History Music / Kraftwerk

* ''Computerworld'' (1981)

* AuthorAppeal: Ralf Hütter loves cycling so much he and his band wrote a song about the biggest race in cycling completed with sampled voices and mechanical sounds associated with cycling. They even go further by writing an album about it.

* BeepingComputers: "Pocket Calculator."
--> "By pressing down a special key, it plays a little melody."

** "Numbers" includes numbers spoken in several different languages. (German, French, English, Italian, Spanish, Japanese and Russian, among others.)

* ConceptAlbum: All of their studio albums since 1975, to some degree. Though it's being done most consistently on ''Radio-Activity'', ''Computerworld'' and ''Tour de France Soundtracks''.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Basically everything before ''Autobahn'' is quite a bit different from their later work.

** They wanted to make music that sounded like 70s Germany, in the same way that the music of TheBeachBoys sounded like early 60s California.

* TheKnightsWhoSaySquee: Ralf and Florian met Music/DavidBowie and Iggy Pop, with Bowie interested the Kraftwerk's music, and Florian, a big fan of both Music/TheStooges and Bowie.

* OminousPipeOrgan: On ''The Mix'' version of ''Trans-Europe Express''. Orchestration in their music is very rare, but it was of course a synthesized organ.

* RealSongThemeTune: Happened at least twice. For its initial 1983-1990 run, the {{Edutainment}} show ''Newton's Apple'' used "Ruckzuck" (from their long-disowned debut album) as its theme (it was replaced for the home soundtrack due to licensing issues), and the ''SaturdayNightLive'' sketch "Sprockets" used a sped up[[note]]specifically, playing a 33RPM record at 45RPM[[/note]] version of "Electric Café"'s 'chorus' melody.
** The Chinese film ''MasterOfTheFlyingGuillotine'' uses "Kometenmelodie", "Mitternacht" and "Morgenspaziergang" off of the ''Autobahn'' album as most of its {{BGM}}.

* SpeedyTechnoRemake: Their remake of ''Autobahn'' on their album of self-made remakes, ''The Mix''. It is speedy only in comparison though, given that they've taken the original version which was over twenty minutes long and condensed it to only over nine minutes long, by making it a little faster.

* {{Zeerust}}: Some of their older works sounded futuristic at the time but are somewhat dated now, or they've already come true, like ''Computer World''.

** Allegedly, Chris Martin of Music/{{Coldplay}} contacted them (through their lawyers) to request permission to sample "Computer Love" and got just a piece of paper with "Yes" written on it.

--> ''Sellafield-2 will produce 7.5 tons of plutonium every year. [[YouFailNuclearPhysicsForever 1.5 kilogram of plutonium make a nuclear bomb.]] Sellafield-2 will release the same amount of radioactivity into the environment as [[GoingCritical Chernobyl]] every 4.5 years. One of these radioactive substances, Krypton-85, will cause death and skin cancer.''

* AffectionateParody: A recurring comedy sketch on ''TheLateLateShowWithCraigFerguson'' called "Einen Moment Mit Kraftwerk" has Florian (played by Craig) and Ralf (played by Josh Robert Thompson) engage in brief, very weird conversations.

* AffectionateParody: A recurring comedy sketch on ''TheLateLateShowWithCraigFerguson'' called "Einen Moment Mit Kraftwerk" has Craig and another actor dress up as Ralf and Florian and engage in brief, very weird conversations.

* FLoatingHeadSyndrome: * A few albums have this, namely ''Music/ComputerWorld'' and ''Electric Cafe''.

** The counter-example would be "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.

* ''Music/{{Trans-Europe-Express}}'' (1977)

* ''Autobahn'' (1974)

* ''Trans-Europe-Express'' (1977)
* ''Die Mensch-Maschine'' (1978)[[note]]An English version was released titled "The Man Machine".[[/note]]

[[caption-width-right:330: The classic lineup, from left to right: Wolfgang Flür, Karl Bartos, [[Series/SaturdayNightLive Will Forte]]... er, sorry, Florian Schneider, Ralf Hütter]]

[[caption-width-right:330: The classic lineup, from left to right: Wolfgang Flür, Karl Bartos, Will Forte... er, sorry, Florian Schneider, Ralf Hütter]]

Kraftwerk is a German electronic group based in Düsseldorf, Germany, noted for such songs as "Autobahn", "The Robots", and "Trans-Europe Express". Originating in the [[{{Krautrock}} highly experimental rock scene]] of 1970s WestGermany, they're practically the [[TropeMakers Trope Maker]] of ElectronicMusic in general, being among the very first groups to begin experimenting making music electronically, starting in the early 1970's. They are directly responsible for the existence of Dance music, from Techno, {{Industrial}} and EBM to SynthPop and even early Hip-Hop.

* {{Mondegreen}}: One of the more famous ones is the "Wir fahr'n fahr'n fahr'n auf der Autobahn" chorus of "Autobahn", which was frequently misheard as "[[Music/TheBeachBoys Fun fun fun]] on the Autobahn". Hütter didn't mind the mishearing, as he has frequently cited Music/TheBeachBoys as one of his favourite bands.

** Although it seems that Hütter has had a change of mind recently, with hints that they might be restored and made available sometime after they release another studio album.

** Other tracks that are this are: all tracks from their debut, "Kling-Klang" and "Wellenlänge" from their second album, "Ananas Symphonie" from ''Ralf und Florian'', the two-part "Kometenmelodie" from ''Autobahn", "Neon Lights" from ''The Man-Machine'' and "Computer Love" from ''Computer World''.

* BannedInChina: They weren't allowed to tour in China due to supporting the "Free Tibet" movement.

* DevelopmentHell: Kraftwerk has been teasing a new album since 2003. While long absences aren't uncommon for the band (for instance after 1991's ''The Mix'' they basically went missing for nearly a decade), the fact that in the time since their last album founding member Florian Schneider quit leaves this new album's fate uncertain, as much as Ralf Hütter insists it's coming year after year.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Ralf Hütter has disowned their first three albums as [[OldShame "prehistoric"]], and thus they will never be legally reprinted.

* OldShame: All pre-''Autobahn'' material has been disowned as "prehistoric". Thus, their career-spanning boxed set contains all complete albums EXCEPT the first four, which have never officially been released on CD, despite Hütter's suggestions that they may someday.
** That isn't to say that CD versions aren't common - a German outfit called Crown Records released superb, vinyl-dubbed CD's of the first four, ''Tone Float'' included (and re-credited to Kraftwerk).
* OneHitWonder: In the United States, they only have one Top 40 hit: a severely edited version of their 24-minute opus "Autobahn".

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Music/MichaelJackson asked Kraftwerk for a collaboration at one point, yet Kraftwerk could afford to reject his proposal.

* AffectionateParody: A recurring comedy sketch on ''Series/TheLateLateShowWithCraigFerguson'' called "Einen Moment Mit Kraftwerk" has Craig and another actor dress up as Ralf and Florian and engage in brief, very weird conversations.

* EpicRocking: The 24 minute long ''Autobahn''.

* EveryEpisodeEnding: Ever since their 1990 tour, Musique Non-Stop has closed all regular Kraftwerk concerts. Part MeaningfulName, this also gives each band member a brief solo before he leaves the stage. With the current stage layout, it's also the only indication of ''what'' each of the band members actually do during a concert.

* MundaneMadeAwesome: A common theme, although the best-known examples would be Autobahn and Pocket Calculator.

** Florian went asparagus shopping with Iggy Pop, after they met.

* OneHitWonder: In the United States, they only have one Top 40 hit: A severely edited version of their 25-minute opus "Autobahn".

* ProtestSong: "Radioactivity." Later live versions, and the version from the 1991 album The Mix, make it an explicitly anti-nuclear anthem, specifically the proposed second processing plant at the Sellafield processing site in Seascale, England:

* TrrrillingRrrs: "Wirrr sind die Roboterrrrr"

** AdaptationDistillation: The version [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZgULbLm5do played live]], post-''The Mix'', is compressed down to 9 minutes, but retains all the high points of the original.

** "Numbers" includes numbers spoken in several different languages.

** Allegedly, Chris Martin of Music/{{Coldplay}} contacted them (through their lawyers) to request permission to sample "Computerliebe..." and got just a piece of paper with "Yes" written on it.

* AffectionateParody: A recurring comedy sketch on ''Series/TheLateLateShowWithCraigFerguson'' called "Einen Moment Mit Kraftwerk" has Craig and another actor dress up as Wolfgang and Florian and engage in brief, very weird conversations.

* AffectionateParody: A recurring comedy sketch on ''Series/TheLateLateShowWithCraigFerguson'' has Craig and another actor dress up as Wolfgang and Florian and engage in brief, very weird conversations.

** Bill Bailey, a self-professed fan of the Kraftwerk, has parodied the group on [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nsDAdtfcIM several]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwaxWoJPUC0 occasions]].