Kraftwerk

In the early 1970s a band from Dusseldorf, Germany would revolutionize music by pioneering electronic music and forming a distinct sound that has a long lasting effect on the modern sound of today. Kraftwerk was formed by Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider, two students from the Robert Schumann Academy in Dusseldorf. Focused on the sounds of the future linked with a notion of space, Hutter and Schneider, with the help of Konrad "Conny" Plank, sought out to achieve the perfect tone. Schneider, whose main instrument  was the flute, would use processed electronic effects coupled with new age instruments such as the early synthesizers and drum machines to create a minimalistic experimental form of rock.  These well organized sounds brought a rhythmic stride with catchy melodies and simple lyrics sung through vocoders and an early form of computer speech, which back then was referred to as "Krautrock". The image that Kraftwerk portrayed was satirical, poking fun of the nerdy, art crowd that seemed to follow the band closely. 

With the release of Autobahn in 1974, Kraftwerk was able to introduce a newer sound with the use of the Minimoog, but yet also bass, guitar and other traditional instruments. It was the bands first concept album, dealing with traveling down the road, or Autobahn. They tried to capture the effect of driving down the Autobahn. With great commercial success and time spent on the charts, Kraftwerk followed up Autobahn with Radio-Activity. With this new album came the building of the bands studio Kling Klang. The album concept dealt with radio communication. To the bands surprise, Radio-Activity was less successful than Autobahn. After only minor success with the Radio-Activity concept album, Kraftwerk began work on Trans-Europe Express at Kling Klang in 1977. This album was the start of a break away from their traditional "Krautrock" style. This album consisted of more melodically driven electronic songs. The electric drum kit used in this album was built by Hutter and Schneider, built originally for the album Autobahn. 

After the success of Trans-Europe Express, Kraftwerk was quick to get back into the studio. 1978 brought the album The Man-Machine. This would be the last album they would release for another three years. 

These albums have inspired a mass amount of artists and bands for generations to come. Brian Eno and David Bowie even traveled out to Germany to study this new technology that had swept through Europe. In later year, their catchy melodies and driving instruments would inspire the sound of the 1980s from rock, pop and even hip-hop. 

Personally, Kraftwerk did not strike my interest at first. It took me a while to get over their monotone videos and songs that seemed to never end. After I got over that and actually started to listen to the instrumentation and consider the fact that every drum machine and electronic drum kit I have ever dealt with was because of this band I did not seem to mind them as much. The more I took interest in this band, the more I saw the real genius in what they accomplished.