OOMPH! consists of:
Robert Flux (guitar, mixing)
Andreas Crap (lead guitar, keyboards)
Leo (live drums)
Hagen (live bass)
Der Schulz (lead vocalist)
The band was formed in 1989 in Wolfsburg, Germany. They are one of the founders of the fusion of hard metal music and industrial sounds known as Neue Deutsche Härte.
OOMPH! owed a lot to Nitzer Ebb in their self-titled debut (1992). OOMPH!'s change of style for the successor "Sperm" (1994), with a more guitar-driven metal sound mixed with their electronic roots, inspired numerous musicians, most famously Rammstein, to follow their lead. (Rammstein have cited OOMPH! in several interviews as their main inspiration.)
OOMPH! released their first album on Jor's Machinery label, then releasing their consecutive albums on its sister-label Dynamica. They stayed with Jor, until his labels disappeared during the acquisition by Sanctuary Records at around 1996/1997.
Following Dynamica OOMPH! finally signed with Virgin Schallplatten. With the benefits of major-label status OOMPH! gained a larger following, and toured with labelmates Skunk Anansie in 1999. Between 1998 and 2001 they released three albums on the Virgin label, fulfilling their contract, but did not continue, feeling that the record company never fully explored their potential.
In 2004 OOMPH! released their first single "Augen auf!" on a new label, this time on Supersonic Records, part of the Sony BMG group of music companies. It marks their first Number One hit ever in Germany, thus eventually bringing forth their major commercial breakthrough. It became part of the FIFA 2005 soundtrack.
The band's ninth record, GlaubeLiebeTod was released in March 2006, including the controversial single "Gott ist ein Popstar" and its follow-up "Das letzte Streichholz", the third single was Die Schlinge.
In 2007, they won the third Bundesvision Song Contest (a contest between the sixteen states of Germany) for Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) with "Träumst du?", which featured Marta Jandová from Die Happy.
While OOMPH! are not widely known within the United States, the band did perform at a New York festival in 1993. In Europe they have performed at M'era Luna, Ozzfest, Dynamo Open Air and Wacken Open Air.
Burning Desire
Oomph! Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
How many nights
Have I lived deep inside of you?
Sonja
How many dreams
Has your pain given me to use?
Dero
How many nights
Sonja
How many dreams
Have I screamed as you are reborn?
Both
From my love's burning desire
There's no escape, no salvation
From my love's burning desire
No force in Heaven, nor Hell can save your soul
Dero
How many nights
Have I possessed you so perverse?
Sonja
How many dreams
Have you obsessed me like a curse?
Dero
How many countless nights
Have I spent now with you?
Sonja
How many dreams
Has your heart burned me through and through?
Both
From my love's burning desire
There's no escape, no salvation
From my love's burning desire
No force in Heaven, nor Hell can save your soul
From my love's burning desire
(How many nights have you?)
There's no escape, no salvation
(How many dreams have I?)
From my love's burning desire
(How many nights have you?)
No force in Heaven, nor Hell can save your soul
Dero
Come now and melt your skin with me
Just squander the pain that you feel
Come now and melt your skin with me
Both
From my love's burning desire
There's no escape, no salvation
From my love's burning desire
No force in Heaven, nor Hell can save your soul
From my love's burning desire
(How many nights have you?)
There's no escape, no salvation
(How many dreams have I?)
From my love's burning desire
(How many nights have you?)
No force in Heaven, nor Hell can save your soul
Dero: No force in Heaven, nor Hell can save your soul
The lyrics of Oomph!'s "Burning Desire" are about an intense, passionate and maybe even toxic relationship between two people. The two singers, Dero and Sonja, ask each other how many nights and dreams they have shared, in which they have lost themselves, possessed each other, obsessed each other or burned each other through and through. They sing about the irresistible and destructive power of their burning desire that leaves no escape, no salvation and that no force, neither in Heaven nor in Hell, can save their souls. They invite the listener to come and melt their skin with them and to squander the pain that they feel, as if pain and pleasure were inseparable aspects of their love.
The lyrics of "Burning Desire" can be interpreted as a metaphor for addiction, obsession or codependency, where two people are caught in a cycle of pleasure, pain and control that they cannot break free from. The burning desire is like a flame that burns them from within and that they cannot extinguish, no matter how much they suffer or try to resist. The song is both a confession and a warning, a celebration and a lament, of a love that consumes everything in its path.
Line by Line Meaning
No force in Heaven, nor Hell can save your soul
No power or entity, whether good or evil, can save or rescue you from the fiery passion and desire of my love.
How many dreams has your pain given me to use?
How many times have I dreamt of your hurt and used it as inspiration for my own desires and wants?
Come now and melt your skin with me
Let us become one and indulge in our burning passion until we are intertwined and consumed by each other's desire.
From my love's burning desire, there's no escape, no salvation
Once you have experienced the intensity of our love and desire, there is no escaping it or finding redemption from it. It is all-consuming and all-powerful.
Contributed by Joseph P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.