From Düsseldorf to the World: The Story of Kraftwerk

By Nadia Bishop-Broadhurst, 2nd Year History 

Kraftwerk is an electronic music group that emerged in 1970s West Germany. To call them a band would be to trivialise both their artistic pursuit and international influence in pioneering electronic music.  From their home city of Düsseldorf the electronic music group, fronted by Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider, released a series of seminal albums. Crafted in the iconic Kling Klang Studio, the group generated a unique and nuanced sound that reflected the realities of German post-war life, culture, and identity. The seminal album, Autobahn, marked the start of Kraftwerk’s rise to fame climbing to number four in the UK album charts in 1975. The 50th anniversary has been marked by the 2025 release of a remastered edition of Autobahn, along with 2025 and 2026 tour dates.    

Image 1: Kraftwerk, The Quartet that pioneered electronic music. Credit : BBC Worldwide Service

Autobahn emerged as a response to the post-war period, aiming to carve out a new German identity and culture. The 1974 release reflected the feelings of a young German generation that had grown up under Allied rule. Rebuilding and atoning for the atrocities of the Nazi regime and Holocaust with little cultural output to call their own. Yet Autobahn marks a new growth, towards pride and celebration, of both the German hinterland and a Germanic identity.   Having addressed the atrocities of the Nazi period, Autobahn aims to create a pride not of nationalism but one that reasserts an inherently German cultural identity, projecting their own cultural output into a music scene that was predominantly Anglo-American. Speaking in 1976, Ralf Hütter described the sentiments that crafted Autobahn: “There’s a whole generation in Germany, between 30 and 50, that has lost its own identity, and that never even had any.” 

This quest for a Germanic culture is evident in the lyrics of Autobahn. This twenty-two-minute title track reflects on the beauty of the German landscape and the new cultural and national journey the country is undertaking. Seemingly ironic, the Autobahn system, which began with the Reichsautobahn movement under Nazi power here, becomes a re-evaluation of Germany and a quest for a new cultural identity.  

figure 2 : The four pictured in Düsseldorf. Credit: ondarock

Despite initial categorisations of ‘Krautrock’, a musical catch-all term for post-war German subculture, there was actually something incredibly salient about the alternative and experimental nature of Kraftwerk's work. It carved out a space previously undefined within Germany or even in the broader music industry. Reasserting German culture in the international scene and attesting to a new future. This experimental and seemingly ‘robotic’ sound is in itself owed to the Rhineland in which Düsseldorf resides. Described as 'Industrielle Volksmusik', the very sounds of the industrial heartland are echoed in the album. Here, appreciation for a postwar Germany is evident again; the Autobahn symbolises the era of regrowth, moving towards a new future.

What began with Kraftwerk as Industrial music or even ‘sound’ has slowly become electronic music. The ‘Industrielle Volksmuisk’ crafted with new age technology of Minimoogs and ARP Odysseys reflected not just musical advancement but also a sense of progress. Expediency from the classical sense of music to that which had previously not been explored. Reflecting progress, not just in the cultural realm but also in the technological. Describing themselves as ‘klangchemiker’, sound chemists, their experimentation paved the way for the growth and development of other genres.  

Their use of synthesisers, drum machines, and self-created instruments opened the door to this idea of robotic sound. Their seventh album, Man Machine, focused on their ideas of ‘menschmaschine’, the human interaction with the robotic.  Their 8th album, Computer World, foresaw a technical future years in advance of the Internet, whilst again experimenting with new sounds.   The track Home Computer from this album summed it up perfectly: “I program my home computer, Beam myself into the future.”

As Autobahn grew to receive international acclaim, its influence extended. Kraftwerk’s explorations into electronic music became a pioneering influence, particularly in America, with genres like Detroit Techno and Chicago House clearly utilising Kraftwerk’s innovative use of electronics.  Other genres of music grew from this new wave of electronica, with the Roland TR-808 drum machine also contributing to the development of rap and Hip-Hop. Hip-Hop allowed young musicians to create an unapologetically Black culture and sound, becoming a political expression that emphasised the realities of the African American experience. 

Afrika Bambaataa gives tribute to Kraftwerk in influencing the legendary Planet Rock, sampling the 1977 Trans-Europe Express in his work. Although essential to recognise Kraftwerk’s influence, it would be a disservice to credit the group with the creation of these genres. Rather than a complete start, the use of machines to create this clear-cut, robotic sound opened the doors to electronic music as we recognise it today. The 1983 Kraftwerk hit Tour de France was also a regular accompaniment to break dancing crews across the globe.

  Edited by Sam Aylwin