Their songs are usually in German, but they have also performed songs entirely or partially in other languages such as English, Spanish, French and Russian. As of 2009, they have sold over 15 million records worldwide. Rammstein's entire catalogue is published by Universal Music Group. Since their formation in 1994, Rammstein has had no changes in their band line-up nor have any members left the band.

Rammstein takes their name indirectly from the German town of Ramstein-Miesenbach, the site of the flight show disaster on 28 August 1988. The band's signature song, "Rammstein", is a commemoration of the disaster. In a short period before the band became well known, they performed using the name "Rammstein-Flugschau" (literally meaning "Rammstein-Airshow").

Although the majority of their songs are written in German, Rammstein has had success across the world. It was confirmed in 2007 that the band had re-united from their vacation and had begun working on their sixth studio album, Liebe ist für alle da, which was released on 16 October 2009 in Europe.

Rammstein was founded by guitarist Richard Z. Kruspe. In 1989, he escaped to West Berlin and started the band, Orgasm Death Gimmicks. At that time, he was heavily influenced by American music, especially that of Kiss. After the Berlin Wall came down, he moved back home to Schwerin, where Till Lindemann worked as a basket-weaver and played drums in the band First Arsch.

At this time, Richard lived with Oliver Riedel, of the band The Inchtabokatables, and Christoph "Doom" Schneider (of Die Firma). Richard realized that the music he had previously created did not properly suit him; He envisioned something that would combine machines as well as the sound of hard guitars. The three started working together on a new project. Richard soon found it extremely difficult to write both music and lyrics at the same time, so he persuaded Lindemann to join Rammstein. Richard first discovered Till when he overheard him singing while he was working.

A contest was held in Berlin for amateur bands in 1994, the winner of which would receive the opportunity to record a four track demo CD in a professional studio. Kruspe, Schneider, Riedel and Lindemann entered and won the contest, which caught the attention of Paul H. Landers, who wanted in on the project upon hearing their demo. To complete their sound, Rammstein then attempted to recruit Christian "Flake" Lorenz, who had played with Paul H. Landers previously in Feeling B. At first Lorenz was hesitant, but eventually agreed to join the band.

Rammstein began to record their first studio album entitled Herzeleid in March 1995 with producer Jacob Hellner. They released their first single Du Riechst So Gut on 17 August and later released the album on 24 September 1995. Later that same year, they toured with Clawfinger in Warsaw and Prague. Rammstein headlined a tour of their own through Germany from 2 December to 22 December consisting of 17 shows which helped to boost the band's popularity. They then went on several tours throughout early 1996, releasing their second single entitled Seemann on 8 January 1996.

On 27 March, Rammstein performed on MTV's Hanging Out in London; their first performance in the UK. Rammstein's first major boost in popularity outside Germany came when music director Trent Reznor chose two Rammstein songs, "Heirate mich" and "Rammstein", for David Lynch's film Lost Highway. The soundtrack for the film was released in the US in the fall of 1996 and later throughout Europe in April 1997.

Rammstein then went on to tour through Germany, Austria and Switzerland from September to October 1996, performing an anniversary concert on 27 September called "100 years of Rammstein". Guests to the concert included Moby, Bobo and The Berlin Session Orchestra, Berlin director Gert Hof was responsible for the light show.

Rammstein started recording Sehnsucht in November 1996 at the Temple Studios in Malta. The album was again produced by Jacob Hellner. The first single off of the album, entitled Engel was released on 1 April 1997 and later reached gold status in Germany on 23 May. This prompted the release of a fan edition of the single, named Engel - Fan Edition. This contained two previously unreleased songs, "Feuerräder" and "Wilder Wein". Release of the second single from the album Sehnsucht was "Du hast", which hit the German single charts August 1997 at number 5. Rammstein then continued touring in the summer whilst Sehnsucht was released on 22 August 1997. The album reached number 1 in Germany after only two weeks in the charts. Simultaneously, Herzeleid and both the singles off Sehnsucht ("Du hast" and "Engel") were in the Top 20 of the German charts. Rammstein continued to headline sold out shows throughout Europe in September, October. On 5 December 1997, Rammstein embarked on their first tour of the United States with KMFDM.