Mein Teil

"Mein Teil" (German: "My part") is the first single by the German industrial metal band Rammstein from their fourth album Reise, Reise. The song is inspired by the case of Armin Meiwes and Bernd Jürgen Armando Brandes. In March 2001, in Rotenburg an der Fulda, the two men aged in their 40s met each other, cut off and cooked Brandes' penis and consumed it together. Afterwards, Meiwes killed Brandes—with Brandes' consent—and ate his remains. As a result, Meiwes was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in jail for manslaughter, but was later charged with murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. A prominent phrase in the song is "Denn du bist was du isst und ihr wisst was es ist" ("Because you are what you eat and you (plural) know what it is").

According to Rammstein's bassist Oliver Riedel, the song came about after "one of our members brought a newspaper to rehearsal and it had a story about the cannibal guy in it. We were fascinated, shocked and amused at the same time." Vocalist Till Lindemann stated, "It's so sick that it becomes fascinating and there just has to be a song about it".

"Mein Teil" attracted controversy in Germany; the media dubbed it the "Kannibalensong" (cannibal song), which helped to boost it to second place in the German music charts after its release in early August 2004. Remixes of the song were done by Arthur Baker and the Pet Shop Boys.

At the beginning of the song in the video, the phrase "Suche gut gebauten Achtzehn- bis Dreißigjährigen zum Schlachten – Der Metzgermeister" ("Looking for a well built 18 to 30 year old to be slaughtered - The Master Butcher") is spoken, voiced by Ollie, although the album version of the song does not have this beginning. The quote is taken from an online post by Armin Meiwes.

"Mein Teil" was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 48th Grammy Awards, but lost to Slipknot's Before I Forget.