none of us condone any Nazi beliefs whatsoever.[6]
[edit] Album cover artwork
KMFDM has a long-standing relationship with commercial artist Aidan "Brute!" Hughes, who creates the iconic artwork adorning almost all of the band's albums and singles. Brute!'s artwork is also featured in KMFDM's music videos for "A Drug Against War" and "Son of a Gun", and on the band's promotional t-shirts (some of which have become quite collectable).
[edit] KMFDM "code"
Around the time the album Naïve was released, a member of the press assumed that KMFDM followed a pattern of naming their albums and certain songs with a single five-letter word. Konietzko adopted the idea and every studio album thereafter was named in this manner, even the compilation albums (Agogo, Retro). In typical KMFDM fashion, the band began mocking their self-imposed conformity by intentionally misspelling words so they would meet the five-letter criteria (Xtort, Attak).
In 1997, they took the concept a step further by adopting five unpronounceable symbols (
) as the album's official title, imitating similar stunts previously done by Led Zeppelin and Prince. The band, fans, and record executives alike simply referred to the album as Symbols out of convenience, although some listeners — in an attempt to keep the title within the five letter "mold" — referred to the album as either Icons or Curse, alluding to the symbols used in comics to indicate profanity. This five-symbol word is also apparently used in the song "Down and Out" according to the printed lyrics included with the album; however, it is bleeped out of the recording.
Often, the five-letter album and song titles are portrayed in a distinct color, possibly to convey apparent importance to those particular words.
The tradition of five-letter-word album titles was broken in 2005 with the release of their fifteenth studio album, Hau Ruck, which translates to "Heave Ho". Likewise, none of the album's song titles are five letter words.
No comments:
Post a Comment