What was it about Kraftwerk? Was it the greased haircuts? Was it the primary school lyrics (“by pressing down this special key, it plays a little melody”) or the fact that one of them looked like Herman Munster? Or the way they snubbed the whole 70s rock scene and rose to the challenge of making nerds look cool? Or that one, dreadful, word – cycling? Who knows why Kraftwerk have maintained their ‘allure’ over the years but one thing is certain – as more geeks and with gadgets enter the music scene it’s pretty evident that these guys are here to stay. So we’d better get used to it, right?

In fact, we can even celebrate it. For this fine October month, Kraftwerk are releasing remastered versions of their albums, giving journalists with long beards the opportunity to point out annoying titbits down the pub like ‘Coldplay just copied that bit didn’t they?’ or ‘Hot Chip? Narrrr, check out Kraftwerk in 1979 mate’. However, armed with your own remastered copies, you’ll now be able to deflect their comments by referring to the impact of Zen on their electronic and, sometimes, expressionist minimalism. Receive the blank stare and move swiftly on.  

If 1974 was the year that Kraftwerk had their first hit with ‘Autobahn’ – it was also, and of no less equal importance, the year that I was born. In many ways I’ve always felt a special affinity with the group, even if I wasn’t aware of their existence until I was 15. I shared the same awful haircuts, the same awkward dance movements at school discos and poor poetry skills. So it shouldn’t be surprising that I fell completely in love with the band when I first discovered them.

‘Radio-Activity’, ‘Trans Europe-Express’ and ‘The Man Machine’  – yes, all released for your listening pleasure. I for one will be doing very little work this month as I plug into my desktop at work and respond to colleagues in binary fits and starts, playing simple melodies whilst holding down special keys.

See you when I have fully recovered.

Visit the Kraftwerk website
Visit Mute Records
Check out Kraftwerk on bing