Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk is a German band that was formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider-Esleben. Widely considered to be the electronic version of The Beatles, it was among the first successful acts to popularize pop-oriented electronic music. The group began as part of West Germany's experimental krautrock scene in the early 1970s before fully embracing electronic instrumentation, including synthesizers, drum machines, and vocoders.

The band was formed in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Their website is at [1].

Label(s)

• EMI
• AstralWerks

Genre(s)

• Electropop
• Electronica

RIYL

• DEVO
• New Order
• Pet Shop Boys
• Can

Band Members

• Florian Schneider
• Ralf Hutter
• Wolfgang Flur (until 1990)
• Karl Bartos (until 1990)

Includes Members of

• Electric Music
• Yamo

Band History

When Kraftwerk was founded, it was originally as Organisation, who put out one record, Tone Float, which was more experimental jazz in nature; closest to the first three Kraftwerk albums, though with more of a natural sound. When they became Kraftwerk, they got more into electronics, but it was by their fourth record that they became closer to the Kraftwerk people think of. They've been sampled a lot and were a huge influence on electronic music of all stripes. Spin even did an article "Kraftwerk: More Important Than The Beatles". They went through a long hiatus, between their last three records; Electric Café was 1986, The Mix was 1991 (between which, the two percussionists left), and Tour De France Soundtracks was 2004.

Discography

Albums

• Tone Float (as Organisation)
• Kraftwerk 1
• Kraftwerk 2
• Ralf und Florian
• Autobahn
• Radioactivity
• The Man-Machine
• Trans-Europe Express
• Computer World
• Electric Café
• The Mix
• Tour De France Soundtracks
• Minimum-Maximum

Singles

• Tour de France
• Expo 2000

Further Reading

• Wikipedia Page