Oomph!

Oomph! earned recognition as trailblazers within Germany’s “tanz metal” movement and exerted considerable sway over late-’90s groups such as Rammstein, establishing themselves among the most polarizing yet impactful goth-industrial acts to surface from the country in the early ’90s. Despite their stature inside the domestic industrial community, the trio did not reach broad commercial acceptance until the first years of the following decade.

Vocalist Dero Goi and guitarist Andreas Crap entered the world in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, sharing a tenement building throughout childhood and beginning to make music together while still in elementary school. Already performing in a new-wave group when they encountered Robert Flux at a 1989 festival, the three formed an immediate bond that led directly to the creation of Oomph!. That same year the newly minted band journeyed to Spain to lay down a limited-edition demo of five hundred copies; upon returning they secured a deal with Machinery, which issued their debut single “Ich Bin Du” in 1991 and their self-titled album the next year.

The group’s early work remained rooted in the electronic sphere, yet the 1994 release Sperm introduced a markedly heavier, guitar-centric approach that provoked immediate backlash. Its lead video, “Sex,” was promptly barred from MTV Germany for explicit imagery. The follow-up, Defekt, arrived in 1995 amid an intensive touring campaign; live members Leo and Tobi were added, and the clip for “Ice Coffin” gained rotation on the same network. Although Virgin Schallplatten expressed interest, subsidiary label Dynamica insisted the band complete one further obligation, resulting in the 1996 album Wunschkind.

Oomph! finally joined Virgin proper in 1997. Their fifth studio set, Unrein, entered the German Top 50 in 1998, while Plastik the following year yielded the single “Das Weisse Licht,” which reached number 46 and whose graphic video—showing Dero ripping open his abdomen—was likewise banned by MTV Germany. Nina Hagen contributed guest vocals to the record. The final Virgin outing, Ego, appeared in 2001; although reviews were mixed, it climbed into the national Top 20 and earned a support slot with HIM before the label declined to renew the contract. The band responded by performing at Ozzfest the subsequent summer and continuing to compose new material.

Gun/Supersonic welcomed Oomph! aboard in late 2003. The lead single from 2004’s Wahrheit Oder Pflicht, “Augen Auf!,” debuted months later and swiftly secured the group’s first chart-topping hit, holding the German number-one position for eight weeks while its initial pressing sold out within twelve hours. The track later appeared on the FIFA 2005 soundtrack. Their next effort, GlaubeLiebeTod, reached the German Top Ten in 2006; its opening single “Gott Ist ein Popstar” ignited further controversy, prompting cancellation of an ECHO Awards performance and widespread radio blackouts across the country.

Two retrospective collections followed. Virgin Schallplatten issued Best of Virgin Years: 1998-2001 in 2006, yet the band encouraged supporters to seek out the “official” Gun compilation Delikatessen, released that December instead. Monster! surfaced in 2008 with the single “Labyrinth,” and a non-album track “Sandmann” appeared the next year; a reissue of Monster! incorporated the song. Oomph! moved to Sony BMG for 2012’s Des Wahnsinns Fette Beute and its lead single “Zwei Schritte Vor.”