From Defamation to Adoration: The Reception of Kraftwerk in the British Music Press, 1974–1981

Abstract

Kraftwerk, it can be claimed, is the German pop music group that commands the greatest admiration on the British Isles. Their 2017 UK tour comprised twelve dates that sold out almost immediately. The press echo was overwhelmingly positive, for example The Independent heading their review of the Royal Albert Hall concert with the line: "Reconfiguring what a pop gig can be -and how it can look". 1 Reviewer Shaun Curran opens his piece with affirming "the reverence with which groundbreaking German electronic group Kraftwerk are held today" in the UK, adding "Kraftwerk are arguably, perhaps even more than The Beatles, the most influential band of all time". 2Similarly, The Guardian review praised the pioneering role of Kraftwerk: "They were former avant-rockers from Düsseldorf whose evolving visions seeded modern music, from disco to hip-hop to techno. Anyone using a vocoder, or wearing a robot helmet or a mouse head, is their offspring." 3 But reviewer Kitty Empire stresses another important aspect of the concert: "The sight and sound of Kraftwerk's multilingual, pan-European mindset is particularly bittersweet tonight, with Brexit talks now under way." 4 Her remark reminded readers that Kraftwerk's summer dates coincided with the first anniversary of the Brexit referendum. The leading online music magazineThe Quietus even ran a reflective piece entitled "Europe, Endless? On Watching Kraftwerk Live, A Year After Brexit" by the music journalist Luke Turner.

Un-cancelling the future

“…Joining NATO (1955) and jointly founding the European Economic Community (1957) reintegrated the Federal Republic into international political structures, while the Eastern, ‘Democratic Republic' underwent a very different transformation as part of the Soviet bloc. Yet, socially and culturally, West Germany remained distinctly uneasy well into the 1960s: its popular culture tended either to play it ‘safe’, glossing over the past in stylistically and socially conservative ways or offer cheap imitations of the imported culture of the occupying powers (Schiller, 2014; Schütte, 2020: 16; Whalley, 2009a).…”

“…They also successfully reclaimed the legacies of the progressive pasts that had been curtailed by the Nazis such as Expressionism and the interwar Modernism of the Bauhaus (e.g. Schütte, 2020: 9, 17, 20, 118, 139, 152). The key point here is that through invention, creativity, imagination and commitment a new, positive future could be imagined even from one of the darkest moments of Europe’s history.…”

“…In 2013, Kraftwerk were described as ‘the world’s most influential band’ (Rogers, 2013) and their impact has been recognised as ‘wider and more enduring’ than that of The Beatles (Reynolds, 2020) (on both the role of Kraftwerk in Germany’s cultural rebirth and their influence, see, e.g. Albiez and Pattie, 2011; Buckley, 2015; Johnstone, 2008; Schütte, 2020; Stubbs, 2014; Whalley, 2009a, 2009b).…”

“…Beuys, Richter, Fassbinder and von Trotta, as well as Kraftwerk, all looked the Nazi period in the eye and forced their viewers and listeners to do the same. 7 But they also drew on other, positive aspects of Germany and Europe’s 20th century, such as interwar modernism or classical composition, for inspiration – but they did so in spirit but not in form (for a detailed discussion, see Albiez and Lindvig, 2011; Schütte, 2020: 9, 17, 27–28, 118, 152).…”

“…It is unfortunate in this regard that, thanks in part of their own self-heritagisation, Kraftwerk have come to be seen as an example of ‘Retro-Futurism’ (e.g. Schütte, 2020: 146) rather than the pioneering modernists they actually were. This is due to the fixation on their style rather than spirit and misunderstands the inspiration they drew from the past.…”