KMFDM (originally Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, which is grammatically incorrect, literally translating to “No majority for the pity”) is an industrial band led by German multi-instrumentalist Sascha Konietzko, who founded the group in 1984 as a performance art project. Since their founding, they have released 21 full-length albums, as well as 7 compilation albums (one of which being a sextuple-album), 4 remix albums, 6 EPs, and 34 singles. Their late-90s trilogy NIHIL, XTORT, and [symbols] are some of their most popular work, and the following album ADIOS, signaling the band’s first dissolution, garnered controversy as it was released the day of the Columbine High School Massacre, the perpetrators being self-professed fans of KMFDM. The band reformed in 2002 with ATTAK (which itself narrowly avoided controversy – it was originally intended to be called ATTAQ and have a Middle Eastern font on the cover, but the recent 9/11 attacks made that an unfeasible choice).

They are well-known for their sense of humor and their use of in-band “memes” such as the “rip the system” sample in use since UAIOE’s “More & Faster 243”, as well as the 5-letter naming conventions introduced by that album and in use on over 100 different KMFDM releases, songs, and remixes. The name “KMFDM” itself has been subject to speculation (a fact that was poked fun at by the title track of 2013’s KUNST), with proposals including “Kill Mother Fucking Depeche Mode”, “Kylie Minogue Fans Don’t Masturbate”, “Kool Mother Fucking Dance Music”, and “Kaleidoscopes Make for Daily Magic”.