Kraftwerk: Music Non-Stop

by David Pattie (Editor), David Pattie

When they were creating and releasing their most influential albums in the mid to late 1970s, Kraftwerk were far from the musical mainstream - and yet it is impossible now to imagine the history of popular music without them. Today, Kraftwerk are considered to be an essential part of pop's DNA, alongside artists like the Beatles, the Velvet Underground, and Little Richard.

Kraftwerk's immediate influence might have been on a generation of synth-based bands (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, the Human League, Depeche Mode, Yello, et al), but their influence on the emerging dance culture in urban America has proved longer lasting and more decisive.

This collection of original essays looks at Kraftwerk - their legacy and influence - from a variety of angles, and demonstrates persuasively and coherently that however you choose to define their art, it's impossible to underestimate the ways in which it predicted and shaped the future.

Genres: Music

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Charles Heath · Rating 5 out of 5]

The recent passing of founding member Florian Schneider has taken me on the Trans Europe Express to the past! While in this delightful rabbit hole, I came across this edited collection of scholarly essays on the significance of the long-running German music group. Rigorous musicological arguments and enlightening discussions rescue Kraftwerk from the German Robot Nazi memes! Will have you trawling Spotify to make the musical connections. Musicologists and music historians collected here persuasively trace Kraftwerk's indelible marks on genres like avant garde sound art, Romantic music, pop songs, funk, art school punk, British post punk, electro synth, electro DJs, Krautrock, and Detroit techno! EDM. RIP Florian.

[Ipswichblade · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book of essays about Kraftwerk, some decent and others far too up their own rear end