Location: Germany, 1970.

25 years have passed since the end of the World War II and yet, you
can still feel the tension in the air. German popular music is, well lets say, going through a
crisis. Popular schlager singers singing their merry, pop and fun tunes seem to be saying: We
are fun, peaceful people; nothing bad ever happened here, everyone is happy. The melodies for
simple, light, and the lyrics steered clear of any political subject. On the other hand, a generation
of young people, living in post war West Germany, felt the need to make uniquely German
music that would transcend the trauma of war, and help rebuild German music, culture and
society. Thus in the seventies, a group of young musicians emerged, who took upon themselves
to re-forge Germanys identity. British press labeled them Kraut rockers, and, well, lets say
that the protagonists of this new scene did not actually love their new nickname.
Among these bands, like Neu!, Amon Dl II, Tangerine Dream etc, one stood out, and came to
be recognized as the most popular German band ever. Their name was Kraftwerk. As most of
their fellow musicians form the era, they started in the seventies (1970, to be precise), as a band
playing some kind of progressive, experimental rock, with extensive use of electronic
instruments and synthesizers that became their trademark in the years to come.
But for this occasion, Ill write about their internationally popular album Computer world form
1981, which, by the way, also has a cool and creative design of the cassette case. Now, they
became famous for their interest in technology, and everything artificial for example, they used
life-size dolls or animations to represent them in public, and when they did appear in the flesh,
they give out the aura of being half men, half machines. The first album that brought them
international recognition was Autobahn (Highway) form 1974, and it was followed by
Radio-Activity (1975), Trans-Europe Express (1977), The Man-Machine (1978),
Computer World (1981), and Electric Caf (1986). And the reason why they became popular
in this precise period is that they changed their experimental, progressive rock ways and
switched to some kind of synth-pop, or electro-pop, or modern-pop, or whatever the critics liked
to label them. But the point is, their music kept the electronic, artificial, machine-like sound, and
mixed it with catchy, pop melodies. The Computer world is in this sense a true representative
of the Kraftwerk ideas. The biggest hit from this album, Computer Love, released also as a single
together with The Model, hit #1 in the UK Singles Chart. This album perfectly presented the life
of the youth of the time, surrounded by technology, and alienated from each other. All songs are
incredibly catchy, with a lot of repetition, fitting perfectly with the dance music of the eighties.

So, like it or not, Kraftwerk are the most important German band, ever, they helped remake the
identity of German music, an influenced many British musicians, like Gary Neuman, for
example. And, with this album in particular, they offered the world a kind of music different
from that of progressive rockers from the seventies. You can even say they ushered Europe into
the crazy eighties.