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118-506: Trans-Europe Express (German: Trans Europa Express ) is the sixth studio album by German band Kraftwerk . Recorded in 1976 in Düsseldorf , Germany, the album was released in March 1977 on Kling Klang Records . It saw the group refine their melodic electronic style, with a focus on sequenced rhythms, minimalism , and occasionally manipulated vocals. The themes include celebrations of

236-507: A 1995 review, wrote that the album "changed the face of American dance music" and was "one of the most compelling beats of this or any other era". In 2009, Drowned in Sound ' s Chris Power stated that " Trans-Europe Express is all at once antique, timeless, retro and contemporary. Its status as modern electronic music's birth certificate is well-earned, but its hallowed reputation should never be allowed to disguise its true value and power as

354-629: A 236-page hardback book. The album was nominated for the Grammy Awards for Best Dance/Electronic Album and Best Surround Sound Album at the ceremony that took place on 28 January 2018, winning the former, which became the band's first Grammy win. On 20 July 2018, at a concert in Stuttgart, German astronaut Alexander Gerst performed "Spacelab" with the band while aboard the International Space Station , joining via

472-590: A circuit that triggers analog synthetic percussion sounds. The band first performed in public with this device in 1973, on the television program Aspekte (on the all-German channel Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen ), where it was played by Wolfgang Flür. They created drum machines for Autobahn and Trans-Europe Express . On the Radio-Activity tour in 1976 Kraftwerk tested out an experimental light-beam-activated drum cage allowing Flür to trigger electronic percussion through arm and hand movements. Unfortunately,

590-449: A complex music instrument, as well as a sound laboratory; Florian Schneider in particular developed a fascination with music technology, with the result that the technical aspects of sound generation and recording gradually became his main fields of activity within the band. Alexei Monroe called Kraftwerk the "first successful artists to incorporate representations of industrial sounds into non-academic electronic music". Kraftwerk used

708-545: A conference center) was handpicked by Ralf Hütter, for its retro-futuristic UFO-like architecture. Bespoke visuals of the building, with the saucer section descending from space, were displayed during the rendition of Spacelab. In 2014, Kraftwerk brought their four-night, 3D Catalogue tour to the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and at NYC's United Palace Theatre . They also played at

826-629: A custom-built vocoder on their albums Ralf und Florian and Autobahn ; the device was constructed by engineers P. Leunig and K. Obermayer of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Braunschweig. Hütter and Schneider received a patent for an electronic drum kit with sensor pads, filed in July 1975 and issued in June 1977. It must be hit with metal sticks, which are connected to the device to complete

944-403: A digital compilation album . It includes remixed tracks taken from singles released 1991, 1999, 2000, 2004 and 2007, plus the previously unreleased "Non Stop", a version of " Musique Non-Stop " used as a jingle by MTV Europe beginning in 1993. The cover re-uses the cover from " Expo Remix ". The compilation was released on CD and vinyl in 2022. On 30 October 2021, Kraftwerk were inducted into

1062-575: A famous appearance at the dance festival Tribal Gathering held in England. In 1998, the group toured the US and Japan for the first time since 1981, along with shows in Brazil and Argentina . Three new songs were performed during this period and a further two tested in soundchecks, which remain unreleased. Following this trek, the group decided to take another break. In July 1999 the single "Tour de France"

1180-444: A half-dozen other musicians during the preparations for and the recording of three albums and sporadic live appearances, including guitarist Michael Rother and drummer Klaus Dinger , who left to form Neu! . The only constant figure in these line-ups was Schneider, whose main instrument at the time was the flute; at times he also played the violin and guitar, all processed through a varied array of electronic devices. Hütter, who left

1298-578: A hypothetical "average" that does not help them identify or understand the significant amount of normal variation seen in the real world. Mannequins were a frequent motif in the works of many early 20th-century artists, notably the metaphysical painters Giorgio de Chirico , Alberto Savinio and Carlo Carrà . Shop windows displaying mannequins were a frequent photographic subject for Eugène Atget . Mannequins have been used in horror and science fiction. The Twilight Zone episode " The After Hours " (1960) involves mannequins taking turns living in

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1416-517: A live video link. Gerst played melodies using a tablet as his instrument alongside Hütter as a duet, and delivered a short message to the audience. On 20 July 2019, Kraftwerk headlined the Saturday night lineup on the Lovell Stage at Bluedot Festival , a music and science festival held annually at Jodrell Bank Observatory , Cheshire, UK. The 2019 festival celebrated the 50th anniversary of

1534-643: A look at those albums. They've always been available, but as really bad bootlegs . Now we have more artwork. Emil has researched extra contemporary drawings, graphics, and photographs to go with each album, collections of paintings that we worked with, and drawings that Florian and I did. We took a lot of Polaroids in those days." Kraftwerk also released an iOS app called Kraftwerk Kling Klang Machine. The Lenbach House in Munich exhibited some Kraftwerk 3-D pieces in Autumn 2011. Kraftwerk performed three concerts to open

1652-541: A major influence. The group was also inspired by the funk music of James Brown and, later, punk rock . They were initially connected to the German krautrock scene. In the mid- 1970s , they transitioned to an electronic sound which they described as "robot pop". Kraftwerk's lyrics dealt with post-war European urban life and technology—traveling by car on the Autobahn , traveling by train, using home computers, and

1770-515: A mannequin factory and falls in love with one of the mannequins, imagining it as his childhood crush. Military use of mannequins is recorded amongst the ancient Chinese, such as at the siege of Yongqiu . The besieged Tang army lowered scarecrows down the walls of their castles to lure the fire of the enemy arrows. In this way, they renewed their supplies of arrows. Dummies were also used in the trenches in World War I to lure enemy snipers away from

1888-446: A quick count-in of "one two three four". The second side of Trans-Europe Express is a suite with "Trans-Europe Express" continuing through to "Metal on Metal" and "Franz Schubert" before closing with a brief reiteration of the main theme from "Europe Endless". AllMusic described the musical elements of the suite as having a haunting theme with "deadpan chanting of the title phrase" which is "slowly layered over that rhythmic base in much

2006-486: A self-described "robot pop" style that combined electronic music with pop melodies, sparse arrangements, and repetitive rhythms, while adopting a stylized image including matching suits. Following the release of Electric Café (1986), Flür left the group in 1987, followed by Bartos in 1990. The band released Tour de France Soundtracks , their latest album of new material, in 2003. Founding member Schneider left in 2008. The band, with new members, has continued to tour under

2124-624: A strong sense of alienation existing side by side with a celebration of the joys of modern technology. Starting with the release of Autobahn , Kraftwerk began to release a series of concept albums ( Radio-Activity , Trans-Europe Express , The Man-Machine , Computer World , Tour de France Soundtracks ). All of Kraftwerk's albums from Trans Europe Express onwards, except Tour de France Soundtracks , have been released in separate versions: one with German vocals for sale in Germany, Switzerland and Austria and one with English vocals for

2242-549: A surprising appearance at the MTV European Music Awards in Edinburgh , Scotland, performing "Aerodynamik". The same year a promotional box set entitled 12345678 (subtitled The Catalogue ) was issued, with plans for a proper commercial release to follow. The box featured remastered editions of the group's eight core studio albums, from Autobahn to Tour de France Soundtracks . This long-awaited box-set

2360-540: A teaching aid for pregnancy and childbirth. Each figure could be opened up to reveal internal organs and sometimes fetuses. There are only 180 known surviving ancient medical manikins worldwide. Today, medical simulation mannequins, models or related artefacts such as SimMan, the Transparent Anatomical Manikin or Harvey are widely used in medical education . The term manikin refers exclusively to these types of models, though mannequin

2478-709: A turning point in Kraftwerk's live shows. With financial support from Phonogram Inc. , in the US, they were able to undertake a tour to promote the Autobahn album, a tour which took them to the US, Canada and the UK for the first time. The tour also saw a new, stable, live line-up in the form of a quartet. Hütter and Schneider continued playing keyboard synthesizers such as the Minimoog and ARP Odyssey , with Schneider's use of flute diminishing. The two men started singing live for

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2596-435: A work of art. Nor should it obscure a longevity that, 32 years on, we might as well start calling by its real name: immortality". Trans-Europe Express has also appeared on top album lists from a variety of sources. In 2001, TV network VH1 placed Trans-Europe Express at number 56 on their list of "100 Greatest Albums (of Rock & Roll) of All Time". In 2002, Slant Magazine placed the album at number one on their list of

2714-473: Is a 12-inch album-sized box set containing all eight remastered CDs in cardboard slipcases, as well as LP-sized booklets of photographs and artwork for each individual album. Although not officially confirmed, Ralf Hütter suggested that a second boxed set of their first three experimental albums— Kraftwerk , Kraftwerk 2 and Ralf and Florian —could be on its way, possibly seeing commercial release after their next studio album: "We've just never really taken

2832-456: Is often also used. In first aid courses, manikins may be used to demonstrate methods of giving first aid (e.g., resuscitation ). Fire and coastguard services use mannequins to practice life-saving procedures. The mannequins have similar weight distribution to a human. Special obese mannequins and horse mannequins have also been made for similar purposes. Over-reliance on mass-produced mannequins has been criticized for teaching medical students

2950-600: Is thus linguistically masculine, not feminine. Shop mannequins are derived from dress forms used by fashion houses for dress making. The use of mannequins originated in the 15th century, when miniature " milliners' mannequins " were used to demonstrate fashions for customers. Full-scale, wickerwork mannequins came into use in the mid-18th century. Wirework mannequins were manufactured in Paris from 1835. The first female mannequins, made of papier-mâché , were made in France in

3068-468: Is within immediate reach or just a few mouse clicks away on the Internet." Mannequins Life-sized mannequins with simulated airways are used in the teaching of first aid , CPR , and advanced airway management skills such as tracheal intubation . During the 1950s, mannequins were used in nuclear tests to help show the effects of nuclear weapons on humans. Also referred to as mannequins are

3186-602: The 2018 ceremony . In 2021, Kraftwerk was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in the early influence category. As of 2024, the band continues to tour , with the members' live performances celebrating Kraftwerk's fiftieth anniversary. Florian Schneider (flutes, synthesizers, violin) and Ralf Hütter (organ, synthesizers) met as students at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf in

3304-528: The Apollo 11 Moon landing. On 21 April 2020, Florian Schneider died at age 73 after a brief battle with cancer. On 3 July 2020, the German-language versions of Trans Europe Express , The Man Machine , Computer World , Techno Pop and The Mix , alongside 3-D The Catalogue , were released worldwide on streaming services for the first time. On 21 December 2020, Parlophone/WEA released Remixes ,

3422-654: The B-side so the single was repackaged by EMI and re-released with "The Model" as the A-side. The single reached number one in the UK, making "The Model" Kraftwerk's most successful song in that country. As a result, the Man-Machine album also became a success in the UK, peaking at number 9 in the album chart in February 1982. The band's live set focused increasingly on song-based material, with greater use of vocals and

3540-798: The Balkans with dates in Serbia , Bulgaria , Macedonia , Turkey , and Greece. In December, the Minimum-Maximum DVD was released. During 2006, the band performed at festivals in Norway, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Spain, Belgium, and Germany. In April 2008 the group played three shows in US cities Minneapolis , Milwaukee , and Denver , and were a coheadliner at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival . This

3658-520: The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame . In November 2021, the band announced plans for a 2022 North American tour. With the members' live performances celebrating Kraftwerk's fiftieth anniversary, the Remixes compilation album came out on compact disc and vinyl for the first time in addition. From 27 May to 10 July 2022, the formation undertook a successful North American tour, performing in 24 cities. Since 2023, they have begun visualising their music on

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3776-520: The "adrenalized insurgency" of Detroit artists of the late '60s MC5 and the Stooges . The input, expertise, and influence of producer and engineer Konrad "Conny" Plank was highly significant in the early years of Kraftwerk. Plank also worked with many of the other leading German electronic acts of that time, including members of Can , Neu! , Cluster , and Harmonia . As a result of his work with Kraftwerk, Plank's studio near Cologne became one of

3894-619: The $ 20 ticket price for tickets at New York's MoMA in 2012, which caused consternation. Even so, the demand for the tickets at The Tate was so high that it shut down the website. In March 2013, the band was not allowed to perform at a music festival in China due to unspecified "political reasons". In an interview in June after performing the eight albums of The Catalogue in Sydney, Ralf Hütter stated: "Now we have finished one to eight, now we can concentrate on number nine." In July, they performed at

4012-542: The 1920s which was very, very strong and was audio visual. We had the Bauhaus school before the war and then after the war we had tremendous people like Karlheinz Stockhausen and the development of the classical and the electronic classical. This was very strong and it all happened very close to Düsseldorf in Cologne and all the great composers at that time came there." Paul Alessandrini is credited for helping contribute to

4130-540: The 1970s, stating that "the day will soon come, if it hasn't already, that Trans-Europe Express joins the ranks of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Exile on Main St. as a record that simply cannot be written about". 2014, pop music critic Randall Roberts wrote in the Los Angeles Times that the record was the most important of the last forty years. Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine described

4248-571: The 1975 Autobahn tour, Kraftwerk began work on a follow-up album, Radio-Activity (German title: Radio-Aktivität ). After further investment in new equipment, the Kling Klang Studio became a fully working recording studio. The group used the central theme in radio communication, which had become enhanced on their last tour of the United States. With Emil Schult working on artwork and lyrics, Kraftwerk began to compose music for

4366-736: The 2009 Manchester International Festival ) four members of the GB cycling squad ( Jason Kenny , Ed Clancy , Jamie Staff and Geraint Thomas ) rode around the Velodrome while the band performed "Tour de France". The group also played several festival dates, the last being at the Bestival 2009 in September, on the Isle of Wight . 2009 also saw the release of The Catalogue box set in November. It

4484-766: The 47th Montreux Jazz Festival. The band also played a 3-D concert on 12 July at Scotland's biggest festival – T in the Park – in Balado, Kinross, as well as 20 July at Latitude Festival in Suffolk, and 21 July at the Longitude Festival in Dublin. In October 2013 the band played four concerts, over two nights, in Eindhoven , Netherlands. The venue, Evoluon (the former technology museum of Philips Electronics , now

4602-700: The Cirkus in Stockholm, Sweden and at the music festival Summer Sonic in Tokyo, Japan. In November 2014 the 3D Catalogue live set was played in Paris, France, at the brand new Fondation Louis-Vuitton from 6 to 14 November. and then in the iconic Paradiso concert hall in Amsterdam , Netherlands , where they played before in 1976. In 2015, Ralf Hütter, being told that the Tour de France would be starting that year in

4720-518: The Japanese lyrics in 2012. Kraftwerk have been recognized as pioneers of electronic music as well as subgenres such as electropop , art pop , house music , synth-pop and electronic rock . In its early incarnation, the band pursued an avant-garde , experimental rock style inspired by the compositions of Karlheinz Stockhausen . Hütter has also listed the Beach Boys as

4838-549: The Nazis who built the high-speed roads in the 1930s and 1940s. At the same time, the band were keen to move away from their German heritage towards a new sense of European identity and felt that the Trans-Europe Express could be used to symbolize this. AllMusic referred to Trans-Europe Express as a concept album with two different themes. The first being the disparities between reality and image, represented by

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4956-969: The No Nukes 2012 Festival in Tokyo, Japan. Kraftwerk were also going to play at the Ultra Music Festival in Warsaw , but the event was cancelled; instead, Kraftwerk performed at Way Out West in Gothenburg . A limited edition version of the Catalogue box set was released during the retrospective, restricted to 2000 sets. Each box was individually numbered and inverted the colour scheme of the standard box. In December, Kraftwerk stated on their website that they would be playing their Catalogue in Düsseldorf and at London's Tate Modern. Kraftwerk tickets were priced at £60 in London, but fans compared that to

5074-665: The Radio-Activity tour Kraftwerk began recording Trans-Europe Express (German: Trans-Europa-Express ) at the Kling Klang Studio. Trans-Europe Express was mixed at the Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles. It was around this time that Hütter and Schneider met David Bowie at the Kling Klang Studio. A collaboration was mentioned in an interview ( Brian Eno ) with Hütter, but it never materialised. The release of Trans-Europe Express in March 1977

5192-445: The United States. This re-release was available on compact disc, digital download, and vinyl and features a different album cover from previous versions of the album. This new version features a black background with a white Trans Europ Express train in the center. The track listing on the 2009 re-release amends the titles of the songs to match the original German release. This change has "Metal on Metal" being credited for two minutes of

5310-457: The album cover of Trans-Europe Express was originally going to be a monochrome picture of the group reflected in a series of mirrors. This idea was dropped for a photo by New York-based celebrity photographer Maurice Seymour, with the group dressed in suits to resemble mannequins . J. Stara's image of the group was taken in Paris and is a highly retouched photo-montage of Kraftwerk from their shoulders up again posed as mannequins which are shown on

5428-502: The album which was then called Europe Endless . Paul Alessandrini suggested that Kraftwerk write a song about the Trans Europ Express to reflect their electronic music style. Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider met with musicians David Bowie and Iggy Pop prior to the recording, which influenced song lyrics. Maxime Schmitt encouraged the group to record a French language version of the song "Showroom Dummies", which led

5546-560: The album's concept. Alessandrini told Hütter and Schneider that "with the kind of music you do, which is kind of like an electronic blues , railway stations and trains are very important in your universe, you should do a song about the Trans Europe Express". Kraftwerk believed critics in the United Kingdom and the United States associated them with Nazi Germany , with tracks such as "Autobahn" inextricably linked with

5664-533: The album's influence as "unprecedented, reaching as wide as rock ( Radiohead 's Kid A ), hip-hop ( Afrika Bambaataa 's classic ' Planet Rock ', Jay Dee 's recent 'Big Booty Express') and pop ( Madonna 's Drowned World Tour , which incorporated samples of 'Metal on Metal')". In the late 1970s, the album influenced post-punk band Joy Division ; bassist Peter Hook related: "We were introduced to Kraftwerk by [singer] Ian Curtis , who insisted we play Trans Europe Express before we went on stage every time. The tape

5782-485: The album. "Trans-Europe Express" charted on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977 where it peaked at number 67. Trans-Europe Express began charting in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. The album entered the charts on 6 February 1982, staying in the charts for seven weeks and peaking at number 49. The re-released single for "Showroom Dummies" (a remix with additional drums) entered the charts on 20 February 1982, staying on

5900-461: The band began to make performance rules such as not to be drunk on stage or at parties. Karl Bartos wrote about these rules, stating that "it's not easy to turn knobs on a synthesizer if you are drunk or full of drugs. ... We always tried to keep very aware of what we were doing while acting in public." During this tour, early melodies that would later evolve into the song "Showroom Dummies" were being performed. In mid-1976, Kraftwerk began to work on

6018-494: The band for eight months to focus on completing his university studies, played synthesizer and keyboards (including Farfisa organ and electric piano). The band released two free-form experimental rock albums, Kraftwerk (1970) and Kraftwerk 2 (1972). The albums were mostly exploratory musical improvisations played on a variety of traditional instruments including guitar, bass, drums, organ, flute, and violin. Post-production modifications to these recordings were used to distort

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6136-446: The band for the first time to control the electronic sources creating the rhythmic sound of the album Trans-Europe Express . Since 2002, Kraftwerk's live performances have been conducted with the use of virtual technology (i.e. software replicating and replacing original analogue or digital equipment). According to Fritz Hilpert , "the mobility of music technology and the reliability of the notebooks and software have greatly simplified

6254-437: The band were not convinced, and the theme was left to the single alone. "Tour de France" was released in German and French. The vocals of the song were recorded on the Kling Klang Studio stairs to create the right atmosphere. "Tour de France" was featured in the 1984 film Breakin' , showing the influence that Kraftwerk had on West Coast Hip Hop . In May or June 1982, during the recording of "Tour de France", Ralf Hütter

6372-409: The band's equipment increasingly reduced manual playing, replacing it with interactive control of sequencing equipment. Hütter retained the most manual performance, still playing musical lines by hand on a controller keyboard and singing live vocals and having a repeating ostinato . Schneider's live vocoding had been replaced by software-controlled speech-synthesis techniques. In November, the group made

6490-492: The best albums of the 1970s and of all time. In 2014, the Los Angeles Times called it "the most important pop album of the last 40 years". After the release and tour for the album Radio-Activity , Kraftwerk continued to move further away from their earlier krautrock style of improvised instrumental music, refining their work more into the format of melodic electronic songs. During the tour for Radio-Activity ,

6608-632: The book were titled Kraftwerk: I Was a Robot . In 1999, Kraftwerk were commissioned to create an a cappella jingle for the Hannover Expo 2000 world's fair in Germany. The jingle was subsequently developed into the single " Expo 2000 ", which was released in December 1999, and remixed and re-released as "Expo Remix" in November 2000. In August 2003 the band released Tour de France Soundtracks , its first album of new material since 1986's Electric Café . In January and February 2003, before

6726-529: The charts for five weeks and peaking at number 25. Notes Adapted from Trans-Europe Express liner notes. Sales figures based on certification alone. Footnotes Works cited Kraftwerk Kraftwerk ( German pronunciation: [ˈkʁaftvɛʁk] , lit.   ' power plant ' ) are a German electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider . Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music , Kraftwerk were among

6844-475: The commercial success of Autobahn in the US, where it peaked at number 5 in the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes , Hütter and Schneider invested in updating their studio, thus lessening their reliance on outside producers. At this time the painter and graphic artist Emil Schult became a regular collaborator, designing artwork, cowriting lyrics, and accompanying the group on tour. The year 1975 saw

6962-467: The concert, invited by Kraftwerk. Concertgoers were offered 3D glasses to perceive stereoscopic effects on the video screen. In April 2017, Kraftwerk announced 3-D The Catalogue , a live album and video documenting performances of all eight albums in The Catalogue that was released 26 May 2017. It is available in multiple formats, the most extensive of which being a 4-disc Blu-ray set with

7080-497: The cover of the English version of the album. On the inside sleeve, a color collage of the group sitting at a small cafe table designed by Emil Schult was used. The photo for this scene was from the session by Maurice Seymour, taken on the group's American tour. Other photos were taken by Schult that show the group laughing and smiling. These were not used for the album's release. Wolfgang Flür has stated Kraftwerk were influenced by

7198-479: The device did not work as planned, and it was quickly abandoned. The same year Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider commissioned Bonn -based "Synthesizerstudio Bonn, Matten & Wiechers" to design and build the Synthanorma Sequenzer with Intervallomat, a 4×8 / 2×16 / 1×32 step-sequencer system with some features that commercial products couldn't provide at that time. The music sequencer was used by

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7316-424: The electronic pop tunes for which they are best known. In 1976, Kraftwerk toured in support of the Radio-Activity album. David Bowie was among the fans of the record and invited the band to support him on his Station to Station tour, an offer the group declined. Despite some innovations in touring, Kraftwerk took a break from live performances after the Radio-Activity tour of 1976. After having finished

7434-636: The exhibit. Kraftwerk played at Ultra Music Festival in Miami on 23 March 2012. Initiated by Klaus Biesenbach , the Museum of Modern Art of New York organized an exhibit titled Kraftwerk – Retrospective 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 where the band performed their studio discography from Autobahn to Tour de France over the course of eight days to sell-out crowds. The exhibit later toured to the Tate Gallery as well as to K20 in Düsseldorf. Kraftwerk performed at

7552-621: The façades of castles and other historic buildings in a special way. In May 2024, they performed nine nights at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, presenting one of their eight albums each night and another concert as the ninth gig. On 27 July 2024, at the Fuji Rock Festival in Naeba , Kraftwerk played a cover version of another artist's work for the first time: " Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence " by Ryuichi Sakamoto , who died in 2023. Hütter had been friends with Sakamoto since 1981. After performing "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence", Kraftwerk played "Radioactivity", for which Sakamoto wrote

7670-565: The final mix. The Man-Machine was the first Kraftwerk album where Karl Bartos was cocredited as a songwriter. The cover, produced in black, white and red, was inspired by Russian artist El Lissitzky and the Suprematism movement. Gunther Frohling photographed the group for the cover, a now-iconic image which featured the quartet dressed in red shirts and black ties. After it was released Kraftwerk did not release another album or tour for three years. In May 1981 Kraftwerk released Computer World (German: Computerwelt ) on EMI Records . It

7788-529: The first successful acts to popularize the genre. The group began as part of West Germany's experimental krautrock scene in the early 1970s before fully embracing electronic instrumentation, including synthesizers, drum machines , and vocoders . Wolfgang Flür joined the band in 1973 and Karl Bartos in 1975, expanding the band to a quartet. On commercially successful albums such as Autobahn (1974), Trans-Europe Express (1977), The Man-Machine (1978), and Computer World (1981), Kraftwerk developed

7906-434: The first time, and Schneider processing his voice with a vocoder live. Wolfgang Flür and new recruit Karl Bartos performed on home-made electronic percussion instruments. Bartos also used a Deagan vibraphone on stage. The Hütter-Schneider-Bartos-Flür formation remained in place until the late 1980s and is now regarded as the classic live line-up of Kraftwerk. Emil Schult generally fulfilled the role of tour manager. After

8024-447: The full-scale articulated mannequin (more properly known as lay figure) as an aid in drawing and painting draped figures. In 18th-century England, lay-figures are known to have been owned by portrait painters such as Joshua Reynolds , Thomas Gainsborough , and Arthur Devis for the arrangement of conversation pieces . Anatomical models such as ivory manikins were used by doctors in the 17th century to study medical anatomy and as

8142-466: The greatest electronic albums of the 20th century. In 2003, Rolling Stone placed the album at number 253 on their list of " The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time ", with the ranking dropping to number 256 in a 2012 revision and climbing to number 238 in the 2020 reboot of the list. Channel 4 placed the album at number 71 on their list of the 100 greatest albums. In 2004, the online music website Pitchfork listed Trans-Europe Express as 6th best album of

8260-539: The group for rehearsals, and the unit performed as a trio on the television show Aspekte for German television network ZDF . With Ralf und Florian , released in 1973, Kraftwerk began to rely more heavily on synthesizers and drum machines. Although almost entirely instrumental, the album marks Kraftwerk's first use of the vocoder in the song "Ananas Symphonie" (Pineapple Symphony,) which became one of its musical signatures. According to English music journalist Simon Reynolds , Kraftwerk were influenced by what he called

8378-403: The group to later record several songs in French. The album was recorded at Kling Klang Studio in Düsseldorf . Artistic control over the songs was strictly in the hands of members Hütter and Schneider, with Bartos and Wolfgang Flür contributing sequenced electronic percussion . Kraftwerk went to railway bridges to listen to the sounds the train would actually produce. The group found the sound

8496-423: The highest possible ratings from publications including AllMusic , Drowned in Sound , Mojo , Rolling Stone and Slant Magazine . Steve Huey of AllMusic wrote that the album "is often cited as perhaps the archetypal (and most accessible) Kraftwerk album ... Overall, Trans-Europe Express offers the best blend of minimalism, mechanized rhythms, and crafted, catchy melodies in the group's catalog". Q , in

8614-562: The human figures used in computer simulation to model the behavior of the human body. Mannequin comes from the French word mannequin , which had acquired the meaning "an artist's jointed model", which in turn came from the Flemish word manneken , meaning "little man, figurine", referring to late Middle Ages practice in Flanders whereby public display of even women's clothes

8732-401: The image of Kraftwerk; subsequently he encouraged the group to become vegetarians and take up cycling. "Tour de France" included sounds that followed this theme including bicycle chains, gear mechanisms and the breathing of the cyclist. At the time of the single's release Ralf Hütter tried to persuade the rest of the band that they should record a whole album based on cycling. The other members of

8850-548: The late 1960s , but, significantly, it has continued to be a part of its playing even as it makes ever greater use of digital and computer-controlled sequencing in its performances. Some of the band's familiar compositions have been observed to have developed from live improvisations at its concerts or sound-checks. Throughout their career, Kraftwerk have pushed the limits of music technology with some notable innovations, such as home-made instruments and custom-built devices. The group has always perceived their Kling Klang Studio as

8968-763: The late 1960s, participating in the German experimental music and art scene of the time, which Melody Maker jokingly dubbed " krautrock ". They joined a quintet known as Organisation , which released one album, Tone Float in 1970, issued on RCA Records in the UK, and split shortly thereafter. Schneider became interested in synthesizers, deciding to acquire one in 1970. While visiting an exhibition in their hometown about visual artists Gilbert and George , they see "two men wearing suits and ties, claiming to bring art into everyday life. The same year, Hütter and Schneider started bringing everyday life into art and form Kraftwerk". Early Kraftwerk line-ups from 1970 to 1974 fluctuated, as Hütter and Schneider worked with around

9086-565: The leadership of Hütter. The band's work has influenced a diverse range of artists and many genres of modern music, including synth-pop , hip hop , post-punk , techno , house music , ambient , and club music . In 2014, the Recording Academy honoured Kraftwerk with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award . They later won the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album with their live album 3-D The Catalogue (2017) at

9204-406: The like. They were influenced by the modernist Bauhaus aesthetic, seeing art as inseparable from everyday function. Usually, the lyrics are very minimal but reveal both an innocent celebration of, and a knowing caution about, the modern world, as well as playing an integral role in the rhythmic structure of the songs. Many of Kraftwerk's songs express the paradoxical nature of modern urban life:

9322-667: The mid-1980s, Siouxsie and the Banshees ' rendition of "The Hall of Mirrors", on their album Through the Looking Glass , was one of the few cover versions that Ralf Hütter hailed in glowing terms as "extraordinary". Trans-Europe Express charted higher in the United States than Kraftwerk's previous album Radio-Activity by peaking at number 117 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart. "Trans-Europe Express" and "Showroom Dummies" were released as singles from

9440-453: The mid-19th century. Mannequins were later made of wax to produce a more lifelike appearance. In the 1920s, wax was supplanted by a more durable composite made with plaster. Modern day mannequins are made from a variety of materials, the primary ones being fiberglass and plastic . The fiberglass mannequins are usually more expensive than the plastic ones, tend to be not as durable, but are significantly more realistic. Plastic mannequins, on

9558-457: The minimalist nature of the album, stating that "If we can convey an idea with one or two notes, it is better than to play a hundred or so notes". The first side of Trans-Europe Express has three songs. The song "Hall of Mirrors" has been described as containing deadpan vocals with lyrics that speculate how stars look at themselves in a looking glass. Hütter and Schneider have described the song as autobiographical. The third track "Showroom Dummies"

9676-498: The most sought-after studios in the late 1970s. Plank co-produced the first four Kraftwerk albums. The release of Autobahn in 1974 saw Kraftwerk moving away from the sound of its first three albums. Hütter and Schneider had invested in newer technology such as the Minimoog and the EMS Synthi AKS , helping give Kraftwerk a newer, "disciplined" sound. Autobahn was also the last album that Conny Plank engineered. After

9794-497: The music of the Weimar Germany era: "we were children who were born straight after World War Two   ... we had no musical or pop culture of our own   ... there was the war, and before the war we had only the German folk music. In the 1920s or 1930s melodies were developed and these became culture that we worked from". Karl Bartos also spoke of post-war influence as the group thought that they "had this development in

9912-665: The music with the remainder being a track titled "Abzug" (English: "Departure"). Initial reviews for Trans-Europe Express were positive. Music critic Robert Christgau , in a review for The Village Voice , wrote that the album's "textural effects sound like parodies by some cosmic schoolboy of every lush synthesizer surge that's ever stuck in your gullet—yet also work the way those surges are supposed to work". Trans-Europe Express placed at number 30 in The Village Voice' s 1977 Pazz & Jop critics' poll. Modern reception has been very favorable. Trans-Europe Express has

10030-579: The nearby Dutch city of Utrecht , decided that Kraftwerk would perform during the "Grand Départ". Eventually the band played three concerts 3 and 4 July in TivoliVredenburg performing "Tour de France Soundtracks" and visited the start of the Tour in-between. At the request of race director Christian Prudhomme , Kraftwerk performed at the Tour de France on 1 July 2017, this time in Kraftwerk's hometown Düsseldorf . French electronic band Air opened

10148-486: The new record. Even though Radio-Activity was less commercially successful than Autobahn in the UK and United States, the album served to open up the European market for Kraftwerk, earning them a gold disc in France. Kraftwerk made videos and performed several European live dates to promote the album. With the release of Autobahn and Radio-Activity , Kraftwerk left behind avant-garde experimentation and moved towards

10266-457: The other hand, are a relatively new innovation in the mannequin field and are built to withstand the hustle of customer foot traffic usually witnessed in the store they are placed in. Mannequins are used primarily by retail stores as in-store displays or window decoration. However, many online sellers also use them to display their products for their product photos (as opposed to using a live model). Renaissance artist Fra Bartolomeo invented

10384-492: The photography for the album cover. To promote the album to the press in France, EMI Records hired a train with old-fashioned carriages from the 1930s to travel from Paris to Rheims while the songs from the album were played over the train's announcement system for the critics. In October 2009, a remastered edition of the album was released by EMI in Germany, Mute Records in the European Union and Astralwerks in

10502-411: The player from the chore of playing repetitive keyboard patterns. Whereas Radio-Activity had featured a mixture of German and English lyrics throughout the album, Trans-Europe Express went further and was mixed as two entirely separate versions, one sung in English, the other in German. At the recommendation of Maxime Schmitt, a French version of the song "Showroom Dummies", titled "Les Mannequins",

10620-464: The real world as people. In the Doctor Who serial Spearhead from Space (1970), an alien intelligence attempts to take over Earth with killer plastic mannequins called Autons . The romantic comedy film Mannequin (1987) is a story of a window dresser who falls in love with a mannequin that comes to life. The romantic thriller film Bommai (2023) is the story of a person who works in

10738-457: The realization of complex touring setups: we generate all sounds on the laptops in real time and manipulate them with controller maps. It takes almost no time to get our compact stage system set up for performance. [...] This way, we can bring our Kling-Klang Studio with us on stage. The physical light weight of our equipment also translates into an enormous ease of use when working with software synthesizers and sound processors. Every tool imaginable

10856-453: The release of the album, the band started the extensive Minimum-Maximum world tour, using four customised Sony VAIO laptop computers, effectively leaving the entire Kling Klang studio at home in Germany. The group also obtained a new set of transparent video panels to replace its four large projection screens. This greatly streamlined the running of all of the group's sequencing, sound-generating, and visual-display software. From this point,

10974-438: The rest of the world, with occasional variations in other languages when conceptually appropriate. Live performance has always played an important part in Kraftwerk's activities. Also, despite its live shows generally being based around formal songs and compositions, live improvisation often plays a noticeable role in its performances. This trait can be traced back to the group's roots in the first experimental Krautrock scene of

11092-444: The road. They also made greater use of live visuals including back-projected slides and films synchronized with the music as the technology developed, the use of hand-held miniaturized instruments during the set, and the use of replica mannequins of themselves to perform on stage during the song "The Robots". In 1982 Kraftwerk began to work on a new album that initially had the working title Technicolor but due to trademark issues

11210-542: The same way that the earlier " Autobahn " was constructed". The song's lyrics reference the album Station to Station and meeting with musicians Iggy Pop and David Bowie . Hütter and Schneider had previously met up with Bowie in Germany and were flattered by the attention they received from him. Ralf Hütter was interested in Bowie's work as he had been working with Iggy Pop, who was the former lead singer of The Stooges ; one of Hütter's favorite groups. Trans-Europe Express

11328-410: The soldiers. A Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) report describes the use of a mannequin ("Jack-in-the-Box") as a countersurveillance measure, intended to make it more difficult for the host country's counterintelligence to track the movement of CIA agents posing as diplomats. A "Jack-in-the-Box" – a mannequin representing the upper half of a human – would quickly replace a CIA agent after he left

11446-562: The songs "Hall of Mirrors" and "Showroom Dummies", and the others about the glorification of Europe. Slant Magazine described the album as "a sonic poem to Europe". The musical style of Trans-Europe Express was described by AllMusic as melodic themes which are "repeated often and occasionally interwoven over deliberate, chugging beats, sometimes with manipulated vocals" and "minimalism, mechanized rhythms, and crafted, catchy melodies". The music has been categorized as electronic pop , synth-pop , and experimental pop . Hütter has commented on

11564-495: The sound of the instruments, particularly audio-tape manipulation and multiple dubbings of one instrument on the same track. Both albums are purely instrumental. Live performances from 1972 to 1973 were mostly made as a duo, using a simple beat-box-type electronic drum machine with preset rhythms taken from an electric organ. Occasionally, they performed with bass players as well. These shows were mainly in Germany, with occasional shows in France. Later in 1973, Wolfgang Flür joined

11682-577: The titular European railway service and Europe as a whole, and meditations on the disparities between reality and appearance. Trans-Europe Express charted at 119 on the American charts and was ranked number 30 in The Village Voice ' s 1977 Pazz & Jop critics' poll. Two singles were released: " Trans-Europe Express " and "Showroom Dummies". The album has been re-released in several formats and continues to receive acclaim as one of

11800-415: The train made was not danceable and changed it slightly. An important piece of new equipment used on the album was the Synthanorma Sequenzer, a customized 32-step 16-channel analog sequencer made for the band by Matten & Wiechers. This allowed the construction of more elaborate sequenced synthesizer lines, which are featured prominently in the tracks "Franz Schubert" and "Endless Endless", and liberated

11918-509: The use of sequencing equipment for both percussion and music. In contrast to their cool and controlled image, the group used sequencers interactively, which allowed for live improvisation. Ironically, Kraftwerk did not own a computer at the time of recording Computer World . Kraftwerk returned to live performance with the Computer World tour of 1981, where the band effectively packed up its entire Kling Klang studio and took it along on

12036-485: The world with Kraftwerk as a drummer in 1981, his playing does not appear on that year's Computer World or on the 1986 album Electric Café . In 1987 he left the band and was replaced by Fritz Hilpert . After years of withdrawal from live performance Kraftwerk began to tour Europe more frequently. In February 1990 the band played a few secret shows in Italy. Karl Bartos left the band shortly afterwards. The next proper tour

12154-415: The zone. It worked because it gets up a lot of momentum. Trans-Europe Express just seemed to express an optimism – even if people see it as machine music". Morris also said: "It reminds me of Cabaret , the film, with all of the 1920s singing. ... When you get that marriage between humans and machines, and you get it right, it's fantastic. I have to say it's my favourite Kraftwerk album." In

12272-612: Was also recorded. "Les Mannequins" was the group's first song in French and would influence decisions to record songs in French on later albums. After recording the album in Düsseldorf, Hütter and Schneider visited Los Angeles to mix the tracks at the Record Plant Studio . Elements of the mixing sessions that were done in Los Angeles were dropped from the album, including the use of more upfront vocals in order to do more mixing in Düsseldorf and Hamburg later. The artwork for

12390-518: Was cancelled moments before it was scheduled to begin, due to Fritz Hilpert experiencing a medical emergency. In 2009, Kraftwerk performed concerts with special 3D background graphics in Wolfsburg, Germany; Manchester, UK; and Randers, Denmark. Members of the audience were able to watch this multimedia part of the show with 3D glasses, which were given out. During the Manchester concert (part of

12508-486: Was changed to Electric Café for its original release in 1986 (for a remastered re-release in 2009, it was retitled again after its original working title, Techno Pop ). One of the songs from these recording sessions was " Tour de France ", which EMI released as a single in 1983. This song was a reflection of the band's new-found obsession for cycling. After the physically demanding Computer World tour, Ralf Hütter had been looking for forms of exercise that fitted in with

12626-425: Was described by AllMusic as "bouncily melodic in a way that most of Trans-Europe Express isn't" and with lyrics which are "slightly paranoid". The idea for the song came from Flür and Bartos being compared to showroom dummies in a British concert review. Some versions of the song contain a spoken introduction starting with a count-in of "eins zwei drei vier" as a parody of the band Ramones who started some songs with

12744-477: Was eventually released in a different set of remasters in November 2009. In June 2005 the band's first-ever official live album, Minimum-Maximum , which was compiled from the shows during the band's tour of spring 2004, received praise from NME . The album contained reworked tracks from existing studio albums. This included a track titled "Planet of Visions" that was a reworking of "Expo 2000". In support of this release, Kraftwerk made another quick sweep around

12862-460: Was in 1991, for the album The Mix . Hütter and Schneider wished to continue the synth-pop quartet style of presentation, and recruited Fernando Abrantes as a replacement for Bartos. Abrantes left the band shortly after though. In late 1991, long-time Kling Klang Studio sound engineer Henning Schmitz was brought in to finish the remainder of the tour and to complete a new version of the quartet that remained active until 2008. In 1997 Kraftwerk made

12980-418: Was involved in a serious cycling accident. He suffered head injuries and remained in a coma for several days. During 1983 Wolfgang Flür was beginning to spend less time in the studio. Since the band began using sequencers his role as a drummer was becoming less frequent. He preferred to spend his time travelling with his girlfriend. Flür was also experiencing artistic difficulties with the band. Though he toured

13098-502: Was marked with an extravagant train journey used as a press conference by EMI France. The album won a disco award in New York later that year. In May 1978 Kraftwerk released The Man-Machine (German: Die Mensch-Maschine ), recorded at the Kling Klang Studio. Due to the complexity of the recording, the album was mixed at Studio Rudas in Düsseldorf. The band hired sound engineer Leanard Jackson from Detroit to work with Joschko Rudas on

13216-429: Was originally released in March 1977. With the help of Günther Fröhling, Kraftwerk made a promotional music video for the song " Trans-Europe Express ". The video features the group wearing long coats on a train trip from Düsseldorf to nearby Duisburg . Photo stills from this video were later used on the single sleeve for "Showroom Dummies". Fröhling would work with Kraftwerk again on their album The Man-Machine doing

13334-536: Was performed by male pages (boys). Fashion shops in Paris ordered dolls in reed from Flemish merchants. Flanders was in terms of logistics the easiest region to import reed dolls from, as the rivers Schelde and Oise provided easy routes from Flanders to Paris. As the Flemish wrote ' manneke(n) ' for 'little man' on their invoices, the Parisians pronounced this as 'mannequen', hence shifted to 'mannequin'. A mannequin

13452-459: Was played at the venue over the PA system, to be heard by everyone. The first time was Pips [a Manchester club well known for its 'Bowie Room']. Ian got thrown out for kicking glass around the dance floor in time to the track. It took us ages of pleading to get him back in." Drummer Stephen Morris also confirmed that Joy Division "used to play Trans-Europe Express before we went on stage, to get us into

13570-411: Was recorded at Kling Klang Studio between 1978 and 1981. Much of this time was spent modifying the studio to make it portable so the band could take it on tour. Some of the electronic vocals on Computer World were generated using a Texas Instruments language translator. " Computer Love " was released as a single backed with the Man-Machine track " The Model ". Radio DJs were more interested in

13688-564: Was reissued in Europe by EMI after it had been out of print for several years. It was released for the first time on CD in addition to a repressing of the 12-inch vinyl single. Both versions feature slightly altered artwork that removed the faces of Flür and Bartos from the four-man cycling paceline depicted on the original cover. In 1999 ex-member Flür published his autobiography in Germany, Ich war ein Roboter . Later English-language editions of

13806-474: Was their second appearance at the festival since 2004. Further shows were performed in Ireland, Poland, Ukraine , Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore later that year. The touring quartet consisted of Ralf Hütter, Henning Schmitz, Fritz Hilpert , and video technician Stefan Pfaffe, who became an official member in 2008. Original member Florian Schneider was absent from the lineup. Hütter stated that he

13924-653: Was working on other projects. On 21 November, Kraftwerk officially confirmed Florian Schneider's departure from the band; The Independent commented: "There is something brilliantly Kraftwerkian about the news that Florian Schneider, a founder member of the German electronic pioneers, is leaving the band to pursue a solo career. Many successful bands break up after just a few years. It has apparently taken Schneider and his musical partner, Ralf Hütter, four decades to discover musical differences." Kraftwerk's headline set at Global Gathering in Melbourne, Australia, on 22 November

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