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CULTURE |

MUSIC & TV

Kraftwerk emerged from Germany in the

Seventies to cause a musical revolution. In the

21st century their music still sounds like the future,

says Uwe Schütte

They’re the soundtrack

of our 21st century

I

t’s a tricky question: Are Kraftwerk

more influential than The Beatles?

By the looks of it, the answer would be

firm yes. Just open your ears: the idea

of using machines to make electronic music

has been deeply imprinted on the DNA of

contemporary pop music. British synth-pop,

club-music styles like techno and house, hip-

hop and R’n’B, experimental electronica and

Japanese bubblegum pop have all, in one way

or another, been influenced by Kraftwerk.

Rewind to 1974. Ralf Hütter and Florian

Schneider, aided by Karl Bartos and Wolfgang

Flür, were a four-piece from Düsseldorf

who gave birth to the very future music

that turned out to be the soundtrack of our

21st-centurypresent.Intheirdingystudio

inthered-lightdistrictnearDüsseldorf

mainstation,theyconceivedAutobahn,

a 22-minute-pluselectroniccomposition

aboutdrivingontheGermanmotorway.In

German,theautobahnissomuchmorethan

a highway:it harksbacktoHitler,whomade

extendingthemotorwaynetworka

nationalmission,it servedasthebackbone

oftheGermaneconomicmiracleafterthe

war,andit representsmobility,freedom,

speed,tonamebuta few.A trueGerman

nationalsymbol.

Kraftwerk’selectronicpoponAutobahn

revolutionisedGermanpopularmusic,

althoughthealbumofthesamenamewas

initiallymetwitha lackofinterestintheir

nativecountry.Itsmomentousimportance

wasnotrecognised.Thesameoccurred

inthiscountry:NMEwas thefirstmusic

magazinetoreviewtherecordinearly 1975 –

andendeditsassessmentwitha disdaining

“Forsimplemindsonly.”MelodyMaker

likewiseconcludeditsreviewwith“Miss”,

noting:“Oddnoisesfrompercussionand

synthesiserdriftoutofthespeakerswithout

anycomprehensibleorderwhilea fewwords

aremutteredfromtimetotimeina strange

tongue.” Yes, Kraftwerksanginastrange

tongue,theirnativeGerman,becausethey

didnotwanttocopythemanyGermanbands

–retrospectivelyidentifiedasthekrautrock

movement– whoonlyapedAnglo-American

rockmusic.Butbeingcontinentaldoes

notgodownwellinEngland,particularly

if youareGerman:whenNMEreprinted

alonginterview-essayonKraftwerkby

theUSgonzojournalistLesterBangsin

Model

workers

September 1975, the article was accompanied by a photo of the band inserted into an

image of supposedly the Party Convention Grounds in Nuremberg. This unmistakeably

insinuated that Kraftwerk were bona fide Nazis.

Crude Hitler jokes, nasty anti-German jibes and Teutonic taunting continued in

the British music press for a few albums. One journalist (I bet/hope he regrets this

now) reported back from the Paris press launch of The Man-Machine that the album,

now universally recognised as a landmark in the development of electronic pop music

(remember, it contains Kraftwerk’s UK number one hit The Model), sounded to him

like “the soundtrack for an afternoon tea break at Krupp’s. Two sides of this and we are

almost off to invade Poland. Czechoslovakia, here we come!” And much worse...

Fast forward to 2017, and Kraftwerk are playing their first full UK tour for 13 years,

comprising 12 dates that sold out almost immediately, despite the band not having

released any new studio material since their 2003 album Tour de France Soundtracks. Every

audience member wears 3D glasses because the concert is accompanied by eye-boggling,

almost haptic/touchable visuals and ear-boggling, crystal-clear electronic sounds. The

curtain lifts and Kraftwerk open their two-hour set with Numbers from the amazing

Computer World album.

Photo:

Everett Collection/Shutterstock

34 | BIGISSUE.COM 23-29 MARCH 2020