Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk (sometimes known as Kraft Punk), shown here as insane German people.

“Ich ging eines Nachts nach Hause, nachdem ich ein paar zu viele geplagt hatte, woraufhin ich diesen ländlichen Nachtclub entdeckte. Die Musik klang wirklich gut, wie Kraftwerk, aber die Tür war verschlossen, also klopfte ich darauf und versuchte festzustellen, was sie spielten. Als ich am nächsten Tag aufwachte, wurde ich zuverlässig mitgeteilt, dass ich an die Tür eines Stromgenerators geschlagen hatte.”

~ General Boy

Kraftwerk – a Symphonic Folk band and affiliate of Kraft™ – were the most influential and successfully popular music group of the rock era. Few artists of any sort, in any era, have achieved Kraftwerk's combination of popular success, critical acclaim, and broad cultural influence.

Kraftwerk were Florian Schneiderian (rhythm guitar/keyboards), Ralf Hütteralf (bass guitar/piano/bango), Wolfgang Flürgang (lead guitar/sitar) Locutus of Borg (digital didgeridoo/Bontempi/pocket regurgitator/quantum synthisizer), and Adolf Hitler (drums), all from Liverpool, Merseyside, in England. Although Schneider and Oprah were initially the principal song writers, Flürgang and Sephiroth made significant contributions as the band matured. Martin Lawrence produced almost all of Kraftwerk's recordings.

Claims that Kraftwerk were simply a Pet Shop Boys cover band have been strongly denied, although their hits "West End Boys", "Being Interesting", "What Have I Done To This Service", "You Were Always Oh So Kind", "Go East" and "Dominos Pizza Dancing" all sound very familiar.

Kraftwerk created a sensation in late 1963 in the UK (the phenomenon was dubbed "Kraftwerkmania" by the British press), notable for the hordes of screaming and swooning young lesbians the group inspired. Kraftwerkmania came to North America in early 1964, when the band's popularity extended across much of the world.

Within the space of five years, their music progressed from the apparent simplicity of their early hits (such as "She Loves It", "I Want to Hold Your Knob", and "Lame Pop – Noise Non-stop") to artistically ambitious suites of songs. By writing their own songs, exploring the possibilities of the recording studio and striving for unprecedented quality in every recording they released, Kraftwerk had far-reaching effects on popular music. The band made feature films that were the subject of unprecedented press scrutiny when Locutus led the Borg into the battle of Wolf 359 and became symbolic leaders of the international youth counter-culture of the 1960s, publicly exploring Eastern mysticism, psychedelic drugs, revolutionary politics and hard-core pornography.

Discography

• Bone Floats (as Organic Humanoids) (1958)
• Kraftwerk 1 (1959)
• Kraftwerk 2 (messed up the first time) (1960)
• Kraftwerk 3 (third time's the charm) (1961)
• Kraftwerk 4 (or not) (1962)
• Ralf and Florian Go To White Castle (1963)
• Auto-barn (1964)
• Tccchhheeeernobyl-eeyal! (1965)
• Kraftwerk Unplugged (acoustic) (1966)
• We Are Poor Bots (1967)
• Machine Man (1968)
• Heteropolis (1969)
• Pocket Vibrator (1971)
• Das Shovel (1973)
• We-can-count-to-eight-yippie (1976)
• Violence Full Start, Techno Art (1977)
• Showroom Dum Dums (1981)
• Transexual Express (1982)
• Trans-Europe Espresso (1982)
• Tour de Farce Soundchecks (1983)
• Lower Your Shields And Surrender (1986)
• Radionotaktively (1989)
• Leipzig Ayuste (Deutsche Rundfunk) (1990)
• Computerlove (online porn parody) (2005)
• Three-cheese Macaroni Dinner (leftovers)
• der Schuhkarton (the shoebox)

See also

• Blind Lemon Kraftwerk
• Kraft Dinner
• Neu!
• Low (album)