Srsly, though: Do we have a Germanophone equivalent to the Anglophone punning-culture? We do puns, too, but methinks it doesn't play that much of a role in German/Austrian/Swiss humor? .
It's a very small sample I know, but I thought Rammstein lyrics were largely pun based. It feels* like German heavy metal in general uses a lot of wordplay. It's one of the reasons I like it, it takes a genre known for its aggression and violent imagery and uses humour to turn a gaze back on itself. It's self aware, playing up the pantomime. It can be downright clever sometimes.
(Also industrial bass riffs, oh my God take me now...)
My Heavy-Metal phase can be accurately summed up as 'short & unhappy', and the only German Metal bands on my radar at the time were Accept, Scorpions and Rammstein (Never really looked into Warlock, for some reason). Accept were pretty niche even in their heyday and Scorpions ... took cringeworthy and turned it into a printing press (Those poor, poor Russians ... ).
I'm not too familiar with Rammstein - back then, they had a strong following in the far-right and Neonazi-scene, and were regarded with suspicion in my social circle - but now that you mention it ... Yeah, I think you make a good point.
I mean, their name is a play on words of sorts to begin with - it's both a cultural reference to the
tragedy during the 1988 air show at Ramstein Air Force base, as well as a neologism meaning 'Ramming stone '. I thought "Mann gegen Mann" was pretty clever - the title is a colloquialism for single (mortal) combat, but they turned it around into a homoerotic reference. The lyrics are a veritable double-entendre fest, pretty much in the vein you mentioned (The
German Wiki has some good textual analysis). Yeah, you're probably right about Rammstein. I'm afraid that's the extent of my knowledge of German metal, though.
And yes, Germans do appreciate a good play-on-words, especially in artistic contexts - it's just that I have a feeling that Anglospherean punning is more of an un-selfconcious 'Fun for the whole Family'-thingy, while ours is a bit more 'verkopft' ("(over-)cerebral" ).
Could be completely wrong about that, though. Wouldn't be the first time. I also can't really speak for the Austrians and Swiss.
My German is pretty bad, and this is definitely a perception from a foreign perspective rather than an objective observation.
Whelp, mine is just an opinion, too, you know? And as I said, I think it's a good point. Also: Outside perspectives can be immensely valuable, in an 'Emperor's new clothes'-kind of way.