From Library Journal
A German band invented the sound of humans and machines making love. Formed by Ralf H?tter and Florian Schneider in 1970, D?sseldorf's Kraftwerk ("power plant") pioneered electronic dance music before Madonna got her first training bra and trusted technology (i.e., the drum machine) before the personal computer. These studies are the first in America to document Kraftwerk's impact. Barr, music commentator for The Face and Dazed & Confused, argues that the German foursome (Wolfgang Fl?r joined in 1973, Karl Bartos in 1975) was the first band since the Beatles to revolutionize popular culture with what started as a backbeat. To prove this, the book opens with Kraftwerk's rapturous comeback at Tribal Gathering '97Aan all-night electro-hop in the English countryside. The same summer, bands influenced by Kraftwerk finally gained popular acceptance and achieved buzz bin status on MTV. After careful consideration of the band's avant-garde mentors, Barr makes another convincing case: in 1977, David Bowie's Low and Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange set the stage for Kraftwerk's first masterstroke, Trans-Europe Express. Barr must love to dance, because his narrative rises and falls like the best dance singles. Bussy, founder of an avant-garde record label, covers the same milestones with a more cerebral style and with one great advantage: H?tter, Schneider, Fl?r, and BartosAnotorious for their silenceAgranted Bussy interviews. The result: more specific explanations of artistic philosophies, recording processes, and the creative differences that caused Fl?r and Bartos to quit in the mid-1980s. Both titles are essential for popular music collections.AHeather McCormack, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
The future of modern music began in Dsseldorf in1970, when an avant-garde German band, the Organisation, re-invented themselves as Kraftwerk. In so doing, they set in motion a train of events that has inspired and informed every musical shift over the last20 years. Yet Kraftwerk remain the most enigmatic force in modern music. Fiercely private and notoriously reclusive, their internal operations have long been carefully shielded. Now Tim Barr traces the development of Kraftwerk's unique vision--from their roots in Germany's avant-garde in the late60s, through the triumphs of their "Trans-Europe Express" and "Man Machine" albums in the70s, to their current position, three decades later, as one of the most influential pop groups of our time. Drawing on exclusive interviews, Barr examines Kraftwerk's crucial role in shaping a new kind of urban music: one that propelled us all into the world of rap, electro, house, techno, and their myriad hybrids. Tim Barr's work appears in The Face, URB, Replay, and Detour.
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