Kraftwerk
Encyclopedia
Kraftwerk (ˈKʀaftvɛɐk, meaning power plant or power station
) is an influential electronic music
band from Düsseldorf
, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter
and Florian Schneider
in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008. The signature Kraftwerk sound combines driving, repetitive rhythms with catchy melodies, mainly following a Western Classical
style of harmony, with a minimalistic and strictly electronic instrumentation. The group's simplified lyrics are at times sung through a vocoder
or generated by computer-speech software
. Kraftwerk were one of the first groups to popularize electronic music and are considered pioneers
in the field. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Kraftwerk's distinctive sound was revolutionary, and has had a lasting effect across many genres of modern music.
(flutes, synthesizers, electro-violin) and Ralf Hütter
(electronic organ
, synthesizers) met as students at the Robert Schumann Hochschule
in Düsseldorf in the late 1960s, participating in the German
experimental music
and art scene of the time, which the British music
press
dubbed "Krautrock
".
The duo had originally performed together in a quintet known as Organisation
. This ensemble released one album, titled Tone Float
(issued on RCA Records
in the UK) but the group split shortly thereafter.
Early Kraftwerk line-ups from 1970–1974 fluctuated, as Hütter and Schneider worked with around a half-dozen other musicians over the course of recording three albums and sporadic live appearances; most notably guitarist Michael Rother
and drummer Klaus Dinger
, who left to form Neu!
. The only constant figure in these line-ups was Schneider, whose main instrument at the time was the flute; at times also playing violin and guitar, all processed through a varied array of electronic effects. Hütter, who left the band for six months in 1971 to pursue studies in architecture, played synthesiser keyboards (including Farfisa organ and electric piano).
Their first three albums were more free-form experimental rock without the pop hooks or the more disciplined strong structure of its later work. Kraftwerk
, released in 1970, and Kraftwerk 2
, released in 1972, were mostly exploratory jam music, played on a variety of traditional instruments including guitar, bass, drums, electric organ, flute and violin. Post-production modifications to these recordings were then used to distort the sound of the instruments, particularly audio-tape manipulation and multiple dubbings of one instrument on the same track. Both albums are purely instrumental. Live performances from 1972–73 were made as a duo, using a simple beat-box-type electronic drum machine
, with preset rhythms taken from an electric organ. These shows were mainly in Germany, with occasional shows in France. Later in 1973, Wolfgang Flür
joined the group for rehearsals, and the unit performed as a trio on the television show, Aspekte, for German television network ZDF
.
With Ralf und Florian
, released in 1973, the band began to move closer to its classic sound, relying more heavily on synthesisers
and drum machine
s. Although almost entirely instrumental, the album marks Kraftwerk's first use of the vocoder
, which would, in time, become one of its musical signatures.
The input, expertise, and influence of producer and engineer Konrad "Conny" Plank
was highly significant in the early years of Kraftwerk and Plank also worked with many of the other leading German electronic acts of the period, including members of Can
, Neu!
, Cluster
and Harmonia
. As a result of his work with Kraftwerk, Plank's studio near Cologne
became one of the most sought-after studios in the late 1970s. Plank co-produced the first four Kraftwerk albums.
in 1974 saw the band moving away from the sound of its earlier albums. The members had invested in newer technology such as the Minimoog
, helping give the group a newer, disciplined sound. Autobahn would also be the last album that Conny Plank would engineer. After the commercial success of Autobahn
, the band members invested money into updating their studio. This meant they no longer had to rely on outside producers. At this time the painter and graphic artist Emil Schult
became a regular collaborator with the band, working alongside the band. Schult designed artwork in addition to later co-writing lyrics and accompanying the group on tour.
The year 1975 saw a turning point in Kraftwerk's live shows. With financial support from Phonogram
in the US, it was able to undertake a multi-date tour to promote the Autobahn
album. This tour took them to the US, Canada and the UK for the first time. The tour also saw a new, stable, live line-up in the form of a quartet. Hütter and Schneider both mainly played keyboard parts on synthesizer
s such as the Minimoog
and ARP Odyssey
, with Schneider's use of flute diminishing. The pair also sang vocals on stage for the first time, with Schneider also using a vocoder
live. Wolfgang Flür and new recruit Karl Bartos
performed live on self-made electronic percussions. Bartos also used a Deagan Vibraphone on stage. The Hütter-Schneider-Bartos-Flür formation is now regarded as the classic line-up of Kraftwerk, which remained in place until the late 1980s. Emil Schult generally fulfilled the role of tour manager.
After the 1975 Autobahn tour, Kraftwerk began work on a follow up album, Radio-Activity
(German title: Radio-Aktivität). After further investment in new equipment, the Kling Klang Studio became a fully working recording studio. It was decided that the new album would have a central theme. This theme came from the band members' shared interest in radio communication, which had become enhanced on their last tour of the United States. While Emil Schult began working on artwork and lyrics for the new album, the band began to work on the music. Radio-Activity was less successful in the UK and American markets, but it did open up the European market for the band, gaining them a gold disc in France. Kraftwerk produced some promotional videos and performed several European live dates to promote the album. With the release of Autobahn and Radio-Activity, Kraftwerk had left behind its avant-garde experimentations and had moved forward toward electronic pop tunes.
In 1976, the group went out on tour in support of the Radio-Activity album. Despite some new innovations in touring, the band took a break from live performances after the "Radio-Activity tour" of 1976.
(German: Trans-Europa Express) at Kling Klang Studio. Trans-Europe Express was mixed at the Record Plant Studios
in Los Angeles. It was around this time that Hütter and Schneider met David Bowie
at Kling Klang Studio. A collaboration was mentioned in an interview with Hütter, but it never materialised. Kraftwerk had previously been offered a support slot on Bowie's Station to Station
tour, but they turned it down.The release of Trans-Europe Express was marked with an extravagant train journey used as a press conference by EMI France. The album was released in March 1977. The album won a disco award in New York later that year.
In May 1978 Kraftwerk released The Man-Machine
(German: Die Mensch Maschine). "The Man-Machine" was recorded at the Kling Klang Studio. Due to the complexity of the recording the album was mixed at Studio Rudas in Düsseldorf. The band hired sound engineer Leanard Jackson from Detroit to work together with Joschko Rudas on the final mix of the record. "The Man-Machine" was the first Kraftwerk album where Karl Bartos
was co-credited as songwriter. The cover to the new album was produced in black, white and red, the artwork was inspired by Russian artist El Lissitzky
and the Suprematism
movement. The image of the band on the front cover was photographed by Gunther Frohling. This showed the band dressed in red shirts and black ties. Following the release of The Man-Machine
Kraftwerk would not release an album for another three years.
In May 1981 Kraftwerk released the album Computer World
(German: Computerwelt) on EMI records. The album was recorded at Kling Klang Studio between 1978 and 1981. A lot of this time was spent modifying the Kling Klang Studio so the band could take it on tour with them. Some of the electronic vocals on Computer World
were created using a Texas Instruments
Language Translator "Computer Love
" was released as a single from the album backed with the earlier Kraftwerk track "The Model
" Radio DJs were more interested in the B-side
so the single was repackaged by EMI and re-released with "The Model" as the a-side. The single reached the number one position in the UK making "The Model" Kraftwerk's most successful record in the UK. The band's live set focused increasingly on song-based material, with greater use of vocals and the use of sequencing equipment for percussion and musical lines. The approach taken by the group was to use the sequencing equipment interactively, thus allowing room for improvisation. Ironically Kraftwerk did not own a computer at the time of recording Computer World.
Kraftwerk returned to the live scene with the Computer World
tour of 1981, where the band effectively packed up its entire Kling Klang studio and took it on the road. The band also developed an increasing use of visual elements in the live shows during this period. This included back-projected slides and films, increasingly synchronised with the music as the technology developed, the use of hand-held miniaturised instruments during the set (for example, during "Pocket Calculator"), and, perhaps most famously, the use of replica mannequin
s of themselves to perform onstage during the song "The Robots".
but due to trademark issues the group decided to change the proposed name to Techno Pop. One of the songs from these recording sessions was "Tour de France
", which EMI
released as a single in 1983. This song was a reflection of the band's new found obsession for cycling
. After the physically demanding "Computer World" tour, Ralf Hütter
had been looking for forms of exercises that fit in with the image of Kraftwerk, subsequently he encouraged the group to become vegetarians and taking up cycling. "Tour de France" included sounds that followed this theme including bicycle chains, gear mechanisms and the breathing of the cyclist. At the time of the single's release Ralf Hütter tried to persuade the rest of the band that they should record a whole album based around cycling. The other members of the band were not convinced, and the theme was left to the single alone. "Tour de France" was released in German as well as in French language. The vocals of the song were recorded on the Kling Klang Studio stairs to create the right atmosphere. "Tour de France" was featured in the 1984 film Breakin'
showing the influence that Kraftwerk had on black American dance music.
During the recording of "Tour de France" Ralf Hütter was involved in a serious cycling accident. He suffered head injuries and was left in a coma for a few days.
During 1983 Wolfgang Flür
was beginning to spend less time in the studio. Since the band began using sequencers his role as a drummer was becoming less frequent. He preferred to spend his time travelling with his girlfriend. Flür was also experiencing artistic difficulties with the band. After his final work on the 1986 album Electric Café
(a.k.a. Techno Pop) he hardly returned to the Kling Klang Studio. Wolfgang Flür left the band in 1987 and was replaced by Fritz Hilpert
.
as a replacement for Bartos. Abrantes left the band shortly after though. In late 1991, long time Kling Klang Studio sound engineer Henning Schmitz
was brought in to finish the remainder of the tour and to complete a new version of the quartet that remained active until 2008. In 1997 they had a famous appearance at dance festival Tribal Gathering
held in England. In 1998, the group toured the US and Japan for the first time since 1981, along with shows in Brazil
and Argentina
. Three new songs were performed during this period, which remain unreleased. Following this trek, the group decided to take another break.
In July 1999 the single "Tour de France
" was reissued in Europe by EMI after it had been out of print
for several years. It was released for the first time on CD in addition to a repressing of the 12-inch vinyl single. Both versions feature slightly altered artwork that removed the faces of Flür and Bartos from the four man cycling paceline depicted on the original cover. In 1999 ex-member Flür published his autobiography in Germany, Ich war ein Roboter. Later English-language editions of the book were titled Kraftwerk: I Was a Robot.
The single "Expo 2000
" was released in December 1999. The track was remixed and re-released as "Expo Remix" in November 2000.
, its first album of new material since 1986's Electric Café
. In January and February 2003, prior to the release of the album, the band started the extensive Minimum-Maximum world tour, using four customised Sony
VAIO
laptop computers, effectively leaving the entire Kling Klang studio at home in Germany. The group also obtained a new set of transparent video panels to replace its four large projection screens. This greatly streamlined the running of all of the group's sequencing, sound-generating, and visual-display software. From this point, the band's equipment increasingly reduced manual playing, replacing it with interactive control of sequencing equipment.
Hütter retains the most manual performance, still playing musical lines by hand on a controller keyboard and singing live vocals and having a repeating ostinato
. Schneider's live vocoding has been replaced by software-controlled speech-synthesis techniques. In November 2003, the group made a surprising appearance at the MTV European Music Awards in Edinburgh
, Scotland, performing Aerodynamik. The same year a promotional box set entitled 12345678 (subtitled The Catalogue) was issued, with plans for a proper commercial release to follow. The box featured remastered
editions of the group's core eight studio albums, from Autobahn to Tour de France Soundtracks. This long-awaited box-set would eventually be released in November 2009.
In June 2005 the band's first-ever official live album, Minimum-Maximum
, which was compiled from the shows during the band's tour of spring 2004, received extremely positive reviews. The album contained reworked tracks from existing studio albums. This included a track titled Planet Of Visions that was a reworking of "Expo 2000
". In support of this release, Kraftwerk made another quick sweep around the globe with dates in Serbia
, Bulgaria
, Macedonia
, Turkey
, and Greece. In December, the DVD release
of Minimum-Maximum was made available. During 2006, the band performed at festivals in Norway, the Czech Republic, Spain, Belgium and Germany.
In April 2008 the group played three shows in US cities Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Denver, and was a co-headliner at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
. This was their second appearance at the festival since 2004. Further shows were performed in Ireland, Poland, Ukraine
, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore
in late 2008. Kraftwerk's headline set at Global Gathering in Melbourne, Australia on 22 November 2008 was cancelled moments before it was scheduled to begin, due to a heart problem of Fritz Hilpert. The touring quartet consisted of Ralf Hütter
, Henning Schmitz
, Fritz Hilpert
, and video technician Stefan Pfaffe
. Original member Florian Schneider
was absent from the lineup. Hütter stated that he was working on other projects.
On 21 November 2008 Kraftwerk officially confirmed Florian Schneider's departure from the band. The Independent
commented that incident: "There is something brilliantly Kraftwerkian about the news that Florian Schneider, a founder member of the German electronic pioneers, is leaving the band to pursue a solo career. Many successful bands break up after just a few years. It has apparently taken Schneider and his musical partner, Ralf Hütter, four decades to discover musical differences."
Kraftwerk has performed concerts in Wolfsburg, Germany, Manchester, UK, and Randers, Denmark with special 3D background graphics. Members of the audience were able to watch this multimedia part of the show with 3D glasses, which were given out. During the Manchester concert (part of the 2009 Manchester International Festival
) four members of the GB cycling squad (Jason Kenny
, Ed Clancy
, Jamie Staff
and Geraint Thomas
) rode around the Velodrome while the band performed Tour de France. The group also played several festival dates in 2009, last being Bestival in September 2009.
Kraftwerk finally released The Catalogue
box set on 16 November 2009. It is a 12" LP
-sized box set containing all eight remastered CDs in cardboard slipcases, as well as LP-sized booklets of photographs and artwork for each individual album. Due to licensing issues, three of these albums--Computer World
, Electric Cafe
(now re-christened with its original working title of Techno Pop) and The Mix--are available in the U.S. only as part of the boxed set.
The Techno Pop album contains a slightly revised track listing from its predecessor Electric Cafe: the song "The Telephone Call" now appears in its much shorter single mix, and that single's b-side remix, "House Phone," has been added as a proper album track.
, Kraftwerk 2
and Ralf and Florian—could be on its way, possibly seeing commercial release after their next studio album: "We've just never really taken a look at those albums. They've always been available, but as really bad bootlegs
. Now we have more artwork. Emil
has researched extra contemporary drawings, graphics, and photographs to go with each album, collections of paintings that we worked with, and drawings that Florian and I did. We took a lot of Polaroids
in those days." Kraftwerk also released an iOS app called Kraftwerk Kling Klang Machine. The Lenbach House in Munich exhibited some Kraftwerk 3-D pieces in Autumn 2011. Kraftwerk performed three concerts to open the exhibit..
bands Kraftwerk was heavily influenced by the pioneering compositions of Karlheinz Stockhausen
. Hütter has also listed The Beach Boys
as a major influence, which is apparent in its 1975 chart smash, Autobahn.
Kraftwerk's lyrics deal with post-war European urban life and technology—traveling by car on the Autobahn, traveling by train, using home computers, and the like. Usually, the lyrics are very minimal
but reveal both an innocent celebration of, and a knowing caution about, the modern world, as well as playing an integral role in the rhythmic structure of the songs. Many of Kraftwerk's songs express the paradoxical nature of modern urban life—a strong sense of alienation existing side-by-side with a celebration of the joys of modern technology.
All of Kraftwerk's albums from Radio-Activity onwards have been released in separate versions: one with German vocals for sale in Germany, Switzerland and Austria and one with English vocals for the rest of the world, with occasional variations in other languages when conceptually appropriate.
Live performance has always played an important part in Kraftwerk's activities. Also, despite its live shows generally being based around formal songs and compositions, live improvisation
often plays a noticeable role in its performances. This trait can be traced back to the group's roots in the first experimental Krautrock scene of the late 1960s, but, significantly, it has continued to be a part of its playing even as it makes ever greater use of digital and computer-controlled sequencing in its performances. Some of the band's familiar compositions have been observed to have developed from live improvisations at its concerts or sound-checks.
with some notable innovations, such as self-made instruments and custom built devices. The group has always perceived their Kling Klang Studio as a complex music instrument as well as a sound laboratory, especially Florian Schneider developed a fascination for music technology, with the result that the technical aspects of sound generation and recording gradually became his main fields of activity within the band.
Kraftwerk used a custom built vocoder
on their albums Ralf und Florian
and Autobahn
; the device was constructed by electronic engineers P.Leunig and K.Obermayer of the PTB Braunschweig. Hütter and Schneider hold a patent for an electronic drum kit with sensor pads, filed in July 1975 and issued in June 1977. It has to be hit with metal sticks which are connected to the device to complete a circuit that triggers analog synthetic percussion sounds. The band used this electronic drum kit on the album Autobahn, the following tour and it was featured on the BBC television series Tomorrow's World in 1975. On the Radio-Activity tour in 1976 Kraftwerk tested out an experimental light-beam-activated drum cage allowing Flür to trigger electronic percussion through arm and hand movements. Unfortunately, the device did not work as planned, and it was quickly abandoned. The same year Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider commissioned Bonn
-based "Synthesizerstudio Bonn, Matten & Wiechers" to design and build the Synthanorma Sequenzer with Intervallomat, a 4x8 / 2x16 / 1x32 step-sequencer system with some features that commercial products couldn't provide at that time. The music sequencer
was used by the band for the first time to control the electronic sources creating the rhythmic sound of the album Trans Europe Express
.
of The Smiths
by Karl Bartos, who explained that anyone trying to contact the band for collaboration would be told the studio telephone did not have a ringer, since during recording, the band did not like to hear any kind of noise pollution. Instead, callers were instructed to phone the studio precisely at a certain time, whereupon the phone would be answered by Ralf Hütter, despite never hearing the phone ring. Chris Martin
, lead singer of UK group Coldplay
, anecdotally recalled, in a late 2007 article in Q about Kraftwerk, the process of requesting permission to use the melody from the track "Computer Love" in its 2005 release "Talk" from its album X&Y
. He recalled writing them a letter and sending it through the lawyers of the respective parties and several weeks later receiving an envelope containing a handwritten reply that simply said 'yes'.
Kraftwerk's musical style and image can be heard and seen in later electronic music successes such as Gary Numan
, Ultravox
, John Foxx
, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
, Human League, Depeche Mode
, Visage
, and Soft Cell
, to name a few. Kraftwerk would also go on to influence other forms of music such as hip hop
, house, and drum and bass, and they are also regarded as pioneers of the electro genre. Most notably, "Trans Europe Express" and "Numbers" were interpolated into "Planet Rock
" by Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force
, one of the earliest hip-hop/electro hits. Techno
was created by three musicians from Detroit, often referred to as the 'Belleville three' (Juan Atkins
, Kevin Saunderson
& Derrick May), who fused the repetitive melodies of Kraftwerk with funk rhythms.
Joy Division
and New Order
were heavily influenced by Kraftwerk. Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis
was a fan of Kraftwerk, and showed his colleagues records that would influence both groups. New Order's song "Your Silent Face" has some similarities with "Europe Endless", the first song on Trans-Europe Express
, and had a working title of KW1, or Kraftwerk 1. New Order also recorded a song called "Krafty
" that appeared as a single and on the album Waiting for the Sirens' Call
. New Order also would sample "Uranium" in their 1983 songs "Blue Monday
" and "The Beach".
David Bowie
's "V-2 Schneider
", which was released as the B-side to the "Heroes" single, and also features on the album "Heroes", is a tribute to Florian Schneider.
Electronic musician Kompressor has cited Kraftwerk as an influence. Kraftwerk is also mentioned in the song "Rappers We Crush" by Kompressor and MC Frontalot
("I hurry away, get in my Chrysler. Oh, the dismay!/Someone's replaced all of my Backstreet Boys with Kraftwerk tapes!").
Franz Ferdinand
were inspired by Kraftwerk's song "The Model" when writing their song "Walk Away
". The similarity is especially heard in the intro of the song.
Vince Clarke
of Erasure
, Yazoo
, and Depeche Mode
, is also a notable disco
and Kraftwerk fan and is influenced by their music. Daniel Miller, former boss of Mute Records, purchased the vocoder
used by Kraftwerk in their early albums, comparing it to owning Jimi Hendrix's guitar.
Kraftwerk also influenced Depeche Mode
, as is some of their album art, such as Behind The Wheel - EP. Alan Wilder
mentioned choosing François Kevorkian
to work on Depeche Mode's Violator
because of his previous work on Kraftwerk's Electric Cafe
.
Simple Minds
recorded a cover of the Kraftwerk track Neon Lights
and included it on an all-cover tunes album by the same name, they also played it live during their Graffiti Soul tour of 2009.
Andy McCluskey
and Paul Humphreys
, founding members of OMD
, have stated that Kraftwerk was a major influence on their early work, and covered "Neon Lights" on their 1991 album, Sugar Tax. Further, a song on the 2010 album History of Modern
is entitled RFWK- Ralf (Hütter), Florian (Schneider), Wolfgang (Flür), Karl (Bartos).
Kraftwerk is currently listed as the second most deserving band who has yet to receive enshrinement to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame according to the website, www.notinhalloffame.com. This was based on their high level of influence towards multiple artists.
Dr. Alex Paterson
of The Orb
listed The Man-Machine
as one of his 13 most favourite albums of all time.
, also known as Senor Coconut, and Atom Heart. Performing as Senor Coconut, Schmidt in 2000 released El Baile Alemán
, which was intended as a salute to, and a parody of, Kraftwerk. The album reworked a number of major Kraftwerk songs with Latin instrumentation in such a way that they could potentially be performed live as Latin dance numbers. Joby Burgess' Powerplant recorded three tracks - Tour de France, Radioactivity and Pocket Calculator - alongside Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint and featuring the Elysian Quartet British comedian Bill Bailey
has also affectionately parodied the band in his live shows. In 2007, 8-Bit Operators: The Music of Kraftwerk
was released by the group "8-Bit Operators" on Kraftwerk's US home label Astralwerks
and EMI Records worldwide. It featured cover versions of Kraftwerk songs by several prominent chiptune
artists. Kraftwerk's Ralf Hutter personally selected the tracks for the release.
Slovenian avant-garde group Laibach
's founding member Tomaz Hostnik claimed that "Ohm sweet Ohm" was one of his favourite songs; therefore this song was used by Laibach in their track dedicated to their deceased member titled "Hostnik" from Krst pod Triglavom OST and in documentary Victory Under The Sun. Laibach also used samples from Kraftwerk's works in their 3.Oktober single from 1990. Laibach's songs appeared also in two compilations dedicated to Kraftwerk which were Trans Slovenia Express vol. 1 and vol. 2. In vol. 1 appeared Laibach's "Zrcalo sveta" which was really their "Apologija Laibach" (written by Hostnik shortly before his death), "3. Oktober" and rework of "Kometenmelodie Part I" made by Laibach's subgroup 300.000 V.K. For vol. 2 Laibach reworked their own song "Brat moj" into "Bruderschaft", which was made as if Kraftwerk created that song themselves. Also, Laibach's concert "Das Kreuzschach und vier Schachspieler" which was based on Laibach's reinterpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Kunst der Fuge" was dedicated, among others, to Kraftwerk.
Listed below are musicians who have played live or in the studio with Kraftwerk, but have not appeared on any official releases by the band.**
**Fernando Abrantes and Michael Rother have been featured on several live bootleg recordings.
Power station
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
) is an influential electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
band from Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter
Ralf Hütter
Ralf Hütter is the lead singer, keyboardist, and reportedly leader of the electronic-music band Kraftwerk. Since the departure of Florian Schneider in 2008, he is also the group's sole remaining founding member....
and Florian Schneider
Florian Schneider
Florian Schneider-Esleben is one of the founding members of electronic music band Kraftwerk. He left the band in November 2008.-Career:...
in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008. The signature Kraftwerk sound combines driving, repetitive rhythms with catchy melodies, mainly following a Western Classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
style of harmony, with a minimalistic and strictly electronic instrumentation. The group's simplified lyrics are at times sung through a vocoder
Vocoder
A vocoder is an analysis/synthesis system, mostly used for speech. In the encoder, the input is passed through a multiband filter, each band is passed through an envelope follower, and the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated to the decoder...
or generated by computer-speech software
Speech synthesis
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...
. Kraftwerk were one of the first groups to popularize electronic music and are considered pioneers
Innovator
An innovator in a general sense, is a person or an organization who is one of the first to introduce into reality something better than before. That often opens up a new area for others and achieves an innovation.-History:...
in the field. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Kraftwerk's distinctive sound was revolutionary, and has had a lasting effect across many genres of modern music.
Formation and early years (1970–1973)
Florian SchneiderFlorian Schneider
Florian Schneider-Esleben is one of the founding members of electronic music band Kraftwerk. He left the band in November 2008.-Career:...
(flutes, synthesizers, electro-violin) and Ralf Hütter
Ralf Hütter
Ralf Hütter is the lead singer, keyboardist, and reportedly leader of the electronic-music band Kraftwerk. Since the departure of Florian Schneider in 2008, he is also the group's sole remaining founding member....
(electronic organ
Electronic organ
An electronic organ is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally, it was designed to imitate the sound of pipe organs, theatre organs, band sounds, or orchestral sounds....
, synthesizers) met as students at the Robert Schumann Hochschule
Robert Schumann Hochschule
The Robert-Schumann-Hochschule is a college for music studies on university level in Düsseldorf, Germany.-History:...
in Düsseldorf in the late 1960s, participating in the German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
experimental music
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
and art scene of the time, which the British music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
press
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
dubbed "Krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
".
The duo had originally performed together in a quintet known as Organisation
Organisation (band)
Organisation was an experimental Krautrock band, that was the immediate predecessor of the band Kraftwerk. In addition to the founding members of Kraftwerk, Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider-Esleben, Organisation consisted of Basil Hammoudi, Butch Hauf and Alfred "Fred" Mönicks.Charly Weiss, Peter...
. This ensemble released one album, titled Tone Float
Tone Float
Tone Float is an LP by the German band Organisation. Organisation was a pre-Kraftwerk band, having only produced and released one album, Tone Float...
(issued on RCA Records
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
in the UK) but the group split shortly thereafter.
Early Kraftwerk line-ups from 1970–1974 fluctuated, as Hütter and Schneider worked with around a half-dozen other musicians over the course of recording three albums and sporadic live appearances; most notably guitarist Michael Rother
Michael Rother
Michael Rother is a German experimental Krautrock musician and composer.- Early life and education :Born in 1950, Rother went to school in Munich, Wilmslow , Karachi, and Düsseldorf. He also lived in Pakistan in the early 1960s where he was exposed to Pakistani music that would influence his own...
and drummer Klaus Dinger
Klaus Dinger
Klaus Dinger was a German musician and songwriter most famous for his contributions to the seminal krautrock outfit, Neu! He was also the guitarist and chief songwriter of new wave group La Düsseldorf and briefly the percussionist of Kraftwerk.-Pre-Neu! :Klaus Dinger was born in Scherfede,...
, who left to form Neu!
Neu!
Neu! was a German band formed by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother after their split from Kraftwerk in the early 1970s...
. The only constant figure in these line-ups was Schneider, whose main instrument at the time was the flute; at times also playing violin and guitar, all processed through a varied array of electronic effects. Hütter, who left the band for six months in 1971 to pursue studies in architecture, played synthesiser keyboards (including Farfisa organ and electric piano).
Their first three albums were more free-form experimental rock without the pop hooks or the more disciplined strong structure of its later work. Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk (album)
Kraftwerk is the first album by German electronic band Kraftwerk. It was released in Germany in 1970, and produced by Konrad "Conny" Plank.-Background:...
, released in 1970, and Kraftwerk 2
Kraftwerk 2
Kraftwerk 2 is the second studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in January 1972.-Background:Kraftwerk 2 was entirely written and performed by founding Kraftwerk members Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in late 1971, with the sessions produced by the influential Konrad "Conny"...
, released in 1972, were mostly exploratory jam music, played on a variety of traditional instruments including guitar, bass, drums, electric organ, flute and violin. Post-production modifications to these recordings were then used to distort the sound of the instruments, particularly audio-tape manipulation and multiple dubbings of one instrument on the same track. Both albums are purely instrumental. Live performances from 1972–73 were made as a duo, using a simple beat-box-type electronic drum machine
Drum machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...
, with preset rhythms taken from an electric organ. These shows were mainly in Germany, with occasional shows in France. Later in 1973, Wolfgang Flür
Wolfgang Flür
Wolfgang Flür is a German musician, best known as a member of the electronic group Kraftwerk, from 1973 to 1987, playing electronic percussion...
joined the group for rehearsals, and the unit performed as a trio on the television show, Aspekte, for German television network ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
.
With Ralf und Florian
Ralf und Florian
Ralf und Florian is the third studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in October 1973...
, released in 1973, the band began to move closer to its classic sound, relying more heavily on synthesisers
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
and drum machine
Drum machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...
s. Although almost entirely instrumental, the album marks Kraftwerk's first use of the vocoder
Vocoder
A vocoder is an analysis/synthesis system, mostly used for speech. In the encoder, the input is passed through a multiband filter, each band is passed through an envelope follower, and the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated to the decoder...
, which would, in time, become one of its musical signatures.
The input, expertise, and influence of producer and engineer Konrad "Conny" Plank
Conny Plank
Konrad "Conny" Plank was a German record producer and musician. He was born in Hütschenhausen. His creativity as a sound engineer and producer helped to shape some of the most important and innovative recordings of postwar European popular music, covering a wide range of genres including...
was highly significant in the early years of Kraftwerk and Plank also worked with many of the other leading German electronic acts of the period, including members of Can
Can (band)
Can was an experimental rock band formed in Cologne, West Germany in 1968. Later labeled as one of the first "krautrock" groups, they transcended mainstream influences and incorporated strong minimalist and world music elements into their often psychedelic music.Can constructed their music largely...
, Neu!
Neu!
Neu! was a German band formed by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother after their split from Kraftwerk in the early 1970s...
, Cluster
Cluster (band)
Cluster is a German experimental musical group who influenced the development of contemporary popular electronic and ambient music. They have recorded albums in a wide variety of styles ranging from experimental music to progressive rock, all of which had an avant-garde edge. Cluster has been...
and Harmonia
Harmonia (band)
Harmonia is a Krautrock supergroup from Germany. They formed as a collaboration between Michael Rother of Neu! and Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Möbius of Cluster and later included the British musician Brian Eno.-Musical style:...
. As a result of his work with Kraftwerk, Plank's studio near Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
became one of the most sought-after studios in the late 1970s. Plank co-produced the first four Kraftwerk albums.
International breakthrough (1974–1976)
The release of AutobahnAutobahn (album)
Autobahn is the fourth studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in November 1974. The 22-minute title track "Autobahn" was edited to about 3 minutes for single release and reached number 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and performed even higher around Europe, including...
in 1974 saw the band moving away from the sound of its earlier albums. The members had invested in newer technology such as the Minimoog
Minimoog
The Minimoog is a monophonic analog synthesizer, invented by Bill Hemsath and Robert Moog. It was released in 1970 by R.A. Moog Inc. , and production was stopped in 1981. It was re-designed by Robert Moog in 2002 and released as Minimoog Voyager.The Minimoog was designed in response to the use of...
, helping give the group a newer, disciplined sound. Autobahn would also be the last album that Conny Plank would engineer. After the commercial success of Autobahn
Autobahn (album)
Autobahn is the fourth studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in November 1974. The 22-minute title track "Autobahn" was edited to about 3 minutes for single release and reached number 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and performed even higher around Europe, including...
, the band members invested money into updating their studio. This meant they no longer had to rely on outside producers. At this time the painter and graphic artist Emil Schult
Emil Schult
Emil Schult is a German painter, poet and musician.He is most famous for his collaborations with the electronic music band Kraftwerk. He has created most of their sleeve designs since 1973...
became a regular collaborator with the band, working alongside the band. Schult designed artwork in addition to later co-writing lyrics and accompanying the group on tour.
The year 1975 saw a turning point in Kraftwerk's live shows. With financial support from Phonogram
Phonogram Records
Phonogram Records was started in 1962 as a joint venture between Philips Records and Deutsche Grammophon. In 1972, Phonogram was merged with Polydor Records into PolyGram....
in the US, it was able to undertake a multi-date tour to promote the Autobahn
Autobahn (album)
Autobahn is the fourth studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in November 1974. The 22-minute title track "Autobahn" was edited to about 3 minutes for single release and reached number 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and performed even higher around Europe, including...
album. This tour took them to the US, Canada and the UK for the first time. The tour also saw a new, stable, live line-up in the form of a quartet. Hütter and Schneider both mainly played keyboard parts on synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
s such as the Minimoog
Minimoog
The Minimoog is a monophonic analog synthesizer, invented by Bill Hemsath and Robert Moog. It was released in 1970 by R.A. Moog Inc. , and production was stopped in 1981. It was re-designed by Robert Moog in 2002 and released as Minimoog Voyager.The Minimoog was designed in response to the use of...
and ARP Odyssey
ARP Odyssey
The ARP Odyssey was an analog synthesizer introduced in 1972. Responding to pressure from Moog Music to create a portable, affordable "performance" synthesizer, ARP scaled down its popular 2600 synthesizer and created the Odyssey, which became the best-selling synthesizer they made.The Odyssey is...
, with Schneider's use of flute diminishing. The pair also sang vocals on stage for the first time, with Schneider also using a vocoder
Vocoder
A vocoder is an analysis/synthesis system, mostly used for speech. In the encoder, the input is passed through a multiband filter, each band is passed through an envelope follower, and the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated to the decoder...
live. Wolfgang Flür and new recruit Karl Bartos
Karl Bartos
Karl Bartos was, between 1975 and 1990, along with Wolfgang Flür, an electronic percussionist in the electronic-music group Kraftwerk. He was originally recruited to play on its US "Autobahn" tour...
performed live on self-made electronic percussions. Bartos also used a Deagan Vibraphone on stage. The Hütter-Schneider-Bartos-Flür formation is now regarded as the classic line-up of Kraftwerk, which remained in place until the late 1980s. Emil Schult generally fulfilled the role of tour manager.
After the 1975 Autobahn tour, Kraftwerk began work on a follow up album, Radio-Activity
Radio-Activity
Radio-Activity is the fifth studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in October 1975. Unlike Kraftwerk's later albums, which featured language-specific lyrics, only the titles differ between the English and German editions...
(German title: Radio-Aktivität). After further investment in new equipment, the Kling Klang Studio became a fully working recording studio. It was decided that the new album would have a central theme. This theme came from the band members' shared interest in radio communication, which had become enhanced on their last tour of the United States. While Emil Schult began working on artwork and lyrics for the new album, the band began to work on the music. Radio-Activity was less successful in the UK and American markets, but it did open up the European market for the band, gaining them a gold disc in France. Kraftwerk produced some promotional videos and performed several European live dates to promote the album. With the release of Autobahn and Radio-Activity, Kraftwerk had left behind its avant-garde experimentations and had moved forward toward electronic pop tunes.
In 1976, the group went out on tour in support of the Radio-Activity album. Despite some new innovations in touring, the band took a break from live performances after the "Radio-Activity tour" of 1976.
Trains, Robots and Computers (1977–1982)
After having finished the "Radio-Activity tour" Kraftwerk began recording Trans-Europe ExpressTrans-Europe Express (album)
Trans-Europe Express is the sixth studio album by German electronic music band Kraftwerk. Recorded in mid-1976 in Düsseldorf, Germany, the album was released in March 1977 on Kling Klang Records. The album's themes were influenced by friends who suggested writing songs about the Trans-Europ...
(German: Trans-Europa Express) at Kling Klang Studio. Trans-Europe Express was mixed at the Record Plant Studios
Record Plant Studios
The Record Plant was a series of three famous recording studios which were founded by Gary Kellgren and Chris Stone, beginning in New York City in 1968. The next year, Kellgren and Stone opened a second studio in Los Angeles. In 1972, the company expanded again with a third location in Sausalito,...
in Los Angeles. It was around this time that Hütter and Schneider met David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
at Kling Klang Studio. A collaboration was mentioned in an interview with Hütter, but it never materialised. Kraftwerk had previously been offered a support slot on Bowie's Station to Station
Station to Station
Station to Station is the tenth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released by RCA Records in 1976. Commonly regarded as one of his most significant works, Station to Station is also notable as the vehicle for Bowie's last great 'character', The Thin White Duke...
tour, but they turned it down.The release of Trans-Europe Express was marked with an extravagant train journey used as a press conference by EMI France. The album was released in March 1977. The album won a disco award in New York later that year.
In May 1978 Kraftwerk released The Man-Machine
The Man-Machine
The Man-Machine is the seventh studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in May 1978. It contains the song "The Model" which was a chart-topping single in the UK in 1982....
(German: Die Mensch Maschine). "The Man-Machine" was recorded at the Kling Klang Studio. Due to the complexity of the recording the album was mixed at Studio Rudas in Düsseldorf. The band hired sound engineer Leanard Jackson from Detroit to work together with Joschko Rudas on the final mix of the record. "The Man-Machine" was the first Kraftwerk album where Karl Bartos
Karl Bartos
Karl Bartos was, between 1975 and 1990, along with Wolfgang Flür, an electronic percussionist in the electronic-music group Kraftwerk. He was originally recruited to play on its US "Autobahn" tour...
was co-credited as songwriter. The cover to the new album was produced in black, white and red, the artwork was inspired by Russian artist El Lissitzky
El Lissitzky
, better known as El Lissitzky , was a Russian artist, designer, photographer, typographer, polemicist and architect. He was an important figure of the Russian avant garde, helping develop suprematism with his mentor, Kazimir Malevich, and designing numerous exhibition displays and propaganda works...
and the Suprematism
Suprematism
Suprematism was an art movement focused on fundamental geometric forms which formed in Russia in 1915-1916. It was not until later that suprematism received conventional museum preparations...
movement. The image of the band on the front cover was photographed by Gunther Frohling. This showed the band dressed in red shirts and black ties. Following the release of The Man-Machine
The Man-Machine
The Man-Machine is the seventh studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in May 1978. It contains the song "The Model" which was a chart-topping single in the UK in 1982....
Kraftwerk would not release an album for another three years.
In May 1981 Kraftwerk released the album Computer World
Computer World
Computer World is the eighth studio album by the German electronic music band Kraftwerk, released in May 1981. The album deals with the themes of the rise of computers within society. Critics see this album as a peak in the career of Kraftwerk, along with Autobahn and Trans-Europe Express...
(German: Computerwelt) on EMI records. The album was recorded at Kling Klang Studio between 1978 and 1981. A lot of this time was spent modifying the Kling Klang Studio so the band could take it on tour with them. Some of the electronic vocals on Computer World
Computer World
Computer World is the eighth studio album by the German electronic music band Kraftwerk, released in May 1981. The album deals with the themes of the rise of computers within society. Critics see this album as a peak in the career of Kraftwerk, along with Autobahn and Trans-Europe Express...
were created using a Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
Language Translator "Computer Love
Computer Love (Kraftwerk song)
Computer Love is a song by the German electronic band Kraftwerk. It was released on the 1981 album Computer World and as a single in the same year...
" was released as a single from the album backed with the earlier Kraftwerk track "The Model
Das Model
"Das Model" is a song recorded by the electro-pop group Kraftwerk in 1978; written by musicians Ralf Hütter and Karl Bartos, with artist Emil Schult collaborating on the lyrics. It is featured on the album, Die Mensch-Maschine; English version title: The Man-Machine...
" Radio DJs were more interested in the B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
so the single was repackaged by EMI and re-released with "The Model" as the a-side. The single reached the number one position in the UK making "The Model" Kraftwerk's most successful record in the UK. The band's live set focused increasingly on song-based material, with greater use of vocals and the use of sequencing equipment for percussion and musical lines. The approach taken by the group was to use the sequencing equipment interactively, thus allowing room for improvisation. Ironically Kraftwerk did not own a computer at the time of recording Computer World.
Kraftwerk returned to the live scene with the Computer World
Computer World
Computer World is the eighth studio album by the German electronic music band Kraftwerk, released in May 1981. The album deals with the themes of the rise of computers within society. Critics see this album as a peak in the career of Kraftwerk, along with Autobahn and Trans-Europe Express...
tour of 1981, where the band effectively packed up its entire Kling Klang studio and took it on the road. The band also developed an increasing use of visual elements in the live shows during this period. This included back-projected slides and films, increasingly synchronised with the music as the technology developed, the use of hand-held miniaturised instruments during the set (for example, during "Pocket Calculator"), and, perhaps most famously, the use of replica mannequin
Mannequin
A mannequin is an often articulated doll used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, and others especially to display or fit clothing...
s of themselves to perform onstage during the song "The Robots".
Cycling non stop (1983–1989)
In 1982 Kraftwerk began to work on a new album that initially had the working title TechnicolorTechnicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
but due to trademark issues the group decided to change the proposed name to Techno Pop. One of the songs from these recording sessions was "Tour de France
Tour de France (song)
"Tour de France" is a song by Kraftwerk. It was first issued in June 1983, peaking at #22 in the UK singles chart. It is notable for the use of sampled voices and mechanical sounds associated with cycling that were used to supplement a simple electro-percussion pattern – an approach Kraftwerk have...
", which EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
released as a single in 1983. This song was a reflection of the band's new found obsession for cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
. After the physically demanding "Computer World" tour, Ralf Hütter
Ralf Hütter
Ralf Hütter is the lead singer, keyboardist, and reportedly leader of the electronic-music band Kraftwerk. Since the departure of Florian Schneider in 2008, he is also the group's sole remaining founding member....
had been looking for forms of exercises that fit in with the image of Kraftwerk, subsequently he encouraged the group to become vegetarians and taking up cycling. "Tour de France" included sounds that followed this theme including bicycle chains, gear mechanisms and the breathing of the cyclist. At the time of the single's release Ralf Hütter tried to persuade the rest of the band that they should record a whole album based around cycling. The other members of the band were not convinced, and the theme was left to the single alone. "Tour de France" was released in German as well as in French language. The vocals of the song were recorded on the Kling Klang Studio stairs to create the right atmosphere. "Tour de France" was featured in the 1984 film Breakin'
Breakin'
Breakin', released as Breakdance: The Movie in some countries, is a 1984 breakdancing-themed film directed by Joel Silberg. The film setting was inspired by a German documentary entitled Breakin' and Enterin set in the Los Angeles multi-racial hip hop club Radiotron, based out of Macarthur Park in...
showing the influence that Kraftwerk had on black American dance music.
During the recording of "Tour de France" Ralf Hütter was involved in a serious cycling accident. He suffered head injuries and was left in a coma for a few days.
During 1983 Wolfgang Flür
Wolfgang Flür
Wolfgang Flür is a German musician, best known as a member of the electronic group Kraftwerk, from 1973 to 1987, playing electronic percussion...
was beginning to spend less time in the studio. Since the band began using sequencers his role as a drummer was becoming less frequent. He preferred to spend his time travelling with his girlfriend. Flür was also experiencing artistic difficulties with the band. After his final work on the 1986 album Electric Café
Electric Café
Electric Café is the ninth studio album by the electronic group Kraftwerk, originally released in 1986. In October 2009 it was re-released under its original working title, Techno Pop.-Background:...
(a.k.a. Techno Pop) he hardly returned to the Kling Klang Studio. Wolfgang Flür left the band in 1987 and was replaced by Fritz Hilpert
Fritz Hilpert
Fritz Hilpert, born May 31, 1956 in Amberg, Germany, is a member of the electro-pop group Kraftwerk.- Background :Fritz Hilpert studied trumpet and percussion at the Musisches Max-Reger-Gymmnasium, Germany, until 1976....
.
In the mix (1990–1999)
After years of withdrawal from live performance Kraftwerk began to tour Europe more frequently again. In February 1990 they played a few secret shows in Italy. Karl Bartos left the band shortly afterwards. The next proper tour was in 1991, for the album The Mix. Hütter and Schneider wished to continue the synth-pop quartet style of presentation, and recruited Fernando AbrantesFernando Abrantes
-Background:He is a former live member of the electronic/experimental pop band Kraftwerk. Fernando joined the group on stage in 1991 shortly after the departure of electronic percussionist and songwriter Karl Bartos. Serving as Bartos' replacement, Abrantes performed during the first leg of The Mix...
as a replacement for Bartos. Abrantes left the band shortly after though. In late 1991, long time Kling Klang Studio sound engineer Henning Schmitz
Henning Schmitz
Henning Schmitz, born December 26, 1953 in Germany, is a member of the electronic/experimental pop band Kraftwerk.-Background:Henning Schmitz studied at the Musikhochschule Rheinland and the FH Düsseldorf, and in 1980 he received his Diplom-Ingenieur qualification in sound and image technology...
was brought in to finish the remainder of the tour and to complete a new version of the quartet that remained active until 2008. In 1997 they had a famous appearance at dance festival Tribal Gathering
Tribal Gathering
Tribal Gathering was a dance music festival that catered for different types of dance music cultures such as drum and bass, techno, rave and house. -History:...
held in England. In 1998, the group toured the US and Japan for the first time since 1981, along with shows in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. Three new songs were performed during this period, which remain unreleased. Following this trek, the group decided to take another break.
In July 1999 the single "Tour de France
Tour de France (song)
"Tour de France" is a song by Kraftwerk. It was first issued in June 1983, peaking at #22 in the UK singles chart. It is notable for the use of sampled voices and mechanical sounds associated with cycling that were used to supplement a simple electro-percussion pattern – an approach Kraftwerk have...
" was reissued in Europe by EMI after it had been out of print
Out of print
Out of print refers to an item, typically a book , but can include any print or visual media or sound recording, that is in the state of no longer being published....
for several years. It was released for the first time on CD in addition to a repressing of the 12-inch vinyl single. Both versions feature slightly altered artwork that removed the faces of Flür and Bartos from the four man cycling paceline depicted on the original cover. In 1999 ex-member Flür published his autobiography in Germany, Ich war ein Roboter. Later English-language editions of the book were titled Kraftwerk: I Was a Robot.
The single "Expo 2000
Expo 2000 (song)
"Expo 2000" is a song by Kraftwerk. It was originally an a cappella jingle commissioned for the Hannover Expo 2000 convention in Germany, which was subsequently developed into longer pieces with music and additional lyrics....
" was released in December 1999. The track was remixed and re-released as "Expo Remix" in November 2000.
Touring the globe (2000–2009)
In August 2003 the band released Tour de France SoundtracksTour de France Soundtracks
Note: The 2003 Japanese CD release of this album also contains the video of the single "Tour de France 2003" as enhanced content.-Promotional version:...
, its first album of new material since 1986's Electric Café
Electric Café
Electric Café is the ninth studio album by the electronic group Kraftwerk, originally released in 1986. In October 2009 it was re-released under its original working title, Techno Pop.-Background:...
. In January and February 2003, prior to the release of the album, the band started the extensive Minimum-Maximum world tour, using four customised Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
VAIO
VAIO
VAIO is a sub-brand used for many of Sony's computer products. Originally an acronym of Video Audio Integrated Operation, this was amended to Visual Audio Intelligent Organizer in 2008 to celebrate the brand's 10th anniversary...
laptop computers, effectively leaving the entire Kling Klang studio at home in Germany. The group also obtained a new set of transparent video panels to replace its four large projection screens. This greatly streamlined the running of all of the group's sequencing, sound-generating, and visual-display software. From this point, the band's equipment increasingly reduced manual playing, replacing it with interactive control of sequencing equipment.
Hütter retains the most manual performance, still playing musical lines by hand on a controller keyboard and singing live vocals and having a repeating ostinato
Ostinato
In music, an ostinato is a motif or phrase, which is persistently repeated in the same musical voice. An ostinato is always a succession of equal sounds, wherein each note always has the same weight or stress. The repeating idea may be a rhythmic pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody in...
. Schneider's live vocoding has been replaced by software-controlled speech-synthesis techniques. In November 2003, the group made a surprising appearance at the MTV European Music Awards in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Scotland, performing Aerodynamik. The same year a promotional box set entitled 12345678 (subtitled The Catalogue) was issued, with plans for a proper commercial release to follow. The box featured remastered
Audio mastering
Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
editions of the group's core eight studio albums, from Autobahn to Tour de France Soundtracks. This long-awaited box-set would eventually be released in November 2009.
In June 2005 the band's first-ever official live album, Minimum-Maximum
Minimum-Maximum
Minimum-Maximum is the first official live album release by Kraftwerk, released in June 2005, almost 35 years after the group gave their first live performance...
, which was compiled from the shows during the band's tour of spring 2004, received extremely positive reviews. The album contained reworked tracks from existing studio albums. This included a track titled Planet Of Visions that was a reworking of "Expo 2000
Expo 2000 (song)
"Expo 2000" is a song by Kraftwerk. It was originally an a cappella jingle commissioned for the Hannover Expo 2000 convention in Germany, which was subsequently developed into longer pieces with music and additional lyrics....
". In support of this release, Kraftwerk made another quick sweep around the globe with dates in Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, and Greece. In December, the DVD release
Minimum-Maximum (video)
Minimum-Maximum is a double DVD created by Kraftwerk, consisting of live shows performed during their 2004 world tour. The set was released in Germany on December 2, 2005, in the UK on December 5, 2005 and December 6, 2005 in the US, Japan and Australia....
of Minimum-Maximum was made available. During 2006, the band performed at festivals in Norway, the Czech Republic, Spain, Belgium and Germany.
In April 2008 the group played three shows in US cities Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Denver, and was a co-headliner at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a three-day annual music and arts festival, organized by Goldenvoice and held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Inland Empire's Coachella Valley...
. This was their second appearance at the festival since 2004. Further shows were performed in Ireland, Poland, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
in late 2008. Kraftwerk's headline set at Global Gathering in Melbourne, Australia on 22 November 2008 was cancelled moments before it was scheduled to begin, due to a heart problem of Fritz Hilpert. The touring quartet consisted of Ralf Hütter
Ralf Hütter
Ralf Hütter is the lead singer, keyboardist, and reportedly leader of the electronic-music band Kraftwerk. Since the departure of Florian Schneider in 2008, he is also the group's sole remaining founding member....
, Henning Schmitz
Henning Schmitz
Henning Schmitz, born December 26, 1953 in Germany, is a member of the electronic/experimental pop band Kraftwerk.-Background:Henning Schmitz studied at the Musikhochschule Rheinland and the FH Düsseldorf, and in 1980 he received his Diplom-Ingenieur qualification in sound and image technology...
, Fritz Hilpert
Fritz Hilpert
Fritz Hilpert, born May 31, 1956 in Amberg, Germany, is a member of the electro-pop group Kraftwerk.- Background :Fritz Hilpert studied trumpet and percussion at the Musisches Max-Reger-Gymmnasium, Germany, until 1976....
, and video technician Stefan Pfaffe
Stefan Pfaffe
Stefan Pfaffe is a member of the electronic music band, Kraftwerk. Before being an official member, he worked in Kraftwerk's Kling Klang crew, as an engineer and was credited on the Minimum-Maximum release ....
. Original member Florian Schneider
Florian Schneider
Florian Schneider-Esleben is one of the founding members of electronic music band Kraftwerk. He left the band in November 2008.-Career:...
was absent from the lineup. Hütter stated that he was working on other projects.
On 21 November 2008 Kraftwerk officially confirmed Florian Schneider's departure from the band. The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
commented that incident: "There is something brilliantly Kraftwerkian about the news that Florian Schneider, a founder member of the German electronic pioneers, is leaving the band to pursue a solo career. Many successful bands break up after just a few years. It has apparently taken Schneider and his musical partner, Ralf Hütter, four decades to discover musical differences."
Kraftwerk has performed concerts in Wolfsburg, Germany, Manchester, UK, and Randers, Denmark with special 3D background graphics. Members of the audience were able to watch this multimedia part of the show with 3D glasses, which were given out. During the Manchester concert (part of the 2009 Manchester International Festival
Manchester International Festival
The Manchester International Festival is an international cultural festival of original new work, held in the English city of Manchester. It is a biennial event, first taking place in June–July 2007, and subsequently recurring in the summers of 2009 and 2011...
) four members of the GB cycling squad (Jason Kenny
Jason Kenny
Jason Francis Kenny MBE is an English track cyclist, specialising in the individual and team sprints. After winning multiple World and European Junior titles in 2006 and achieving medals in the under 23 European championships in 2007, Kenny was selected ahead of Ross Edgar to compete for Great...
, Ed Clancy
Ed Clancy
Edward Clancy MBE is an English professional track and road bicycle racer who rides for the team. On the track his specialist discipline is the pursuit. He won the first stage of the 2005 Tour of Berlin. He also won 2007 team pursuit world championship...
, Jamie Staff
Jamie Staff
Jamie Alan Staff MBE is an English racing cyclist and coach, formerly on BMX and later on the track. A World and Olympic champion, he has also won numerous other medals at World Championships, World Cups and at the Commonwealth Games....
and Geraint Thomas
Geraint Thomas
Geraint Howell Thomas, MBE is a Welsh professional racing cyclist who rides for the UCI ProTour team . A track cycling world champion and Olympic gold medalist in the team pursuit, Thomas has also enjoyed success on the road, winning the Junior Paris-Roubaix in 2004, the British National...
) rode around the Velodrome while the band performed Tour de France. The group also played several festival dates in 2009, last being Bestival in September 2009.
Kraftwerk finally released The Catalogue
The Catalogue
The Catalogue is a boxed set comprising eight albums by Kraftwerk that were released from 1974 to 2003...
box set on 16 November 2009. It is a 12" LP
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...
-sized box set containing all eight remastered CDs in cardboard slipcases, as well as LP-sized booklets of photographs and artwork for each individual album. Due to licensing issues, three of these albums--Computer World
Computer World
Computer World is the eighth studio album by the German electronic music band Kraftwerk, released in May 1981. The album deals with the themes of the rise of computers within society. Critics see this album as a peak in the career of Kraftwerk, along with Autobahn and Trans-Europe Express...
, Electric Cafe
Electric Café
Electric Café is the ninth studio album by the electronic group Kraftwerk, originally released in 1986. In October 2009 it was re-released under its original working title, Techno Pop.-Background:...
(now re-christened with its original working title of Techno Pop) and The Mix--are available in the U.S. only as part of the boxed set.
The Techno Pop album contains a slightly revised track listing from its predecessor Electric Cafe: the song "The Telephone Call" now appears in its much shorter single mix, and that single's b-side remix, "House Phone," has been added as a proper album track.
The present
Although not officially confirmed, Ralf Hütter suggested that a second boxed set of their first three experimental albums—KraftwerkKraftwerk (album)
Kraftwerk is the first album by German electronic band Kraftwerk. It was released in Germany in 1970, and produced by Konrad "Conny" Plank.-Background:...
, Kraftwerk 2
Kraftwerk 2
Kraftwerk 2 is the second studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in January 1972.-Background:Kraftwerk 2 was entirely written and performed by founding Kraftwerk members Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in late 1971, with the sessions produced by the influential Konrad "Conny"...
and Ralf and Florian—could be on its way, possibly seeing commercial release after their next studio album: "We've just never really taken a look at those albums. They've always been available, but as really bad bootlegs
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
. Now we have more artwork. Emil
Emil Schult
Emil Schult is a German painter, poet and musician.He is most famous for his collaborations with the electronic music band Kraftwerk. He has created most of their sleeve designs since 1973...
has researched extra contemporary drawings, graphics, and photographs to go with each album, collections of paintings that we worked with, and drawings that Florian and I did. We took a lot of Polaroids
Instant camera
The instant camera is a type of camera that generates a developed film image. The most popular types to use self-developing film were formerly made by Polaroid Corporation....
in those days." Kraftwerk also released an iOS app called Kraftwerk Kling Klang Machine. The Lenbach House in Munich exhibited some Kraftwerk 3-D pieces in Autumn 2011. Kraftwerk performed three concerts to open the exhibit..
Music
Like many other so-called KrautrockKrautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
bands Kraftwerk was heavily influenced by the pioneering compositions of Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
. Hütter has also listed The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
as a major influence, which is apparent in its 1975 chart smash, Autobahn.
Kraftwerk's lyrics deal with post-war European urban life and technology—traveling by car on the Autobahn, traveling by train, using home computers, and the like. Usually, the lyrics are very minimal
Minimalist music
Minimal music is a style of music associated with the work of American composers La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. It originated in the New York Downtown scene of the 1960s and was initially viewed as a form of experimental music called the New York Hypnotic School....
but reveal both an innocent celebration of, and a knowing caution about, the modern world, as well as playing an integral role in the rhythmic structure of the songs. Many of Kraftwerk's songs express the paradoxical nature of modern urban life—a strong sense of alienation existing side-by-side with a celebration of the joys of modern technology.
All of Kraftwerk's albums from Radio-Activity onwards have been released in separate versions: one with German vocals for sale in Germany, Switzerland and Austria and one with English vocals for the rest of the world, with occasional variations in other languages when conceptually appropriate.
Live performance has always played an important part in Kraftwerk's activities. Also, despite its live shows generally being based around formal songs and compositions, live improvisation
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
often plays a noticeable role in its performances. This trait can be traced back to the group's roots in the first experimental Krautrock scene of the late 1960s, but, significantly, it has continued to be a part of its playing even as it makes ever greater use of digital and computer-controlled sequencing in its performances. Some of the band's familiar compositions have been observed to have developed from live improvisations at its concerts or sound-checks.
Technological innovations
Throughout their career, Kraftwerk has pushed the limits of music technologyMusic technology
Music technology is a term that refers to all forms of technology involved with the musical arts, particularly the use of electronic devices and computer software to facilitate playback, recording, composition, storage and performance. This subject is taught at many different educational levels,...
with some notable innovations, such as self-made instruments and custom built devices. The group has always perceived their Kling Klang Studio as a complex music instrument as well as a sound laboratory, especially Florian Schneider developed a fascination for music technology, with the result that the technical aspects of sound generation and recording gradually became his main fields of activity within the band.
Kraftwerk used a custom built vocoder
Vocoder
A vocoder is an analysis/synthesis system, mostly used for speech. In the encoder, the input is passed through a multiband filter, each band is passed through an envelope follower, and the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated to the decoder...
on their albums Ralf und Florian
Ralf und Florian
Ralf und Florian is the third studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in October 1973...
and Autobahn
Autobahn (album)
Autobahn is the fourth studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in November 1974. The 22-minute title track "Autobahn" was edited to about 3 minutes for single release and reached number 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and performed even higher around Europe, including...
; the device was constructed by electronic engineers P.Leunig and K.Obermayer of the PTB Braunschweig. Hütter and Schneider hold a patent for an electronic drum kit with sensor pads, filed in July 1975 and issued in June 1977. It has to be hit with metal sticks which are connected to the device to complete a circuit that triggers analog synthetic percussion sounds. The band used this electronic drum kit on the album Autobahn, the following tour and it was featured on the BBC television series Tomorrow's World in 1975. On the Radio-Activity tour in 1976 Kraftwerk tested out an experimental light-beam-activated drum cage allowing Flür to trigger electronic percussion through arm and hand movements. Unfortunately, the device did not work as planned, and it was quickly abandoned. The same year Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider commissioned Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
-based "Synthesizerstudio Bonn, Matten & Wiechers" to design and build the Synthanorma Sequenzer with Intervallomat, a 4x8 / 2x16 / 1x32 step-sequencer system with some features that commercial products couldn't provide at that time. The music sequencer
Music sequencer
The music sequencer is a device or computer software to record, edit, play back the music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically :...
was used by the band for the first time to control the electronic sources creating the rhythmic sound of the album Trans Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express (album)
Trans-Europe Express is the sixth studio album by German electronic music band Kraftwerk. Recorded in mid-1976 in Düsseldorf, Germany, the album was released in March 1977 on Kling Klang Records. The album's themes were influenced by friends who suggested writing songs about the Trans-Europ...
.
Seclusion
The band is notoriously reclusive; providing rare and enigmatic interviews, using life size mannequins and robots to conduct official photo shoots, refusing to accept mail and not allowing visitors at Kling Klang Studio, whose precise location they used to keep secret. Another notable example of this eccentric behavior was reported to Johnny MarrJohnny Marr
Johnny Marr is an English musician and songwriter. Marr rose to fame in the 1980s as the guitarist in The Smiths, with whom he formed a prolific songwriting partnership with Morrissey. Marr has been a member of Electronic, The The, and Modest Mouse...
of The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
by Karl Bartos, who explained that anyone trying to contact the band for collaboration would be told the studio telephone did not have a ringer, since during recording, the band did not like to hear any kind of noise pollution. Instead, callers were instructed to phone the studio precisely at a certain time, whereupon the phone would be answered by Ralf Hütter, despite never hearing the phone ring. Chris Martin
Chris Martin
Christopher Anthony John "Chris" Martin is an English song-writer, who is the lead vocalist, pianist and rhythm guitarist of the band Coldplay. He is married to actress Gwyneth Paltrow.-Early life:...
, lead singer of UK group Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
, anecdotally recalled, in a late 2007 article in Q about Kraftwerk, the process of requesting permission to use the melody from the track "Computer Love" in its 2005 release "Talk" from its album X&Y
X&Y
X&Y is the third studio album by English rock band Coldplay, released 6 June 2005 in the United Kingdom via the record label Parlophone. The album, which features influences of electronic music, was produced by the band and British record producer Danton Supple...
. He recalled writing them a letter and sending it through the lawyers of the respective parties and several weeks later receiving an envelope containing a handwritten reply that simply said 'yes'.
Influence on other musicians
Kraftwerk's music has directly influenced many popular artists from many diverse genres of music.Kraftwerk's musical style and image can be heard and seen in later electronic music successes such as Gary Numan
Gary Numan
Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
, Ultravox
Ultravox
Ultravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....
, John Foxx
John Foxx
John Foxx is an English singer, artist, photographer and teacher. He was the original lead singer of the band Ultravox before being replaced by Midge Ure, when he left to embark on a solo career in 1979...
, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark are a synthpop group whose founding members are originally from the Wirral Peninsula, England...
, Human League, Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
, Visage
Visage
Visage are a British New Wave rock band. Formed in 1978, the band became closely linked to the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement of the early 1980s, and are best known for their 1980 hit "Fade to Grey".-New Wave years :...
, and Soft Cell
Soft Cell
Soft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. They consist of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The duo is most widely known for their 1981 worldwide hit version of "Tainted Love" and platinum debut Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret...
, to name a few. Kraftwerk would also go on to influence other forms of music such as hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
, house, and drum and bass, and they are also regarded as pioneers of the electro genre. Most notably, "Trans Europe Express" and "Numbers" were interpolated into "Planet Rock
Planet Rock (song)
"Planet Rock" is a 1982 song by Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force. In the background and hooks featured Marvella Murray, Yvette Murray, Melissa Johnson and Sandra Wheeler. Although it was only a minor hit in the US, Canada, and UK, it helped change the foundations of hip-hop and dance music...
" by Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force
Afrika Bambaataa
Afrika Bambaataa is an American DJ from the South Bronx, New York who was instrumental in the early development of hip hop throughout the 1980s. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the three originators of break-beat deejaying, and is respectfully known as the "Grandfather" and the Amen Ra of Universal...
, one of the earliest hip-hop/electro hits. Techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
was created by three musicians from Detroit, often referred to as the 'Belleville three' (Juan Atkins
Juan Atkins
Juan Atkins is an American musician. He is widely credited as the originator of techno music, specifically Detroit techno along with Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson...
, Kevin Saunderson
Kevin Saunderson
Kevin Saunderson is an American electronic music producer. At the age of nine he moved to Belleville, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit where he attended Belleville High School and befriended two students, Derrick May and Juan Atkins...
& Derrick May), who fused the repetitive melodies of Kraftwerk with funk rhythms.
Joy Division
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis , Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris .Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences...
and New Order
New Order
New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris...
were heavily influenced by Kraftwerk. Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis
Ian Curtis
Ian Kevin Curtis was an English singer and lyricist, famous for leading the post-punk band Joy Division. Joy Division released their debut album, Unknown Pleasures, in 1979 and recorded their follow-up, Closer, in 1980...
was a fan of Kraftwerk, and showed his colleagues records that would influence both groups. New Order's song "Your Silent Face" has some similarities with "Europe Endless", the first song on Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express (album)
Trans-Europe Express is the sixth studio album by German electronic music band Kraftwerk. Recorded in mid-1976 in Düsseldorf, Germany, the album was released in March 1977 on Kling Klang Records. The album's themes were influenced by friends who suggested writing songs about the Trans-Europ...
, and had a working title of KW1, or Kraftwerk 1. New Order also recorded a song called "Krafty
Krafty
"Krafty" is a song by New Order, released as the first single from the band's 2005 album, Waiting for the Sirens' Call.It marks the first new release by New Order for Warner Bros...
" that appeared as a single and on the album Waiting for the Sirens' Call
Waiting for the Sirens' Call
-Singles:* "Krafty" * "Jetstream" * "Waiting for the Sirens' Call" * "Guilt Is a Useless Emotion" -Personnel:* Bernard Sumner – vocals, guitars, synthesisers and programming...
. New Order also would sample "Uranium" in their 1983 songs "Blue Monday
Blue Monday (New Order song)
"Blue Monday" is a single released in 1983 by British band New Order, and later remixed in 1988 and 1995. The song has been widely remixed and covered since its original release, and became a popular anthem in the dance club scene.-Background:...
" and "The Beach".
David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
's "V-2 Schneider
V-2 Schneider
"V-2 Schneider" is a largely instrumental piece written by David Bowie in 1977 for the album "Heroes". It was a tribute to Florian Schneider, co-founder of the band Kraftwerk, whom Bowie acknowledged as a significant influence at the time. The title also referenced the V-2 rocket.The only words...
", which was released as the B-side to the "Heroes" single, and also features on the album "Heroes", is a tribute to Florian Schneider.
Electronic musician Kompressor has cited Kraftwerk as an influence. Kraftwerk is also mentioned in the song "Rappers We Crush" by Kompressor and MC Frontalot
MC Frontalot
Damian Hess , better known by stage name MC Frontalot, is a Brooklyn-based hip hop musician and self-proclaimed "world's 579th greatest rapper". He is best known in nerdcore hip hop and video game culture, for naming the nerdcore subgenre, and performing at Penny Arcades annual Penny Arcade Expo...
("I hurry away, get in my Chrysler. Oh, the dismay!/Someone's replaced all of my Backstreet Boys with Kraftwerk tapes!").
Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand (band)
Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish post-punk revival band formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band is composed of Alex Kapranos , Bob Hardy , Nick McCarthy , and Paul Thomson .The band first experienced chart success when their second single, "Take Me Out", reached #3 in...
were inspired by Kraftwerk's song "The Model" when writing their song "Walk Away
Walk Away (Franz Ferdinand song)
"Walk Away" is a song by Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand and is featured on their second album, You Could Have It So Much Better. It was released 5 December 2005 as the second single from that album in the UK, entering the UK Singles Chart at #13 a week later...
". The similarity is especially heard in the intro of the song.
Vince Clarke
Vince Clarke
Vince Clarke is an English synthpop musician and songwriter. Clarke has been involved with a number of successful groups, including Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Assembly and Erasure....
of Erasure
Erasure
Erasure are an English synthpop duo, consisting of songwriter and keyboardist Vince Clarke and singer Andy Bell. Erasure entered the music scene in 1985 with their debut single "Who Needs Love Like That"...
, Yazoo
Yazoo (band)
Yazoo are a British synthpop duo from Basildon, Essex. They had a number of Top 10 hits in the UK charts in the early 1980s...
, and Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
, is also a notable disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
and Kraftwerk fan and is influenced by their music. Daniel Miller, former boss of Mute Records, purchased the vocoder
Vocoder
A vocoder is an analysis/synthesis system, mostly used for speech. In the encoder, the input is passed through a multiband filter, each band is passed through an envelope follower, and the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated to the decoder...
used by Kraftwerk in their early albums, comparing it to owning Jimi Hendrix's guitar.
Kraftwerk also influenced Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
, as is some of their album art, such as Behind The Wheel - EP. Alan Wilder
Alan Wilder
Alan Charles Wilder is a British musician, formerly of Depeche Mode. His current musical project is called Recoil, started as a side project to Depeche Mode. When he left the latter in 1995, it became Wilder's primary project...
mentioned choosing François Kevorkian
François Kevorkian
François Kevorkian, alias François K, is a French DJ of Armenian origin, remixer, producer and record label owner. Having started his career in renowned clubs such as the Paradise Garage and Studio 54, the New York City resident is widely considered as one of the forefathers of house...
to work on Depeche Mode's Violator
Violator (album)
Violator is the seventh studio album by the English electronic group Depeche Mode, released by Mute Records on 19 March 1990.Preceded by the hit singles "Personal Jesus" and "Enjoy the Silence" , Violator propelled the band into international stardom. The album yielded two further hit singles,...
because of his previous work on Kraftwerk's Electric Cafe
Electric Café
Electric Café is the ninth studio album by the electronic group Kraftwerk, originally released in 1986. In October 2009 it was re-released under its original working title, Techno Pop.-Background:...
.
Simple Minds
Simple Minds
Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band who achieved worldwide popularity from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. The band produced a handful of critically acclaimed albums in the early 1980s and best known for their #1 US, Canada and Netherlands hit single "Don't You ", from the soundtrack of the...
recorded a cover of the Kraftwerk track Neon Lights
Neon Lights
Neon Lights is a covers album by Simple Minds.-Background:After Our Secrets Are The Same was leaked by a DJ in Spain and Simple Minds were fired from EMI they went into partial retirement. Frontman Jim Kerr moved to Italy to start a hotel. There a number of young Italian artists came to Kerr for...
and included it on an all-cover tunes album by the same name, they also played it live during their Graffiti Soul tour of 2009.
Andy McCluskey
Andy McCluskey
George Andrew "Andy" McCluskey is the lead singer, bass guitarist, and primary songwriter for the band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark ....
and Paul Humphreys
Paul Humphreys
Paul Humphreys is a British musician.-Life and career:He is best known as a member of synth pop group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark , which he founded with Andy McCluskey in 1978.He grew up on the Wirral Peninsula in North West England, during which time he developed his interest in German...
, founding members of OMD
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark are a synthpop group whose founding members are originally from the Wirral Peninsula, England...
, have stated that Kraftwerk was a major influence on their early work, and covered "Neon Lights" on their 1991 album, Sugar Tax. Further, a song on the 2010 album History of Modern
History of Modern
History of Modern is the eleventh studio album by British synthpop band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark . It is their first album since 1996, and the first album featuring the classic 4-piece line-up since 1986's The Pacific Age. The album was released in the UK on 20 September 2010, reaching to...
is entitled RFWK- Ralf (Hütter), Florian (Schneider), Wolfgang (Flür), Karl (Bartos).
Kraftwerk is currently listed as the second most deserving band who has yet to receive enshrinement to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame according to the website, www.notinhalloffame.com. This was based on their high level of influence towards multiple artists.
Dr. Alex Paterson
Alex Paterson
Alex Paterson is an English musician and co-founder of the ambient group The Orb, in which he has worked since its inception....
of The Orb
The Orb
Throughout 1989, the Orb, along with Martin Glover, developed the musical genre of ambient house through the use of a diverse array of samples and recordings. The culmination of its musical work came toward the end of the year when the group recorded a session for John Peel on BBC Radio 1...
listed The Man-Machine
The Man-Machine
The Man-Machine is the seventh studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in May 1978. It contains the song "The Model" which was a chart-topping single in the UK in 1982....
as one of his 13 most favourite albums of all time.
Tribute bands
Kraftwerk has spawned a large number of tribute bands over the course of their lengthy career. One of the most notable of these was established by Uwe SchmidtUwe Schmidt
Uwe Schmidt , is a German composer, musician and producer of electronic music. He is often regarded as the father of electrolatino, electrogospel and acitón music.- Career :...
, also known as Senor Coconut, and Atom Heart. Performing as Senor Coconut, Schmidt in 2000 released El Baile Alemán
El Baile Alemán
El Baile Alemán is a 2000 album by Señor Coconut Y Su Conjunto . It is an album of Kraftwerk covers done in a Latin American style.Although mostly note-for-note covers, some tracks add embellishments such as "cha-cha-chas"...
, which was intended as a salute to, and a parody of, Kraftwerk. The album reworked a number of major Kraftwerk songs with Latin instrumentation in such a way that they could potentially be performed live as Latin dance numbers. Joby Burgess' Powerplant recorded three tracks - Tour de France, Radioactivity and Pocket Calculator - alongside Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint and featuring the Elysian Quartet British comedian Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey is an English comedian, musician and actor. As well as his extensive stand-up work, Bailey is well known for his appearances on Black Books, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You, and QI.Bailey was listed by The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy in...
has also affectionately parodied the band in his live shows. In 2007, 8-Bit Operators: The Music of Kraftwerk
8-Bit Operators: The Music of Kraftwerk
8-Bit Operators: The Music of Kraftwerk was released in 2007 by the group 8-Bit Operators on Kraftwerks US homelabel Astralwerks and EMI Records worldwide. It features cover versions of Kraftwerk songs by several prominent chiptune artists...
was released by the group "8-Bit Operators" on Kraftwerk's US home label Astralwerks
Astralwerks
Astralwerks is a New York-based record label that releases primarily electronic music. It is owned by Virgin Records/EMI and distributed by Caroline Distribution in the United States....
and EMI Records worldwide. It featured cover versions of Kraftwerk songs by several prominent chiptune
Chiptune
A chiptune, also known as chip music, is synthesized electronic music often produced with the sound chips of vintage computers and video game consoles, as well as with other methods such as emulation. In the early 1980s, personal computers became cheaper and more accessible than they had previously...
artists. Kraftwerk's Ralf Hutter personally selected the tracks for the release.
Slovenian avant-garde group Laibach
Laibach (band)
Laibach is a Slovenian avant-garde music group associated with industrial, martial, and neo-classical musical styles. Laibach formed June 1, 1980 in Trbovlje, Slovenia . Laibach represents the music wing of the Neue Slowenische Kunst art collective, of which it was a founding member in 1984...
's founding member Tomaz Hostnik claimed that "Ohm sweet Ohm" was one of his favourite songs; therefore this song was used by Laibach in their track dedicated to their deceased member titled "Hostnik" from Krst pod Triglavom OST and in documentary Victory Under The Sun. Laibach also used samples from Kraftwerk's works in their 3.Oktober single from 1990. Laibach's songs appeared also in two compilations dedicated to Kraftwerk which were Trans Slovenia Express vol. 1 and vol. 2. In vol. 1 appeared Laibach's "Zrcalo sveta" which was really their "Apologija Laibach" (written by Hostnik shortly before his death), "3. Oktober" and rework of "Kometenmelodie Part I" made by Laibach's subgroup 300.000 V.K. For vol. 2 Laibach reworked their own song "Brat moj" into "Bruderschaft", which was made as if Kraftwerk created that song themselves. Also, Laibach's concert "Das Kreuzschach und vier Schachspieler" which was based on Laibach's reinterpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Kunst der Fuge" was dedicated, among others, to Kraftwerk.
Current members
- Ralf HütterRalf HütterRalf Hütter is the lead singer, keyboardist, and reportedly leader of the electronic-music band Kraftwerk. Since the departure of Florian Schneider in 2008, he is also the group's sole remaining founding member....
– lead vocals, vocoder, synthesizers, organ, drums and percussion, bass guitar, piano (1970–1971, 1971-present) - Fritz HilpertFritz HilpertFritz Hilpert, born May 31, 1956 in Amberg, Germany, is a member of the electro-pop group Kraftwerk.- Background :Fritz Hilpert studied trumpet and percussion at the Musisches Max-Reger-Gymmnasium, Germany, until 1976....
– electronic percussion, sound engineering (1987–present) - Henning SchmitzHenning SchmitzHenning Schmitz, born December 26, 1953 in Germany, is a member of the electronic/experimental pop band Kraftwerk.-Background:Henning Schmitz studied at the Musikhochschule Rheinland and the FH Düsseldorf, and in 1980 he received his Diplom-Ingenieur qualification in sound and image technology...
– electronic percussion, live keyboards (1991–present), sound engineering (1978–present) - Stefan PfaffeStefan PfaffeStefan Pfaffe is a member of the electronic music band, Kraftwerk. Before being an official member, he worked in Kraftwerk's Kling Klang crew, as an engineer and was credited on the Minimum-Maximum release ....
– video technician (2008–present)
Past members
- Florian SchneiderFlorian SchneiderFlorian Schneider-Esleben is one of the founding members of electronic music band Kraftwerk. He left the band in November 2008.-Career:...
– synthesizers, background vocals, vocoder, computer-generated vocals, acoustic and electronic flute,
live saxophone, percussion, electric guitar, violin (1970–2008) - Karl BartosKarl BartosKarl Bartos was, between 1975 and 1990, along with Wolfgang Flür, an electronic percussionist in the electronic-music group Kraftwerk. He was originally recruited to play on its US "Autobahn" tour...
– electronic percussion, live vibraphone, live keyboards (1975–1991) - Wolfgang FlürWolfgang FlürWolfgang Flür is a German musician, best known as a member of the electronic group Kraftwerk, from 1973 to 1987, playing electronic percussion...
– electronic percussion (1973–1987) - Klaus RöderKlaus RöderKlaus Röder is a German musician and music teacher, born 7 April 1948 in Stuttgart, Germany. He currently lives and teaches in Langenfeld , Germany...
– electric guitar, electronic violin (1974) - Klaus DingerKlaus DingerKlaus Dinger was a German musician and songwriter most famous for his contributions to the seminal krautrock outfit, Neu! He was also the guitarist and chief songwriter of new wave group La Düsseldorf and briefly the percussionist of Kraftwerk.-Pre-Neu! :Klaus Dinger was born in Scherfede,...
– drums (1970–1971) - Andreas Hohmann – drums (1970)
Listed below are musicians who have played live or in the studio with Kraftwerk, but have not appeared on any official releases by the band.**
- Fernando AbrantesFernando Abrantes-Background:He is a former live member of the electronic/experimental pop band Kraftwerk. Fernando joined the group on stage in 1991 shortly after the departure of electronic percussionist and songwriter Karl Bartos. Serving as Bartos' replacement, Abrantes performed during the first leg of The Mix...
– electronic percussion, synthesizer (1991) - Michael RotherMichael RotherMichael Rother is a German experimental Krautrock musician and composer.- Early life and education :Born in 1950, Rother went to school in Munich, Wilmslow , Karachi, and Düsseldorf. He also lived in Pakistan in the early 1960s where he was exposed to Pakistani music that would influence his own...
– electric guitar (1971) - Emil SchultEmil SchultEmil Schult is a German painter, poet and musician.He is most famous for his collaborations with the electronic music band Kraftwerk. He has created most of their sleeve designs since 1973...
– electric guitar, electronic violin (1973) - Plato Kostic (a.k.a. Plato Riviera) – bass guitar (1970)
- Peter Schmidt – drums (1970)
- Houschäng Néjadepour – electric guitar (1970)
- Charly Weiss – drums (1970)
- Thomas Lohmann - drums (1970)
- Eberhard Kranemann – bass guitar (1970)
**Fernando Abrantes and Michael Rother have been featured on several live bootleg recordings.
Discography
- KraftwerkKraftwerk (album)Kraftwerk is the first album by German electronic band Kraftwerk. It was released in Germany in 1970, and produced by Konrad "Conny" Plank.-Background:...
(1970) - Kraftwerk 2Kraftwerk 2Kraftwerk 2 is the second studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in January 1972.-Background:Kraftwerk 2 was entirely written and performed by founding Kraftwerk members Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in late 1971, with the sessions produced by the influential Konrad "Conny"...
(1972) - Ralf und FlorianRalf und FlorianRalf und Florian is the third studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in October 1973...
(1973) - AutobahnAutobahn (album)Autobahn is the fourth studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in November 1974. The 22-minute title track "Autobahn" was edited to about 3 minutes for single release and reached number 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and performed even higher around Europe, including...
(1974) - Exceller 8 (1975)
- Radio-ActivityRadio-ActivityRadio-Activity is the fifth studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in October 1975. Unlike Kraftwerk's later albums, which featured language-specific lyrics, only the titles differ between the English and German editions...
(1975) - Trans-Europe ExpressTrans-Europe Express (album)Trans-Europe Express is the sixth studio album by German electronic music band Kraftwerk. Recorded in mid-1976 in Düsseldorf, Germany, the album was released in March 1977 on Kling Klang Records. The album's themes were influenced by friends who suggested writing songs about the Trans-Europ...
(1977) - The Man-MachineThe Man-MachineThe Man-Machine is the seventh studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in May 1978. It contains the song "The Model" which was a chart-topping single in the UK in 1982....
(1978) - Computer WorldComputer WorldComputer World is the eighth studio album by the German electronic music band Kraftwerk, released in May 1981. The album deals with the themes of the rise of computers within society. Critics see this album as a peak in the career of Kraftwerk, along with Autobahn and Trans-Europe Express...
(1981) - Electric CafeElectric CaféElectric Café is the ninth studio album by the electronic group Kraftwerk, originally released in 1986. In October 2009 it was re-released under its original working title, Techno Pop.-Background:...
(1986) - The Mix (remix album, 1991)
- Tour de France SoundtracksTour de France SoundtracksNote: The 2003 Japanese CD release of this album also contains the video of the single "Tour de France 2003" as enhanced content.-Promotional version:...
(2003) - Minimum-MaximumMinimum-MaximumMinimum-Maximum is the first official live album release by Kraftwerk, released in June 2005, almost 35 years after the group gave their first live performance...
(live album, 2005)
External links
- Elektrodaten – Official Kraftwerk Info Site
- ANTENNA – The International Kraftwerk Mailing List (since 2003 September)
- Kraftwerk FAQ – The Kraftwerk FAQ: Frequently asked questions and answers
- Kraftwerk And The Electronic Revolution – 2008 documentary from Rob Johnstone.
- BBC Radio 1 Kraftwerk documentary – 2006 Kraftwerk documentary with Alex KapranosAlex KapranosAlexander Paul Kapranos Huntley , commonly known as Alex Kapranos, is a United Kingdom-based musician who is the lead singer and the guitarist of the Glasgow band Franz Ferdinand.-Early life:...
- Kraftwerk Vinyl Site for collectors