Just in case you hadn't already noticed, Kraftwerk are my favourite band. I first knew who they were back in 2000, when I first heard "Expo 2000". Even today, that song sends shivers down my spine. It's not my favourite, but it's a brilliant, brilliant song.
My love for Kraftwerk only really fully developed about a few months ago when I found out I'd be going to Germany. I decided to listen to some German music, and I put on "The Model" because it was the only Kraftwerk song I knew well. After listening to it several times, I decided to look at the recommended videos in the sidebar and settled on listening to "Die Mensch Maschine". I instantly knew I'd found a band that I'd love for life. I spent the entire night on YouTube, listening to songs and watching videos. Then, the next day, I downloaded (almost) their entire discography. I was suddenly overwhelmed with this beautiful electronic music. It was like nothing I'd heard before. To be honest, I actually cried when I listened to a few of their songs, just because of the sheer beauty and magnificence they held. These beautifully orchestrated synthesisers made me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. I couldn't believe that I only knew one song by them. How had these four brilliant men from Düsseldorf passed me by? Why hadn't I bought all their albums years ago? Why wasn't I born several decades earlier, and in Germany?
I started to save up to buy their records. I was planning to start with "Autobahn", and move along in chronological order until I owned every single album - in English and in German. But alas, I still don't own any records. I'm hoping I might get one for my birthday, along with "The Best of Kraftwerk Songbook" and Wolfgang Flur's book, ""Kraftwerk": I Was A Robot" - two books I simply have to own (!)
I'm starting to agree with people now, and admit that I'm slightly obsessed...
If I were to explain everything I love about Kraftwerk, then we'd be here all night, so I'm just going to put up all of the songs that have videos to go with them.
But before I do that, I think I'll have to thank those four brilliant men from Düsseldorf, because they have just been a massive influence on me, and if I'd never gotten in to Kraftwerk, then I wouldn't have discovered other brilliant German bands like NEU!, CAN, Popol Vuh, Tangerine Dream and all the other Krautrock bands that I have grown to love. So Dankeschön, Ralf, Florian, Karl and Wolfgang.
(The original line-up of Kraftwerk, for those who are unaware.)
If there is mecca, then it is The Kling Klang Studio - Mintropstrasse 16, 40215 Düsseldorf, Germany.
(Yes, I know the address. The actual studio isn't there anymore. They moved a few years ago, but this is the site where it was during their "heyday", as some might say.
These were the only ones I could find with embed codes.
Ich liebe Kraftwerk
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