Mr. Bandelow, you have always dealt with the dark side of stars. With their drug and sex excesses beyond the stage or the film set. Women have made allegations against Till Lindemann, which he denies. Now the focus is also on the keyboarder Flake. Did that surprise you? At the moment, nobody can say what really happened, and I don’t want to prejudice anyone. The presumption of innocence applies until proven otherwise.
Till Lindemann has staged himself as a bad guy like almost nobody else. The fans love him for it. What fascinates people about the bad guys? The stars live out what fans don’t dare to do. They have sex with many women and men, break taboos, their lyrics are vulgar, their gestures obscene. They live out our wishes and desires on their behalf. This stimulates our own endorphin system – it makes us feel happy. There is almost no mega-star who is not somehow sexually arousing to a large number of people. Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Robbie Williams, they all have that erotic appeal.
Stars are rewarded for breaking taboos with applause, attention and money. What does that do to a person? Usually they are narcissistic personalities. And they experience that everything nice that happens to them happens because they are so narcissistic. So they have no reason to stop using this strategy, on the contrary. Breaking the taboo increases their market value. Many scandals therefore seem calculated, with Madonna, for example, one always had the feeling that they were planned for marketing purposes; others gave the impression that the scandals were real, like Robbie Williams.
Michael Jackson was suspected of sexually abusing minors; the r
That sounds like an acquittal of any responsibility. Unfortunately, the star is insane, drugged and can’t be held accountable for his actions. Isn’t that making things too easy for yourself?No. I don’t want to say that. Anyone who commits a crime must be convicted. You can’t refer to his artistry there.
In the poem “When you sleep” Till Lindemann describes a rape fantasy that reads like instructions for precisely those allegations that young women are now making against him. Artists like him refer to the strict separation of the lyrical self and the real person. How believable is that? If you were to analyze every song in pop history, you would have to assume that almost every star is a potential rapist. Drastic, sexist lyrics are normal. Also because they are well received by the audience. Rammstein’s clientele wants this aggressive, violent aesthetic charged with right-wing allusions. At most concerts, bands and fans just enjoy staging together, and the line between fantasy and reality is clear. From the texts one cannot draw any conclusions about the true nature of the lyricist.
Studies have shown that sexual assault and violence against women is tolerated in the music industry and that the perpetrators are protected by managers, crews and security. The whole thing doesn’t happen spontaneously, but planned, intentionally, with a system. A lot of people must know that a suck room is being built where the star can be masturbated orally during the break. Why isn’t anyone saying anything? People with narcissistic personality disorder, because they’re forgiven for everything, eventually feel like they’re invulnerable, kings who can do anything. This encourages them to keep pushing the boundaries. When female fans are then invited to a backstage party by crew members, there is an asymmetry. This is not an equal encounter. Women’s fantasy is that they will experience something that will make them stand out from the crowd and maybe even brag about it to their girlfriends. They are happy about the invitation because they are enthusiastic about the star. They may also have erotic fantasies, but they don’t automatically want sex with old men.
If you put yourself in danger, you will die – young women often have to hear this accusation. Nevertheless, they have the right to decide for themselves what happens there. The experience of having their sexual autonomy violated is terrifying. Rape victims can suffer for years. Added to this is the shame and worry that no one will believe them. That is why many women do not report the crimes.
Many lawsuits fail in court because testimony is often against testimony and there are no witnesses. The man says it was consensual sex, the woman says it was rape. How can that be? Studies show that the majority of abuse victims fall into a kind of physical rigidity during the attacks. This reaction is called “freeze”. This is an evolutionary survival strategy. The perpetrators misinterpret this as consent. In court, the lack of resistance becomes their undoing.
Women also repeatedly take part in sexual assaults and become accomplices. The Russian who is said to have recruited female fans for Lindemann, or Ghislaine Maxwell, who recruited minors and young women for billionaire and sex offender Jeffrey Eppstein. Why do women do this to other women? One reason is probably money, another – and this is more important – is that it gives them power. Not only about the female victims, but also about the men who are in their hands and can be blackmailed. You know everything about their machinations.
Toxic masculinity has been a hot topic in Germany for a long time. Do normal men take a cue from the bad guys? A distinction needs to be made between normal narcissism, which may be exhausting but harmless, and pathological narcissists, who believe they are above the law. You can find them in all systems of power – in competitive sports, in the Catholic Church, in corporations, in politics. Just think of a Putin or Trump. It is believed that people with narcissistic personality disorder have a lack of endorphin. The exercise of power is rewarded with a release of endorphins. That is one explanation for why those affected keep going, the stagings are becoming more and more bombastic.
Donald Trump, who was fined $5 million in sexual assault charges in May, said: “I’m automatically attracted to beautiful people – I just start kissing them. I don’t even wait. And if you’re a star If you are, they let you do it. You can do anything.” The following sentence is then the world famous “Grab ’em by the pussy.” Can pathological narcissism be treated at all? Not really. Those affected are not suffering. From the point of view of Donald Trump, everything works out wonderfully in his life. Only people who feel they have a problem go to a therapist. A Trump thinks I don’t have a problem, the others do.
How can a society protect itself from the bad guys? It’s very difficult. People love stars and even forgive their criminal acts. Because their performance stimulates our endorphin system and unfortunately also weakens the reasoning system. That is why protective measures are all the more important. The first concert organizers, for example, only pour drinks under controlled conditions so that women can be sure that they will not be given knockout drops. I think that’s a start.
