Kraftwerk Die Mensch Maschine released

Die Mensch Maschine (The Man Machine) Kraftwerk

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) Die Roboter (The Robots) [6:10] (5/12/78, 22 CO, 20 UK) Spacelab [5:50] Metropolis [6:01] Das Modell (The Model) [3:38] (9/22/78, 18 CL, 6 CO, 12 UK) Neonlicht (Neon Lights) [9:03] (9/22/78, 31 CO, 53 UK) Die Mensch-Maschine (The Man Machine) [5:28] Total Running Time: 36:10 The Players: Ralf Hütter (voice, synthesizers, etc.) Florian Schneider (voice, synthesizers, etc.) Karl Bartos (electronic percussion) Wolfgang Flür (electronic percussion)

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 magazine Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

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.” RD Defining the Synth-Pop Sound of New Wave This 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.” PM It “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

Reviews: AM AllMusic.com review by Steve Huey RD Robert Dimery (2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Quintet Publishing Limited: New York, NY. Page 397. PM PasteMagazine.com (6/3/2024). “The 300 Greatest Albums of All Time” WK Wikipedia Related DMDB Links: First posted 4/13/2008; last updated 10/13/2026.

Kraftwerk Trans-Europa Express released this month

Trans-Europa Express (aka “Trans-Europe Express”) Kraftwerk

Released: March 1977 Peak: 119 US, 49 UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.06 UK Genre: electronica/synth-pop

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Europa Endlos (Europe Endless) Spiegelsaal (Hall of Mirrors) Schaufensterpuppen (Showroom Dummies) (8/77, 31 CL, 15 CO, 25 UK) Trans Europa Express (Trans-Europe Express) (4/77, 67 BB, 91 CB, 68 HR, 24 CL, 11 CO) Metall Auf Metall (Metal on Metal) Abzug Franz Schubert (Franz Schubert) Endlos Endlos (Endless Endless) Total Running Time: 42:45 The Players: Ralf Hütter (voice, synthesizers, etc.) Florian Schneider (voice, synthesizers, etc.) Karl Bartos (electronic percussion) Wolfgang Flür (electronic percussion)

Rating: 3.858 out of 5.00 (average of 25 ratings) Quotable: This “is the starting point for modern electronic music.” – Toby Creswell & Craig Mathieson, 100 Best Albums of All Time Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

From Autobahn to Trans-Europa Express In 1974, Kraftwerk’s “Autobahn” “took machine worship to new heights. One of the first hit singles made entirely with synthesizers, it put listeners on the German highway system of its namesake, where cars whoosh past at superhigh speeds and…blur into a symphony of ever-changing sound as they streak by.” TM That song’s parent album “was a left-field masterpiece” AM but Trans-Europe Express “is often cited as perhaps the archetypal (and most accessible) Kraftwerk album.” AM The music here is “more consistently memorable even than that on Autobahn.” AM It “was probably inevitable that the German keyboard quartet would progress from cars to more sophisticated machines. Sure enough, this hugely influential follow-up finds Kraftwerk romancing hypercompetent robots and cyborgs with loose circuits, bullet trains, and other big rigs controlled by oddly impressive humans.” TM The Founding Fathers “In 1975, someone asked legendary rock critic Lester Bangs where music was going. ‘It’s being taken over by the Germans and the machines,’ he replied. Not a bad prediction.” 500 “With their vocoder vocals, seemingly direct from a science-fiction movie, and their sleek perfection Kraftwerk were not short of robotic precision.” CM The German group has been called “one of the founding fathers of techno.” RV They “sounded effortlessly ahead of their time.” RD Their “free-flowing synthesizers” RV made “it safe for computer nerds, egghead art rockers,” VB and “experimental geniuses such as Brian Eno.” 500 “Virtually everyone producing hip-hop or electronic dance music has drawn inspiration from these visionary blasts.” TM “Prescience DJs like Afrika Bambaataa…harnessed Kraftwerk’s tight robotic beats to launch ‘Planet Rock,’ and thus spearhead the hip hop revolution.” VB They “practically created the sound of ‘80s music” RV and “the whole world of EDM may not have happened without them.” 500 The Archetypical Kraftwerk Album Even more specifically, Trans-Europa Express “is the starting point for modern electronic music; the digital age is born in these…songs.” CM “Without it there is no new romantic movement or its 21st century revival, techno music is never birthed by a handful of Detroit DJs, hip-hop doesn’t have key early samples, and rock bands such as Radiohead don’t have a crucial signpost.” CM “Its influence was immense,” WR showing up in the music of David Bowie, Utravox, and Simple Minds. WR The album is “a glistening panorama of elegance and decadence, travel and technology…a streamlined celebration of Europe’s romantic past and shimmering future.” RD “These studio symphonies flicker with human desire and an obvious love for music’s possibilities.” CM The album finds Kraftewerk “shedding the superficial experimentalism of their earlier albums, the waves and whooshes of tape and delay technology.” WR “Melodic themes are repeated often and occasionally interwoven over deliberate, chugging beats, sometimes with manipulated vocals; the effect is mechanical yet hypnotic.” AM “Overall, Trans-Europe Express offers the best blend of minimalism, mechanized rhythms, and crafted, catchy melodies in the group's catalog.” SH The Songs “The real meat of this approach is contained in the opening love letter, Europe Endless,” AM “where the driving beat and sleek textures suggest a panoramic view that cuts up time and reality.” CM “Thematically, the record feels like parts of two different concept albums: one a meditation on the disparities between reality and image (Hall of Mirrors and Showroom Dummies share recurring images of glass, reflection, illusion, and confused identities, as well as whimsical melodies), and the other the glorification of Europe.” AM On the latter, “the lyrics express the disdain toward a society that emphasizes conformity with an entrancing melody that still sounds inspired today.” RV “Kraftwerk imagine themselves as little more than mannequins…but in the song they come alive and break the window…moving through the city until they find the dancefloor at a club.” CM “The epic title track” AM is “a locomotive whose relentless, piston-pumping rhythm mimics the sound of train wheels on metal rails, with a trance-like intensity,” RD capturing “the swaying motion and insistent drive of a cross-continent train trip.” AM The title cut “shares themes and lyrics with the following track, Metal on Metal,” AM its “panel-beating sister track.” RD “The Europe that once was…permeates these tracks, with the rich melody that flows across the repetitive building blocks of Franz Schubert,” CM “an impressive composition paying homage” AM to its namesake.

Reviews: AM AllMusic.com review by Steve Huey CM Toby Creswell & Craig Mathieson (2012). 100 Best Albums of All Time. Hardie Grant Books. Page 202. RD Robert Dimery (2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Quintet Publishing Limited: New York, NY. Page 373. TM Tom Moon (2008). 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. Workman Publishing Company, Inc.: New York, NY. Pages 433-4. RV The Review (Oct./Nov. 2001). “The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time” by Clarke Speicher 500 Rolling Stone (2020). 500 Greatest Albums of All Time VB Vibe (Dec. 1999). “100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century,” pages 154-164. WK Wikipedia WR The Wire (June 1992). “The 100 Most Important Records Ever Made” Related DMDB Links: First posted 11/16/2010; last updated 10/13/2026.

Kraftwerk Autobahn released

Autobahn Kraftwerk

Released: November 1, 1974 Peak: 5 US, 4 UK, 5 CN, 9 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.06 UK, 0.16 world (includes US and UK) Genre: electronica/synth pop

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Autobahn [22:47] (3/15/75, 25 BB, 19 CB, 21 HR, 25 RR, 2 CL, 2 CO, 11 UK, 12 CN, 30 AU) Kometenmelodie 1 (Comet Melody 1) [6:26] Kometenmelodie 2 (Comet Melody 2) [5:47] Mitternacht (Midnight) [3:45] Morgenspaziergang (Morning Walk) [4:02] All songs written by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Total Running Time: 42:48 The Players: Ralf Hütter (voice, electronics, etc.) Florian Schneider (vocals, electronics, etc.) Wolfgang Flür (percussion) Klaus Röder (violin, guitar)

Rating: 3.803 out of 5.00 (average of 23 ratings) Quotable: The album “lead to ambient, house, techno, synth-pop, and new age music throughout the next few decades.” – Chris Smith, 101 Albums That Changed Popular Music Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

The Beginning of Kraftwerk Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider met in 1968 as classmates at Dusseldorf Conservatory. They formed the pioneering group Kraftwerk two years later, along with their experimental electronic studio Kling Klang. “Along with contemporary acts such as Can, Faust, and Neu!, Kraftwerk (the name means ‘power station’) set on a path toward postmodern artistic engagement by embracing technology as a source for music rather than just a means with which one could produce music.” CS Their “first three albums were groundbreaking in their own right” AM but Autobahn, their fourth album, “is widely considered to be the true beginning of Kraftwerk.” RD This “is where the group’s hypnotic electronic pulse genuinely came into its own. The main difference between Autobahn and its predecessors is how it develops an insistent, propulsive pulse that makes the repeated rhythms and riffs of the shimmering electronic keyboards and trance-like guitars all the more hypnotizing.” AM They “crystallized the pristine sound and deadman four-man image that would define Kraftwerk.” RD This “was not music to dance to like much of 1960s and 1970s pop; it was music to listen to, music that supposedly had some profound statement to make about man’s relationship with his growing army of machines (machines that, ironically, made it possible to create this musical statement in the first place).” CS The Album’s Legacy The album “became a landmark in avant-garde pop minimalism.” RD “It’s a pioneering album” AM that “woke the world up to the potential of electronic sounds” TB and “created a template for much of the cutting-edge pop and rock that was to follow.” TB “The roots of electro-funk, ambient, and synth pop are all evident.” AM They “opened American ears to an entire world of electronica, paving the way for acts like Brian Eno and Tangerine Dream to imagine sonic possibilities that would lead to ambient, house, techno, synth-pop, and new age music throughout the next few decades.” CS “Kraftwerk’s influence was soon celebrated in the work of artists as diverse as Afrika Bambaataa, David Bowie, Depeche Mode, New Order, Orbital, The Chemical Brothers, and Michael Jackson.” TB The Title Track The 22-minute “symphonic title track,” RD was edited down to a single which became a surprise hit internationally and reached #25 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was “a remarkable feat for an unknown, foreign band playing a bizarre synth-pop in a time when Americana jams, singer-songwriter ballads, and power-chord-driven hard rock ruled the airwaves.” CS “Inspired by the long road journeys on the German motorway system, the title track marked the band’s definitive separation from their ‘Krautrock’ peers.” RD Hutter said, “Walk in the street and you have a concert – cars playing symphonies.” TB Wolfgang Flur said, “We used to drive a lot, we used to listen to the sound of driving, the wind, passing cars and lorries, the rain, every moment the sounds around you are changing, and the idea was to rebuild those sounds on the synth.” CS “To capture sounds of passing traffic, several Autobahn journeys were undertaken in Hutter’s Volkswagen – what else? – with the microphone of a tape recorder dangling out the window.” TB It “remains the peak of the band’s achievements – it encapsulates the band and why they are important within one track.” AM,/sup> The Other Songs “The rest of the album provides soundscapes equally as intriguing.” AM “The album contains sublime pieces of wordless and ambient ‘Electrronic-Volks-Musik’ in the tracks Mitternacht, Morgenspaziergang, and Kometenmleodie.” RD

Reviews: AM AllMusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine RD Robert Dimery (2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Quintet Publishing Limited: New York, NY. Page 318. CS Chris Smith (2009). 101 Albums That Changed Popular Music. Oxford University Press. Pages 108-110. TB Thunder Bay (2005). Albums: The Stories Behind 50 Years of Great Recordings. Thunder Bay Press; San Diego, CA. Page 168. WK Wikipedia Related DMDB Links: First posted 3/16/2010; last updated 10/13/2026.