Kmfdm - ...better than the best

ok, I'll try to refrain from going OMG KMFDM IS LIEK THE BEST BAND EVER OK

But, KMFDM is probably the best band ever. (oh, the humor!)
Well, for me it is. They're incredibly "underground" and won't be found anywhere NEAR mainstream, ever. Unless for a remix of something or another.

What kind of music does KMFDM offer? They do something in the likes of metal, electronica, industrial, hard rock and I guess experimental can be added to the list. All of that makes live performances seem unlikely, but they are AMAZING live. And they've been around since over 2 decades.
The line-up has changed so often that I've lost track, but familiar faces and Sasha Konietzko and Lucia (Luu-chia). They usually bring music that has a lot of sarcasm, irony and bare, straightforward, blunt truth. They don't take themselves seriously at all, but they take themselves serious for the fans. They don't sell out to a major, for a couple 'a bucks. (that was a line straight of a song, actually)
Their songs are also littered with one-liners and, how I like to call them "battlecries". "KMFDM, better than the best, megalomanicial and hard than the rest" - "rattle your chains-never back down-one step back is two steps ahead". The last line is actually a wink of the creed of the Russian soldiers when they invaded Berlin. If a russian soldier would retreat, their commanders would be waiting for them, tearing them apart with the PPSh 41's. Stalin's idea is that Russian soldiers may only advance, and retreating would allow the enemy to take to steps ahead). They're not commies though. Hehe.

But, for example, they amassed all the general critic KMFDM gets, and combined them into a song called KMFDM sucks! It had me laughing from start to end first time I heard. They also link back to their fanbase in their songs, which only adds to my respect for them. Whenever a reporter asks what KMFDM stands for, the member usually make something up, like, "kill motherf*ckin' depeche mode". This is because they got tired of reporters no bothering to check up with the band they were interviewing. KMFDM stands for "Kein Mitleid für die Mehreit", loosely translated as "no pity for the majority" from German. It might be a downside for non-German listeners, because some of their songs are either entirely or partially German.

They often tend to tread "political" views, which is the only downside for me. Pink's "Dear Mr President" makes me cringe everytime I have to hear it in a public place. I hate that.


Perhaps, if you've seen the movie Mortal Kombat, you might remember the catchy, asskicking tune that occurs when they fight in the hall, on the stairs, against the "footsoldiers"? That's KMFDM. They also did some work for major animes, like Ghost in the Shell ("Ultra", "Virus"), Juke Joint Jezebel is heard in several movies, including Bad Boys, an anime and a few other flicks that don't come to my mind.

To close up, reccomended songs:
Dogma
Juke Joint Jezebel
KMFDM Light
KMFDM sucks!
Jihad
Stray Bullet
Hau Ruck!
Megalomaniac
Money
Risen
Virus-Pestilence
Revenge
Feed Our Fame
Trust
...

I would say that they are "incredibly underground". I would say that they are quite well-known in the electronic/metal community and they have quite a large cult-like following. That is not to say that their music is mainstream though, because as you specified, they are very unique and tend to fuse genres together. They are a great band.