"[7] At age 16, Kruspe and some friends visited Czechoslovakia, where he bought a guitar, originally planning to sell it.

[8] When Kruspe hit random notes in frustration, the girl commented that it sounded "beautiful" and the moment would inspire him to learn how to play guitar.

Following the break-up of Das Elegante Chaos in 1989, Kruspe formed Orgasm Death Gimmick in 1991.

[13] Kruspe was also a member of First Arsch with singer and drummer Till Lindemann and guitarist Paul Landers.

[12] In 1992, Kruspe traveled to the southwest of the United States together with Lindemann and bassist Oliver Riedel.

[15] Upon returning to Germany, he decided to pursue a new style of music that combined machine-like sounds with heavy guitars.

[15][1] In 1993, Kruspe formed a new project with roommates Riedel and drummer Christoph Schneider named Tempelprayers.

[1][14] Together with singer Lindemann, they entered the Berlin Senate Metrobeat contest with a demo tape in 1994 and won a recording session in a professional studio.

[14][16] That same year, the band was joined by guitarist Landers and keyboardist Christian Lorenz, and changed their name to Rammstein.

[20] Kruspe moved from Berlin to New York in 2001 to live closer to Bernstein and work on his side-project Emigrate.