Kraftwerk Music Non-Stop

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.

List of ContributorsPreface Introduction: The (Ger)man MachinesDavid PattieI. Music, Technology and Culture1. Autobahn and Heimatklänge: Soundtracking the FRGSean Albiez and Kyrre Tromm Lindvig2. Kraftwerk and the Image of the ModernDavid Cunningham3. Kraftwerk - The Decline of the Pop StarPertti Grönholm4. Authentic Replicants: Brothers between Decades between Kraftwerk(s)Simon Piasecki and Robert Wilsmore5. Kraftwerk: Technology and CompositionCarsten Brocker (Translated by Michael Patterson)6. Kraftwerk: Playing the MachinesDavid PattieII. Influences and Legacies7. Europe Non- Stop: West Germany, Britain and the Rise ofSynthpop 1975-81Sean Albiez8. Vorsprung durch Technik - Kraft werk and the British Fixationwith GermanyRichard Witts9. ‘Dragged into the Dance' - The Role of Kraftwerk in theDevelopment of Electro- FunkJoseph Toltz10. Average White Band: Kraftwerk and the Politics of RaceMark Duffett11. Trans-Europa Express: Tracing the Trance MachineHillegonda RietveldDiscographyIndex