Mensch, released in 2002, is the 20th music release by prominent German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 rock/pop artist Herbert Grönemeyer

Herbert Grönemeyer

Herbert Grönemeyer is a German musician and actor, popular in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He starred as war correspondent Lieutenant Werner in Wolfgang Petersen's movie Das Boot, but later concentrated on his musical career...

. Mensch ("Human") is Grönemeyer's 11th full-length album of original compositions. The title track Mensch became Grönemeyer's first number-one single in Germany. The mood of the album reflects the recent death of both his wife and one of his older brothers within the same week, and is rich with poetic imagery. The songs range from rock to ballads. The richness of the imagery and language, as well as the use of creative word play

Word play

Word play or wordplay is a literary technique in which the words that are used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement...

, can make the lyrics difficult to interpret by listeners who are not fluent in German. In Mensch Grönemeyer reflects on his own humanity as it relates to feeling loss. The song Der Weg in particular focuses on memories of his wife and the love they shared.

The full-length album was released in three different versions:

• a copy-protected
  Copy protection
  Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy obstruction, copy prevention and copy restriction, refer to techniques used for preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media, usually for copyright reasons.- Terminology :Media corporations have always used the term...
  
   CD
  Compact Disc
  The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
  
  
• a 12" vinyl LP album
  LP album
  The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
  
  
• a hybrid Super Audio CD
  Super Audio CD
  Super Audio CD is a high-resolution, read-only optical disc for audio storage. Sony and Philips Electronics jointly developed the technology, and publicized it in 1999. It is designated as the Scarlet Book standard. Sony and Philips previously collaborated to define the Compact Disc standard...
  
  , containing standard Compact Disc stereo, Super Audio CD
  Super Audio CD
  Super Audio CD is a high-resolution, read-only optical disc for audio storage. Sony and Philips Electronics jointly developed the technology, and publicized it in 1999. It is designated as the Scarlet Book standard. Sony and Philips previously collaborated to define the Compact Disc standard...
  
   high-resolution stereo, and Super Audio CD
  Super Audio CD
  Super Audio CD is a high-resolution, read-only optical disc for audio storage. Sony and Philips Electronics jointly developed the technology, and publicized it in 1999. It is designated as the Scarlet Book standard. Sony and Philips previously collaborated to define the Compact Disc standard...
  
   high-resolution multi-channel audio content.

Both the Compact Disc and the Super Audio CD (CD layer and high-resolution SACD stereo sections) contain a hidden track

Hidden track

In the field of recorded music, a hidden track is a piece of music that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, vinyl record or other recorded medium in such a way as to avoid detection by the casual listener...

 after about fifteen minutes of silence at the end of the last song. The album is almost entirely in German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

, with the hidden track in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

. The Album has been a huge success in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and sold nearly 4 million copies, making it one of the best-selling German-language records of all time. Being certified 21 x Gold in Germany, it is the best-selling album of all time in that region.

Track listing

1. "Mensch" – 4:01
2. "Neuland" – 3:43
3. "Der Weg" – 4:18
4. "Viertel Vor" – 4:23
5. "Lache, wenn es nicht zum Weinen reicht" – 4:42
6. "Unbewohnt" – 5:04
7. "Dort und hier" – 2:33
8. "Blick zurück" – 5:54
9. "Kein Pokal" – 4:32
10. "Zum Meer" – 5:45
11. "Demo (letzter Tag)" – 3:26