Die Mensch Maschine (The Man Machine) |
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Released: April 28, 1978 Peak: 130 US, 9 UK, -- CN, 56 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.10 UK, 0.25 world (includes US and UK) Genre: electronica/synth-pop |
Tracks:Song Title [time] (date of single release, chart peaks)
Total Running Time: 36:10 The Players:
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Rating: 3.686 out of 5.00 (average of 19 ratings)
Quotable:“The band’s 1978 masterpiece that is, at its core, the godfather of synth-pop as we know it.” – Paste magazineAwards:(Click on award to learn more).
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Kraftwerk Goes Pop?The German quartet Kraftwerk crafted a sound in the 1970s that would define synth-pop and EDM in the ‘80s and beyond. Their seventh studio album, The Man-Machine is “more pop-oriented than any of their previous work.” AM “It’s here where Kraftwerk took their mechanical style of old and re-tuned it into a club-worthy aesthetic.” PM It is “less minimalistic in its arrangements and more complex and danceable in its underlying rhythms.” AM With this album, “Kraftwerk proved the power of electronic music was not in musical sleight-of-hand but in scientific mastery of Zen-like simplicity.” RDDefining the Synth-Pop Sound of New WaveThis made the album “closer to the sound and style that would define early new wave electro-pop.” AM “Like always, Kraftwerk were ahead of the curve. Although, you could argue that—on The Man-Machine—they invented the curve altogether.” PM It is “the band’s 1978 masterpiece that is, at its core, the godfather of synth-pop as we know it.” PMIt “had a tremendous impact on the cold, robotic synth pop of artists like Gary Numan, as well as Britain’s later new romantic movement.” AM It inspired “generations of artists from 1980s techno-pop pioneers like the Human League, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, and Depeche Mode” RD as well as OMD. PM The Songs“The songs addressed an increasingly automated world of urban alienation, space-age engineering, and the vacant glamor of fame.” RD “Like its predecessor, Trans-Europe Express, there is the feel of a divided concept album, with some songs devoted to science fiction-esque links between humans and technology, often with electronically processed vocals (The Robots, Spacelab, and the title track).” AM “The use of synthetic voices would come to dominate Kraftwerk’s ever-evolving sound.” RD“A futuristic vision of humanity fused with technology informed both the funky title track and ‘The Robots.’” RD “Others take the glamour of urbanization as their subject (Neon Lights and Metropolis).” AM The former “is an achingly romantic song.” RD “Plus, there’s The Model, the album’s “centerpiece.” PM It “is a sardonic satire on the beauty industry, so ahead of its time that it topped the UK charts three years after the album’s release.” RD It “feels as brand-new now as it did 45 years ago.” PM |
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First posted 4/13/2008; last updated 10/13/2026. |
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