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01-26 Kraftwerk DVD streaming
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Electronica |
To label any band, of any time period or any genre, as 'the most influential band ever' is a ludicrous statement.
Yet, it happens. Does anyone lay serious claim to such a crown? Well, through all the genres they either
spawned or directly influenced - electro, hip-hop, ambient, techno, pretty much every form of electronic
music, post-punk, industrial, avant-garde rock, synth pop, et cetera - Kraftwerk have credentials as good as
anyone.
Formed under the name Organization in 1968, they were initially a fairly standard Krautrock band, taking their
cues from Romantic and 20 ...read more
To label any band, of any time period or any genre, as 'the most influential band ever' is a ludicrous statement.
Yet, it happens. Does anyone lay serious claim to such a crown? Well, through all the genres they either
spawned or directly influenced - electro, hip-hop, ambient, techno, pretty much every form of electronic
music, post-punk, industrial, avant-garde rock, synth pop, et cetera - Kraftwerk have credentials as good as
anyone.
Formed under the name Organization in 1968, they were initially a fairly standard Krautrock band, taking their
cues from Romantic and 20th century orchestral music. They experiemented with electronic instruments,
building upon the innovations of Silver Apples and several avant-garde composers, and changed their name to
Kraftwerk (German for 'power plant') to reflect this new direction. At this point, electronic music was seen as
something far too arty and obscure to ever trouble the average person's listening. This all changed with
Autobahn.
Released in 1974, Autobahn represented a seismic shift for music. One review at the time asked, "It's good -
but is it rock?"; the confusion of which tells us just how cutting-edge Autobahn was in popular music. It
became a worldwide hit.
In the wake of this, Kraftwerk became a far more conceptual band. Not only were they playing machines, they
claimed - the machines were also playing them. This was highlighted by a press conference called by the
band to promote their 1978 album, The Man-Machine - in one of popular music's most famous pranks, robots,
designed to look like the members of the band, appeared in the place of the real members. It was both an
ironic response to those who claimed that the band's 'robot-pop' lacked humanity and could have written by
machines, and a gentle mockery of the wider world's stereotype of Germans as efficient and cold.
Since 1981's Computer World, which ended one of popular music's longest stretches of almost unbroken
critical acceptance, the band have only toured and released new material very sporadically - the members
claim that they still write music every day, but that they do it for themselves only. Meanwhile, the band
developed a somewhat unhealthy obsession with cycling, culminating in their last major release of original
material, Tour De France Soundtracks. Nonetheless, they've found time to tour, which meant in 2005, we
were treated to their first live album, Minimum-Maximum. « hide |
Similar Bands: Brian Eno, Neu!, Tangerine Dream, Harold Budd, Wim Mertins
Contributors: Willie, poofles, Mikesn, Zebra, Iai, br3ad_man, Skyler, Deviant.,
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