The woman who banned Rammstein becomes President of the European Commission
Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen, a German politician serving as Minister of Defence since 2013, was nominated to the position of President of the European Commission by the European Council yesterday. She served continuously in Angela Merkel’s cabinet since she took office in 2005, first as Minister of Family Affairs and Youth from 2005 to 2009, then as Minister of Labour and Social Affairs from 2009 to 2013, before becoming Minister of Defence in 2013.
But what we mostly know about vond der Leyen aka ‘Zensursula’ is that she was in charge of the request to ban the Rammstein album “Liebe ist für alle da” on November 11, 2009. This because of the SM nature of the lyrics. On May 31 2010 the German Justice apparently noticed this was really a bridge too far and removed it again from the index.
Not everything is negative about von der Leyen of course. She for instance caused another controversy in 2016 after she refused to wear a hijab while visiting Saudi Arabia. She said: “It annoys me when women are pushed into wearing the abaya.”
Support Side-Line
More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.
Why we ask
Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.
Handled by PayPal.
Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!
