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Kraftwerk invented synth-pop music.  In fact, the four Germans even invented some of their own instruments!  Kraftwerk is also the only band in history to have a gap of seventeen years between albums, splitting up due to cycling differences.  I’m getting way ahead.

Kraftwerk was way ahead, when Autobahn was released in 1974.  Three albums had already been released between 1970 and 1973 (imaginatively titled Kraftwerk, Kraftwerk 2 and Ralf Und Florian).  However, they were very experimental and abstract.  Autobahn, with its epic twenty-minute title track, was a leap forward.  Adding melodies and simple rhythms to the synthesized effects was clearly the key to success.  Kraftwerk’s music was instantly more accessible.

Gary Numan, John Foxx and the future founders of bands such as The Human League and OMD (among countless others) were taking notes.  The following year, Kraftwerk released Radio-activity.  The band was still experimenting.  The real breakthrough came two years later.  Trans-Europe Express (with the recurrence of a travel theme) is altogether more exciting (even now, thirty five years later).  The German geniuses once again demonstrated they were at least one step ahead of everyone else.  Trans-Europe Express laid the foundation for dance music as we know it today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBGNlTPgQII

The Man-machine followed in 1978.  It spawned the band’s most successful single (The Model) – although the world evidently wasn’t ready for it at the time.  It was a hit, three years later.  By then, many other bands were copying Kraftwerk.  With each album there were fresh ideas.  Computer World (1981) pointed everyone in the right direction.  Kraftwerk paved the way for every electronic musician in the world.  In fact, even rock bands acknowledge Kraftwerk’s influence.  For example, Coldplay incorporated a piece of Computer Love on Talk (2005).  David Bowie also paid tribute to Kraftwerk.  Other bands have used Kraftwerk samples and ideas.

There was a long gap between Computer World and Electric Cafe (1986).  It was not a particularly influential album, although it should be noted that it was released before house music really took off.  Kraftwerk painstakingly recreated eleven songs for The Mix (1991).  The four men went their separate ways.  Karl Bartos (who had already left the band a few years earlier) worked with Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr, on the second Electronic album (Raise The Pressure).  He also released a solo album (Communication) – in the same year the reformed Kraftwerk released the last album.  Kraftwerk was also commissioned to record a song for the Hannover Expo 2000 (and received two hundred thousand euros for it).

Kraftwerk’s 2003 tour can be heard on Minimum-maximum (2005).  It is a double-disc set which includes the most popular tracks plus a few of the Tour De France Soundtracks.  All of the albums (starting from Autobahn) have been remastered.  They stand as irrefutable evidence that Kraftwerk is the most influential electronic band ever.  All of the original members are now in their sixties.  A new Kraftwerk album is currently in progress.  However, Ralf Hutter is the only original member left in the band.

Five more essential Kraftwerk songs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQi78vlKKBs