History Music / Kraftwerk

* GratuitousPanning: "Autobahn" takes this to the extreme, suggesting the sounds of passing traffic.

Their influence is ''incredibly'' difficult to overstate. They're viewed as electronic music's equivalent of Music/TheBeatles, it's been said that you could walk into any nightclub and likely hear traces of their work, and it wouldn't be a stretch to state that modern electronic dance music as it exists today -- from {{techno}}, {{industrial}} and {{EBM}} to [[SynthPop synthpop]] and even [[HipHop hip-hop]], to scratch the surface -- would not be the same without them. On top of that, their output from the early '70s until the dawn of the '80s is usually considered pretty ahead of its time to this day.

Their influence is ''incredibly'' difficult to overstate. They're viewed as electronic music's equivalent of Music/TheBeatles, it's been said that you could walk into any nightclub and likely hear traces of their work, and it wouldn't be a stretch to state that modern electronic dance music as it exists today -- from techno, {{industrial}} and EBM to [[SynthPop synthpop]] and even [[HipHop hip-hop]], to scratch the surface -- would not be the same without them. On top of that, their output from the early '70s until the dawn of the '80s is usually considered pretty ahead of its time to this day.

** ''Morgenspaziergang'' from the ''Autobahn'' LP could loosely translate into English as either "Space-walk in the morning" (as in "astronaut going for a stroll") or as "Spaced out in the morning/ getting stoned in the morning" as in "starting the day with a good hard dope hit".

* GenreLaunch: Kraftwerk is, by and large, considered '''the''' first electronic band: their influence can be heard in electronic music to this very day.

Kraftwerk is a German electronic group based in Düsseldorf, Germany, noted for such songs as "Autobahn", "Trans-Europe Express", "The Model", "The Robots", and "Computer Love". Founded by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970 and originating in the [[{{Krautrock}} highly experimental rock scene]] of 1970s UsefulNotes/WestGermany, they were practically the TropeMakers of ElectronicMusic in general, being among the very first groups to begin experimenting making music entirely electronically, starting in the early 70s. Their output from then until the dawn of the 80s is usually considered pretty ahead of its time.

The band are generally treated as electronic music's equivalent of Music/TheBeatles. They're directly responsible for the existence of modern electronic dance music, from Techno, {{Industrial}} and EBM to SynthPop and even early Hip-Hop (and that just scratches the surface). Their 1974 song, "Autobahn" - designed to replicate the sounds of driving the titular highway - was famously cut from a whopping [[EpicRocking 23 minutes]] to less than 4 for radio play, and became a surprise hit, reaching the top 40 in America and the UK, amongst other countries.

Their songs mainly have to do with technology ([[MeaningfulName "Kraftwerk" is German for "Power Plant"]]). Their [[KayfabeMusic gimmick]] was that they were robots; Kraftwerk would often act [[TheStoic stoic-like]] and utilized robotic replicas of themselves for some promotional appearances. The robots became less and less human-like over the years.

The band's classic line-up, after Hütter and Schneider, included Wolfgang Flür and Karl Bartos. Flür left the group in 1987, Bartos did the same in 1990, and Schneider departed in 2008. On May 6, 2020, it was announced that Schneider passed away of cancer not long after his 73rd birthday.

Despite their enormous influence -- it's been said that you could walk into any nightclub and likely hear traces of Kraftwerk -- they spent years struggling to get enough votes to be inducted into the UsefulNotes/RockAndRollHallOfFame. They finally admitted Kraftwerk in 2021, as an early influencer.

* {{Mondegreen}}: Even the band has acknowledged that "Wir fahr'n, fahr'n, fahr'n auf die Autobahn" sounds more to English ears like "Fun, fun, fun, on the Autobahn."

Despite their enormous influence - it's been said that you could walk into any nightclub and likely hear traces of Kraftwerk - they spent years struggling to get enough votes to be inducted into the UsefulNotes/RockAndRollHallOfFame. They finally admitted Kraftwerk in 2021, as an early influencer.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: "Trans-Europe Express," which makes traveling to hang out with Music/DavidBowie and [[Music/TheStooges Iggy Pop]] sound about as exciting as buying groceries. (Florian went asparagus shopping with Iggy Pop after they met, so points for realism, at least.)

* AllGermansAreNazis: The band worked to [[AvertedTrope avert]] and [[DefiedTrope defy]] this trope; however, some media (for example ''NME'') played it straight when discussing them.
** The artwork for Trans-Europe Express features photographs of the band styled straight out of the 1940's, but supposedly the idea behind the concept was to imagine what a different, more positive recent history for Germany (and Europe) could have been like.
** The late Florian Schneider was actually half-Jewish (through his mother).