Kraftwerk

Formed: Dusseldorf, Germany ... 1969 as ORGANISATION by RALF HUTTER, FLORIAN SCHNEIDER-ESLEBEN and three others, namely BUTCH HAUF, FRED MONICKS and BASIL HAMMOND. After one CONRAD PLANK-produced album, 'TONE FLOAT', for 'R.C.A; in 1970, the pair broke away to form KRAFTWERK (German for POWERPLANT), with KLAUS DINGER and THOMAS HOMANN. After one album for 'Philips', RALF & FLORIAN became KRAFTWERK, releasing the 1973 album (titled after their Christian names) for 'Vertigo' in the process. In 1974, they added KLAUS ROEDER & WOLFGANG FLUR, issuing their magnus-opus 'AUTOBAHN'. This UK & US Top 5 album contained a 22-minute title track, which, edited into 3 minutes, also became a hit. The next album, 'RADIO ACTIVITY' (which was also issued on their own 'Kling Klang' label in Germany), disappointed most and failed to secure a Top 50 placing. In 1978, they were back in the UK Top 10 at least, with an excellent return to form, 'THE MAN MACHINE'. In the early 80's, they enjoyed another hit album, 'COMPUTER WORLD', and a run of UK hit singles, one of which, THE MODEL' (from 1978 Ip) made the top spot. A projected album by the name of 'TECHNOPOP', was pencilled in for release in 1983 and allegedly 'E.M.I.' were even supplied with artwork. The record never appeared, and of course, given KRAFTWERK's reclusive reticence, no explanation was offered. The same year, however, the band did release a one-off 12" single, 'TOUR DE FRANCE', no doubt inspired by HUTTER's preoccupation with cycling.
It was to be another three years before the band released a full album, the disappointing 'ELECTRIC CAFE'. By this point the band were starting to tread water, an assumption that seemed to be confirmed when fans had to wait another five years for 'new' material. 'THE MIX', released in 1991, was actually an album of reworkings of old tracks, a bit of a hit and miss affair which failed to deliver any original pieces per se. Both BARTOS and FLUR had left the band before the album's release, allegedly sick of the laboriously slow and detailed recording process and the band's reclusive inertia. Despite a reputation for a disciplined working ethos, the band remain defiantly distant from the music industry. Their studio apparently possesses neither fax nor phone, they've no management and they've turned down all offers of remix work and collaborations. Whether they can remain on the cutting edge in such a vacuum remains to be seen and for the moment, their Guru-like status is based on past glories, sounds that continue to permeate almost all strands of pop culture, now more than ever. It's testament to their towering influence that despite releasing no new material for more than a decade, they headlined the Tribal Gathering dance festival in the late 90's. This robotic electronic rock act with minimalist synth-tunes, being at times (on stage!) twiddled by dummies, were more inspirational than their contemporaries TANGERINE DREAM.
KRAFTWERK became a major influence for ULTRAVOX!, GARY NUMAN, DAVID BOWIE '77, JEAN-MICHEL JARRE, SIMPLE MINDS, OMD, etc. Back on the musical autobahn for the new millennium, KRAFTWERK released a German-only single, 'EXPO 2000'. • Songwriters: RALF & FLORIAN. • Trivia: They have been sampled by many, including AFRIKA BAMBAATAA on his single, 'Planet Rock'.

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