I'm glad you started with The Model. Computer Love is another of their more poppy songs. It's a nice soft introduction to Kraftwerk. Some of the songs get pretty "tech-y". They inspired the creation of the techno genre, though Kraftwerk isn't techno. They were the first group to popularize electronic synthesizer music. Synthpop is my favorite genre, from classic to modern.
It's difficult for a new listener to grasp how revolutionary Kraftwerk were back in the 70s. It was a time of long hair, denim and overblown rock music which prided itself on being organic and "real". Into this morass emerged a group of clean cut Germans who claimed to be robots and didn't use guitars. They were seen as freaks. Kraftwerk were mentioned as influences by most of the big synth-pop bands of the early 80s, which led to a resurgence in interest in their music and led to "The model" reaching the top of the UK singles chart.
Great reaction. They were so far ahead of their time and you can clearly hear their influence on later Joy Division tracks with their use of synths - I know Ian Curtis was a huge fan of their music.
This track is well within my all time top 5 ever! It’s so emotive and perfect. As a teen (yes when it came out!) I fell for “The Model” character in this song 😂😂 Hearing it again is just so good.
I remember listening to the charts on a tiny little radio kn art class at sixth form, and when it was announced this had got to number one, me and a friend cheered. It seemed the most unlikely number one at the time. Great record.
Glad you enjoyed this. Another musician you might checkout on the electronic sphere which was really well known from mid 70s and 80s and is still producing today is Jean-Michel Jarre. You might check out Oxygene, pt. 4.
Another German band you might want to try is Propaganda.. a vastly underrated group from the 80s who had a couple of minor hits. Start with Duel .. think you’ll love it
Duel was one of the best tracks from the summer of 1985! I think that Propaganda had people like David Sylvian from Japan in the background, producing and so forth. Other great tracks from them were Dr.Mabuse and P. Machinery.
I always thought that the Goombay Dance Band were Swedish for some reason! As for Nicole, she got to number one in the UK after her song won that year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
Have you heard Big Black's cover version of "The model", Nick ? It's an interesting take on the song, filtered through Steve Albini's twisted musical lens.
Was just about to suggest Big Black’s cover and saw your comment. Kraftwerk were huge influence on Albini. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jtPFzBLDSPk.html
The British DJ John Peel played ‘Ugly American’ in late 1987, one of the few occasions that I happened to be recording his show. The song has stayed in my mind ever since. I would like Nick to react to it, if only so that he could tell me what it’s actually about!
