I remember a particular scorn for Kraftwerk when I starting investigating off-the-beaten-track music in my later high school years. The music press I found dismissed them as nerdy synth freaks. My few punk-rock-listening friends (a rare find in conservative ‘80s America) didn’t think much of them. My classic-rock-listening friends had probably never even heard of them.
And there are reasons for this, of course. If you are looking for vibrant, lively music, music that rocks, music that makes you want to get up and dance and have a blast, or music that makes you want to get out on the streets in protest, you won’t find it in Kraftwerk. If you’re looking for lyrics that affect you on a profound emotional level, ditto.
But Kraftwerk were onto something else, which I guess wasn’t so evident to many listeners at the time.
One thing that is certain is that Kraftwerk’s lyrics and vocals are never going to be the main attraction. The singing can be stiff and uncomfortable, and the German accent makes the songs feel even more awkward. Granted, the delivery fits the content, somehow—I mean, it would be strange to sing passionately about a freeway or a train network. Then again, it’s a little strange to sing about transportation in that way at all.
Maybe the leaden singing, when it feels awkward, inadvertently emphasizes how absurdly mundane the content could be. When Gary Numan (who is of course heavily indebted to Kraftwerk in his music) sings about how much he likes his car, he’s really singing about his own sense of alienation, his discomfort with normal human interactions. And it works. When Kraftwerk sings about the Autobahn, they seem to be singing, in fact, about the Autobahn. There it is.
But that works, too, I guess, in its own way. The mundanity is somehow the point.
Things get a bit more convincing when Kraftwerk starts to use technology itself to explore its effects, using electronics to alter their voices so they sound as synthetic as the music. Their critiques of media celebrity culture (“Hall of Mirrors,” “The Model”) and especially computer-age alienation (too many to reasonably list) hit home more effectively.
But the music is why one listens to Kraftwerk. Their innovations in the use of electronics set the stage for the bulk of music released today. Entire worlds of sound—from synth-pop to ambient to electro-thrash—have been birthed by their explorations.
And much of their music still holds up quite well—in fact, in many ways it probably sounds better to us today. We’ve been programmed to be receptive to it, by the very music they influenced.
Once they were relatively ignored; now, they are essential listening.
Playlist 1
Playlist One is an ideal introduction to their work, with chronological highlights from their most acclaimed albums. No longer tracks, lots of different sounds.
Playlist 2
Playlist Two fills in some gaps, starting off with two of their highly esteemed longer pieces—the 23-minute “Autobahn” and the 14-minute “Trans-Europe Express / Metal on Metal / Abzug” suite—and then adding a few more chronological highlights, drawing most heavily from the Trans-Europe Express and Computer World albums, quite possibly their two best.
Cover Art:
- Computerwelt: Source, Discogs.com, Fair Use
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