Rock: Peter Maffay, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LVPSmSNSoo

Medeival folk rock: Schandmaul https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBcTy5Bkjs4&list=PLDzeUpAlTwBgbQkB5MUNov2C1fQVgRcdK&index=9

Just plain fun: Basta https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvJJvld3rhQ Wise Guys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40bLwsLR0fE

Rammstein, they have really good lyrics, Lindemann himself studied German at university. But if you are into black metal there is "Urfaust" or "Der Weg einer Freiheit". Sodom is a good Band also but they only have a few german songs. Then there is Varg, i don't now if you'll like their lyrics but it's good german tho. Reinhard Mey is something more understandable and happy and last but not least id suggest Herman Van Veen, he's dutch but he's writing excellent german songs. I hope this will help you. ^^

Rammstein maybe?

Tocotronic, Tomte, Kettcar and die Sterne are bands I enjoy. They probably fall into the category of indie rock.

I'm not sure what subgenre of metal/rock they fall under but Eisbrecher. Their songs are amazing, and in my opinion 'Was ist hier los' is catchy enough to learn the words

Faun! You need to listen to Faun! They are a German folk band and they are AMAZING! I myself have learned many words from them and they are my favorite band of all time. They do lots of old/traditional music (mostly German songs). You need to give them a listen! www.faun.de

Germany is probably tied with Sweden in my mind for best music per capita.

For your specific request of Folk, Forseti is one I own. Start with their album "Erde", Odroerir is another great band.

As for rock, I don't know what you mean by not liking "modern stuff", so I'll just list rock-ish stuff in general.

Unheilig is a fairly standard fare, Knorkator also. Others have been mentioned already

Anyways...

The thing is with German music, it's specialty IS electronic-based music, so if you're not into that, you're missing out on the best exports. Like Eisbrecher, E. Nomine, Rammstein, :SITD: In Strict Confidence. If you want to up the intensity and angst you can go with Das Ich, The Retrosic*, Feindflug. :wumpscut:, Heimataerde

Going softer, Schiller, Melotron, Rotersand, Solitary Experiments, Deichkind, Wolfsheim I don't like rap but this song by Schiller is quite comfy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBdoh03uIYU

A * indicates only some of their songs are in German

Element of Crime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2n9He5m74Q

I don't know. Rammstein always comes to mind for Harder stuff.

i think it will not be your cup of coffee, but I like to listen Adel Tawil, Sarah Connor, Joel Brandenstein, SDP, old time german songs...

There's an acapella group Die Prinzen who speak very clearly and have fun songs. "Was Soll Ich Ihr Schenken" is a good start

AnnenMayKantereit : https://www.youtube.com/user/AnnenMayKantereit

I do not know, whether that would fit to what you prefer: One of the first successful ones with German and not English lyrics was Udo Lindenberg. A more tougher way: "Die toten Hosen". "Bap" is / was famous in Germany as well, but they sing in the dialect of Cologn (= Köln); many Germans hardly understand the texts.

Additionally one out of the "Neue deutsche Welle": I liked very much "Deine blauen Augen" (While listening, I was thinking about a boy of my class : ). Herbert Grönemeyer also is famous; here two titles: "Hab Flugzeuge in meinem Bauch" and "Bochum", a modern vaunt for his hometown in the "Ruhrgebiet".

Greetings to you Hildegard

Bethlehem. =)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ9ZOzuSj34 lyrics

Not a band, but Reinhard Mey comes to mind. Very calm, easy to understand and with good lyrics. There's also Heino, who get ridiculed quite a bit, but has an amazing voice (try: "Es waren zwei Königskinder"). Two other people with great voices and a lot of German songs are actually foreigners: Karel Gott from CZE and Steve Barton from the US. Check out Barton's work from "Tanz der Vampire" - you might even recognise some of the tunes, since the composer of that musical has also used them in some very famous power ballads. Other than that, I second Grönemeyer (those songs about losing his wife are amazing) and since Rammstein was mentioned, I'll add Nina Hagen's cover of "Seemann". Finally, a lot of classic songs have their own German cover, so that might be something you want to look for.

Rammstein is the obvious suggestion. But also Eisbrecker, Völkerball, Sirenia, Oomph!, Megaherz, Letzte Instanz, Die Apokalyptischen Reiter, In Extremo...there's lots of good German bands.

I would like to add Asp with songs like "Und wir tanzten", "Ich will brennen", "Denn ich bin der Meister", "Werben" and many more. It's a German Rock/Gothic band with rather clear lyrics.

(And I'm a huge fan.)

The Scorpions?