My belief is that all electronic pop
music stems from Kraftwerk. My second belief is that each region
where Kraftwerk was heard, musicians intrepreted the music of
Kraftwerk and created new genres of music. In Detroit, the motorik
rhythm of Kraftwerk resonated with the automakers and futurists and
it became Techno. While in Chicago in the wake of the Disco Riots of
1979, Kraftwerk cross-pollinated with Georgio Moroder and given
orgiastic vocals recalling disco's hedonism, the music became house.
In the Boogie Down Bronx, Kraftwerk became the samples that fueled
early hip hop records. For many in England Kraftwerk became the
impetus for electro-pop, O.M.D.,David Bowie and The Human League are
some of the most famous. But how was the music of Kraftwerk
interpreted in their hometown. In Dusseldorf, Germany a hub of
advertising, factories and the Academy of Fine Arts, how were
Kraftwerk perceived? If you were to ask the other two main musical
exports of Dusseldorf, you might be surprised. DAF claim to have no
musical influences. Die Krupps claim that Kraftwerk were seen as old
and uncool. I would like to offer some insights that may contradict
these claims.
Kraftwerk, DAF, and Die Krupps, are the
three big bands from the Dusseldorf area. It could be argued that
there similarities come from being from the same region and the same
era. But if you look closer they seem to have other similarities.
Kraftwerk first used the idea of hitting metal with metal for a
rhythm on their album “Trans Europe Express, the track “Metal On
Metal” is the first of it's kind. This idea seems natural when
you consider that Dusseldorf is the home to so many factories. “Ein
Produkt der Deutsch-Amerikanischen Freundschaft” seemed to use an
industrial factory for an instrument. The first Die Krupps a noisy
music concrete piece entitled “Stahlwekrsynfonie”, which
contained as many people pounding metal on metal as possible. Of
course neither DAF nor Die Krupps stayed as purveyors of noise. Both
bands changed format to electronic sounds. DAF to a tougher leaner
electronic dance music they called “korpermuzik”. Die Krupps to
a looser electronic music with more rock and punk stylings. DAF and
Die Krupps were trying to emphasize the human aspect of the Man
Machine equation. They both created music of muscle and sweat. It
was the exact opposite of the equation that Kraftwerk was portraying
with their album “The Man Machine”. The similarity that all
three had was the ethic of work and the rhythms of the factories. If
you represent the opposite of an image with the same tools are you
still related? If you react against something is it still an
influence? What does it all mean?
What does it all mean? My argument is
even if you react against something it is still an influence. I also
still believe that all electronic music in a popular context relates
to Kraftwerk. So once DAF and Die Krupps left their experimental
stages and tried to create popular electronic music they were dealing
with the influence of Kraftwerk. I also believe coming from the same
city they had a bias to be similar, because they had other outside
influences that were the same. But because of that, both DAF and Die
Krupps had to try very hard to distinguish themselves from Kraftwerk.
Or lazy music journalists would have labelled both of them as
Kraftwerk clones, or define it as a Dusseldorf sound. My final
thought is that Dusseldorf is the birthplace of EBM. Whether it is
cited by Kraftwerk to explain the sound of “The Man Machine”, or
the term korpermuzik (body music) coined by DAF to describe their
music, or it's the worker right's anthem of “Wahre Arbeit Wahrer
Lohn” (Fair Work Fair Pay), EBM has a distinct Dusseldorf
characteristic.
Suggested listening:
The Man-Machine – Kraftwerk I
won't fault you for whatever your favorite Kraftwerk album is. Go
ahead tell me it's the Tour De France soundtracks, I'll understand.
But I think for an EBM context of presenting the type of music and
image that reflects Dusseldorf, it's The Man-Machine. The Robots
speak to automation, The Model to the nightlife and The Man-Machine
to the workers in the factories.
Alles Ist Gut – DAF The
personal, the political, here you have, and it's all muscular and
sweaty. Laibach covered “Alle Gegen Alle”. “Der Mussolini”,
dictators as dance craze. DAF claimed they rejected any sounds that
sounded too much like any other band. So here it is, the album that
has no influences and influenced about everybody in EBM. Nitzer Ebb
owe them and Die Krupps a big thank you.
Volle Kraft Voraus – Die Krupps
The debut full length from Die
Krupps featuring “Wahre Arbeit Wahrer Lohn”, which would become a
dance hit in 1989 under the name “Machineries of Joy.” Raw and
vital this album has a punk rock style to it's electronics.
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