electronic keyboard instruments and cutting-edge studio mixing and editing, Kraftwerk and bands like it built their music around the technology in many ways. In fact, they mentioned as one of their influences the philosophy of the German Bauhaus movement, which taught that technology and art should be joined together. Even the band’s name, which means “power station” in German, suggests this devotion to technology and electronic music.
The band’s best-known album in the early 1970s was Autobahn, which featured a 20-minute long “drive” in a car down the freeway, created in the studio with electronic instruments and recording tricks. The group’s members were photographed in costumes that made them look like engineers or scientists, or later, robots. Many of their album titles featured technological themes, such as 1975’s Radio-Activity, 1977’s Trans-Europe Express, and 1978’s Man-Machine. The melding of technology and music was carried forward in the 1981 album Computer World, which featured the song “Pocket Calculator.” By the late 1980s, however, many other groups had adopted the use of electronic instruments, and a whole category of music called synth had become popular. Kraftwerk faded away, releasing only a few more recordings before the end of the 20th century. Today, they are still together but not very active.