http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/Kraftwerk

The classic lineup, from left to right: Karl Bartos, Ralf Hütter, Wolfgang Flür, and Will Forte ... Er, sorry, Florian Schneider.



I'd like to take her home that's understood,

She plays hard to get, she smiles from time to time,

It only takes a camera to change her mind." — "The Model" "She's a model and she's looking good,I'd like to take her home that's understood,She plays hard to get, she smiles from time to time,It only takes a camera to change her mind."

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Kraftwerk is a German electronic group based in Düsseldorf, Germany, noted for such songs as "Autobahn", "Trans-Europe Express", "The Model", "The Robots", and "Computer Love". Founded by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970 and originating in the highly experimental rock scene of 1970s West Germany, they were practically the Trope Makers of Electronic Music in general, being among the very first groups to begin experimenting making music entirely electronically, starting in the early '70s. They are directly responsible for the existence of modern electronic Dance music, from Techno, Industrial and EBM to Synth-Pop and even early Hip-Hop.

Their songs mainly have to do with technology ("Kraftwerk" is German for "Power Plant"). Their gimmick was that they were robots; Kraftwerk would often act stoic-like and utilized robotic replicas of themselves for some promotional appearances. The robots became less and less human-like over the years.

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The band's classic line-up, after Hütter and Schneider, included Wolfgang Flür and Karl Bartos. Flür left the group in 1987, Bartos did the same in 1990, and Schneider departed in 2008. On May 6, 2020, it was announced that Schneider passed away of cancer not long after his 73rd birthday.

Discography:

Tone Float (1969 - as Organisation) note The common CD edition of this album, released without the band's consent (as they've disowned their first four LP's) amends the credit to 'Kraftwerk / Organisation'.

Kraftwerk (1970)

Kraftwerk 2 (1972)

Ralf und Florian (1973)

Autobahn (1974)

Radio-Activity note Original German title: Radio-Aktivität (1975)

(1975) Trans-Europe Express note Original German title: Trans Europa Express (1977)

(1977) The Man-Machine note Original German title: Die Mensch-Maschine (1978)

(1978) Computer World note Original German title: Computerwelt (1981)

(1981) Advertisement: Electric Café note Originally titled Techno Pop; rereleased in 2009 under that title. (1986)

(1986) The Mix (1991) note Contains remixes and updates of some of their best-known pieces; this and Minimum-Maximum are the closest the band have ever come to putting out a greatest-hits collection.

Tour de France Soundtracks (2003)

Minimum-Maximum (2005) (Live album)

The Catalogue (2017) (Live album)

Tropes exemplified by Kraftwerk and their songs: