Not a band

I didn't partake in any nerdiness today, but Kraftwerk was on my mind because of a 30-year old article that the Brazilian fans sent me.

The most popular Kraftwerk song is Autobahn (in my opinion). It still sounds fresh, even though it's 30 years old. I got the album (ie, vinyl) in the 80's when they re-released it. And now that I've been on the actual Autobahn in Germany, I can see what they were trying to capture. But even if you haven't been there, you can still feel the ride, with a German flavor.

The song starts out with:

"Wir fahr'n, fahr'n, fahr'n auf der Autobahn" ("We're driving, driving, driving on the autobahn.") You can see the original German lyrics and the translations in English, Portuguese, French, Slovak, Spanish, Italian, and Russian at the fan site.

The article includes Florian Schneider's description of their "non-band" self-perception: "Kraftwerk is not a band...It's a concept. We call it 'Die Menschmaschine,' which means 'the human machine.' We are not the band. I am me. Ralf is Ralf. And Kraftwerk is a vehicle for our ideas."

BTW: the Brazilian fans have their own electronic music site. I hope to meet them one day--they seem really nice (as most Brazilians are).