First Arsch

Lore & Background

First Arsch formed in 1986 when singer-bassist Jörg Mielke and then-drummer Till Lindemann met at Lindemann's birthday party. The band played concerts around East Germany, sometimes booking shows under the name First Art due to restrictions imposed by East German authorities. In the early 1990s, they recorded their debut album, Saddle Up, which was released in November 1992. The album featured Paul Landers of Feeling B and Richard Kruspe of Das Elegante Chaos on guitars.

In 1993, Lindemann, Kruspe, and Landers left First Arsch to form Rammstein. Mielke replaced them with Volker Voigt and Tom Knopf. This new lineup released a song, "Das Schlagzeug fliegt da fast außernander", in 1995. The band remains active and occasionally performs in its members' hometown of Schwerin.

Reader's Guide

First Arsch holds a significant place in German rock history primarily as the incubator for three musicians who would go on to form Rammstein, one of the most commercially successful German bands worldwide. The band's only album, Saddle Up, captures a raw punk sound from the late East German era, before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent reunification. The album's artwork was created by Matthias Mathies, who later collaborated with Till Lindemann on his book In stillen Nächten. On 18 December 2020, Saddle Up was remastered and reissued on vinyl, reaching No. 44 on the German charts that Christmas, demonstrating enduring interest in the band's legacy. While First Arsch never achieved mainstream fame, its historical importance lies in documenting the early musical roots of key figures in German industrial metal and in preserving a piece of East German punk culture.

Did You Know?

• The band sometimes performed under the name First Art due to restrictions from East German authorities.
• Till Lindemann initially played drums in First Arsch before becoming Rammstein's lead singer.
• The track 'Pregnant' was misspelled as 'Preagnant' on the original release of Saddle Up.
• Saddle Up was remastered and reissued on vinyl in December 2020, charting at No. 44 in Germany.