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Kraftwerk
In 1970, two old school friends, Florian Schneider-Esleben and Ralf Hütter founded Kraftwerk and the Kling Klang Studio in Düsseldorf. The pair had already released an album as part of a five-piece improv band, Organization. In the first three years, Kraftwerk’s founders worked with about six other musicians, who came and went or made brief live appearances throughout the recording and performance of Kraftwerk’s first four albums.Their producer/engineer, Corey Plank played no small part in the band’s musical sound either and became one of the most sought after producers as a result. The artist Emil Schult became a Kraftwerk collaborator in 1973, playing music with them as well as producing much of the cover art.
In 1974-75, however, Schneider and Hütter were joined by electronic percussionists, Wolfgang Flür and Karl Bartos, and the four of them produced Autobahn, an album and tour that established the band as techno-pioneers. After Autobahn, it seemed for a while that the more sought after the band was, the more eccentric and reclusive they became. Johnny Marr of the Smiths once said that, if anyone wanted to call Kraftwerk at Kling Kang at a specific time on the dot, when Hütter would answer. Otherwise, the band did not wanted to be bothered by the noise pollution of a telephone and turned the ringer off.
Kraftwerk refused to perform live for many years, only reemerging again in the late 90s, touring again in 2004 and 2005. Flür and Bartos have since left the band because of the growing time between recordings and the rarity of live performances, as Schneider and Hütter grow increasingly perfectionist as time goes by. Released as a single in 1999, “Expo 2000” was their first new song in nearly 13 years.
Autobahn had been followed closely by three albums Radio-Activity (1975), Trans-Europe Express (1977), and The Man Machine (1978), which increasingly relied on electronic music and dealt with the growing use of technology in the postwar era. A Speak & Spell was used on their album Computer World (1981). Since 1977, they have released all of their albums in English and German versions, except the single “Tour de France” (1983), which features lyrics en Français.
However, Kraftwerk was not the first or only band to use electronic music in the early 1970s. They stood out because of their striking visual presentations, especially on stage, and in the presentation of their work as a cohesive whole. Their catalogue has provided a fruitful sampling resource for Beck, the Orb, Madonna, Depeche Mose, REM, the Chemical Brothers, and many more.
In 1970, two old school friends, Florian Schneider-Esleben and Ralf Hütter founded Kraftwerk and the Kling Klang Studio in Düsseldorf. The pair had already released an album as part of a five-piece improv band, Organization. In the first three years, Kraftwerk’s founders worked with about six other musicians, who came and went or made brief live appearances throughout the recording and performance of Kraftwerk’s first four albums.Their producer/engineer, Corey Plank played no small part in the band’s musical sound either and became one of the most sought after producers as a result. The artist Emil Schult became a Kraftwerk collaborator in 1973, playing music with them as well as producing much of the cover art.