2008 Woodie Awards
German Band Spreading Anti-American Influence?
International Perspective
Nicole D'Andrea
Issue date: 10/27/04 Section: Perspectives
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It was 6am, midnight New York time, and I was in Ruzyne Airport just outside of Prague, Czech Republic, waiting for an early morning flight to London. My two friends and I had gotten to the airport way too early, and breezed through Prague's questionable airport security to find ourselves spacing out to assorted music videos on MTV Europe in a television in a seating area. They played the expected American pop songs; Maroon 5 "This Love," The Black Eyed Peas "Let's Get It Started" and Houston "I Like Dat.," some British pop, and a few bands we had never heard of.
But what grabbed my attention was the German band Rammstein, who I had heard of years ago with the popularity of the semi-disturbing single "Du Hast." They were in a video for their song called "Amerika," where the verses of the song were in German and the chorus was primarily in English.
The lyrics from the song, as translated into English, include, "I will show you the direction / to Africa comes Santa Claus / and in front of Paris stands Mickey Mouse / we're all living in America / America is wonderful / we're all living in America..."
The reference to Mickey Mouse in front of Paris is an attack on EuroDisney, also known as Disneyland Paris, which is the European version of Disneyland, and is another example of an American company that is trying its luck of attracting European consumers. EuroDisney is just a short train ride away from Paris, hence Mickey being there.
In the video, the band members were playing instruments dressed from head to toe in astronaut costumes in a setting resembling the moon. It was, of course, a play on America being the first nation to land on the moon in 1969, and included a scene of the five band members dressed as astronauts trying to figure out how to put the American flag into the ground, and looking stupid when they couldn't figure out how to do it.
Between the band playing were scenes that were supposed to portray the vast global influence that America has on the world, with children that were dressed as if they were part of an African tribe also singing along to the chorus of the song.
But what grabbed my attention was the German band Rammstein, who I had heard of years ago with the popularity of the semi-disturbing single "Du Hast." They were in a video for their song called "Amerika," where the verses of the song were in German and the chorus was primarily in English.
The lyrics from the song, as translated into English, include, "I will show you the direction / to Africa comes Santa Claus / and in front of Paris stands Mickey Mouse / we're all living in America / America is wonderful / we're all living in America..."
The reference to Mickey Mouse in front of Paris is an attack on EuroDisney, also known as Disneyland Paris, which is the European version of Disneyland, and is another example of an American company that is trying its luck of attracting European consumers. EuroDisney is just a short train ride away from Paris, hence Mickey being there.
In the video, the band members were playing instruments dressed from head to toe in astronaut costumes in a setting resembling the moon. It was, of course, a play on America being the first nation to land on the moon in 1969, and included a scene of the five band members dressed as astronauts trying to figure out how to put the American flag into the ground, and looking stupid when they couldn't figure out how to do it.
Between the band playing were scenes that were supposed to portray the vast global influence that America has on the world, with children that were dressed as if they were part of an African tribe also singing along to the chorus of the song.