Entry 6: Kraftwerk

Few can question the originality of Kraftwerk, When they released their first album in 1974 nobody was doing what these guys were doing, they had done what every artist always strives to do; create something different and totally unique and new. Their music was entirely electric and had this distant robotic feel to it, it felt almost as if the band had come back in time from some future place. Despite the originality behind their sound, the success of the band was always something of question during the 70's, some of their albums hitting home more than others. Their first breakthrough album came out in 1974, it was called Autobahn. This album was a success for the band in many ways. It was the first album to establish their sound, and it also established an image for the band, by identifying with such a German engineering concept like the Autobahn, they represented Germany. The first side of the LP, Autobahn, also got great commercial success. A success that the couldn't seem to achieve with later albums. With the success of Autobahn, they put all their money back into their equipment and studio and went right away back to work and released Radio-Activity, another concept album identifying with German technology and engineering, the only problem was the band had gone back towards their experimental days and the album therefore didn't appeal to as many people. After Radio-Activity they released Trans-Europe Express. Around the time other groups were starting to catch up with Kraftwerk in style and sound. Many diehard Kraftwerk fans consider this album to be their best, It continued their downward slope in mainstream success from Autobahn. This led to The Man-Machine. This album was Kraftwerks attempt to try and reclaim mainstream success. The album dropped their previous ideas of concept album and played more like a collection of singles. They band also amped up their image for this album, choose to associate themselves with the red colors of Russia. The album was a success compared to previous works but the world had caught up to Kraftwerk, their sound was no longer incredibly unique. People like Brian Eno and David Bowie had already taken the sound of Kraftwerk into a new and more pop like sound and had found huge success. When I listen to Kraftwerk I still see them as this original and creative piece of work. Despite what might have beaten them out later in the 80's, I still think they had a different sound than those groups that were like them. I have a huge respect for the amount of work they put into their music and the huge technological advances they made during the time of their music.