Kraftwerk Essentials

Kraftwerk Essentials

Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider formed The Beatles of electronic music in 1970. With repetitive rhythms and catchy pop lyrics processed through a vocoder, Kraftwerk (German for "power station") suggested that humankind was becoming ever more machinelike—and that was probably okay. In 1974, Autobahn and its entrancing side-long title track became the band's first international hit; follow-ups Trans-Europe Express and The Man Machine inspired New Wave groups like Depeche Mode as well as a soon-to-explode universe of techno and house music. It was enough to give cyborgs a good name.

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