Electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk, whose work along with Tangerine Dream and Dead Can Dance influenced all of black metal, have received a nomination from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to finally be recognized by the semi-official industry group.
Kraftwerk burst into electronic music in a time before the personal computer or the programmable sound chip; instead, they created their early sounds with analog electronic instruments and by modifying their own synthesizers and sequencers to achieve a wider range of sounds than previously thought possible. Their greatest contribution however came through their transportative melodies and alert arrangements, as well as songs that through subject matter peered into the dark heart at the center of the glittering chrome positivism of modernity.
Black metal bands found the dark atmospheres and moral questioning of melancholic, alienated works such as Computer World (1986) to be highly influential, and bands as diverse as Mayhem, Burzum and Darkthrone inherited influence from Kraftwerk and other German-revival “cosmic” bands. Perhaps the greatest observation from Kraftwerk comes from their 1978 hit “The Robots” in which the ideal worker lauds obedience and tractability as a form of victory. Such cynical takes on modern time, coupled with a positive alternative vision of technology, defined the Kraftwerk approach during its classic years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXa9tXcMhXQ
Tags: Black Metal, electronic, kraftwerk
*woop woop*
Sir could you show me your license and identification? We’re just doing a routine inspection to make sure all your articles pertain to metal music. Don’t mind if we have a look around, do ya?
Kraftwerk has more to do with metal than any number of post-1994 “black metal” bands.
Dude are you serious? Wolves in the Throwup Room, ever heard of em? Guys live on a farm, raise sheep and goats, grow their own pot, use a network belts, gears, and hundreds of hamsters in little spinning wheels to power their amps during shows because they are environmentally enlightened and conscious about crucial social issues, that’s way more metal than some guys who pretend to be robots and make beep boop techno music on thirty-year-old keyboards.
Look, metal isn’t about arguing whether sucking cock is honourable or not, it just isn’t an issue. And in the old days bands would have been happier to burn shit or stab their enemies than even enter into such polluted thought-streams as many here have done (myself included at times, but I’ll sooner pull the trigger than die in self-deceit).
People need to get past instrumentation, aesthetic and the scenes that gravitate to certain types of music in order to really see what it’s worth. Metal is DEAD! In fact you’ll probably find that even the all time greats, those deserving of metal hall of honour -type status aren’t even full-time metal heads anyway, but listen to all sort of shit, so long as it’s honest and has spirit, granted, only the fucking weasel-minded are going to contest the meaning of such words anyway but you see what I mean.
It may also be a matter of personal preference, but on that note I’ld rather hear hypnotic robot synth at high volumes over some derivitave metal/rock/indie band anyday and Trannies in the Powder-Room isn’t even an question, but an embarrassment for anyone that took the bait (and sadly there were many).
– deja vu
Do you compensate for lacking a sense of humor with excessive testosterone levels? Or are do you only come here to post when you’re good and coked up? I don’t even know how your response relates to my comment and I can’t even follow a thread of logic through the text. Take a few deep breaths, do some yoga stretches or something before posting if you are actually interested in comparing and exchanging ideas.
Trannies in the Powder-Room use hamsters in little spinning wheels to power their amps whether sucking cock is honourable or not aren’t even full-time metal heads anyway,
“Full-time metalhead” = broke guy with poor hygiene who sleeps on his girlfriend’s couch and shitposts on internet music boards about how badly his Xanax-addicted bandmates screwed him over when they kicked him out of their band.
Basically me.
Trannies in the Powder Room are false to the very core, no matter what style they play. And my gut reaction is to punch and spit on shit like that at any given opportunity, which at least is an honest reaction (even if I jump the gun with every second opportunity). But can you imagine the overwhelming aura of faggotry that might swallow metal entirely if it weren’t for a few loud mouths and old-schoolers predominantly from Greece or south american that just don’t know any better?
Yeah, I can imagine. Good points. I can’t knock honest loud-mouths.
If you reread my original post, though, you’ll see that I was not honestly praising WitTR. I’ve judged that the band members don’t deserve my derision (check out their old DMU interview) but their music should be exposed for what it is; a commercially viable masquerade.
One pure and true thing left in this world ov shit and what is? a team of tech-headed übermenschen that musically took off somewhere after Beethoven, Schubert and Hitler left off but obviously made it more palatable to expectations of modern tastes and in the style of the time/s that they found themselves.
Admittedly I’m a bit touchy on the issue cause Kraftwerk basically saved my life on a number of occasions and therefore have become somewhat like demigods in my mind and so I would sooner die in graveland-style battle defending them than do something constructive with my day like they would have wanted.
(hint hint as regards all metal bands, listen and listen well; Kraftwerk never fucked up, it mightn’t exactly be your thing, but they never put out something that wasn’t 100% artistically and conceptually immaculate, hence, they’ll be remembered by almost everyone, longer than most anyone else. This in the bigger picture speaks of it’s superiority alone. But please avoid metal altogether if you’re not going to put 100% heart and soul into something like this, and that applies equally to fluke albums of youth that followed up with flushing all prior shred of credibility down the WC of no return [except for that really messed up scene at the start of Trainspotting]).
“Stop liking things that I don’t like!”
You should stop skipping your Ritalin doses. We need our unholy warriors of metal to be able to structure two paragraphs worth of text without flying into unrelated tangents.
What I honestly mean to say is this: Go actually fight and kill somebody for your righteous beliefs or stop shitposting about how badass you are compared to the rest of metal fandom. You’re almost worse than those who insist that metal has no boundaries and so Opeth and Dickheaven are as legit as any other band so long as their music “speaks to you”. You’ve just taken the opposite extreme stance and you are so full of vapid swagger that you leave a trail of the rank stuff through every article that you post on.
Tl;dr say that to my face faggot not online then see what happens.
Define “false”.
Something that isn’t ‘true’. Define ‘honour’ sticking up for the true and the just. And my capacity for understanding that goes beyond words or any bullshit mincing of which you might indulge. Listen to the first couple by BURZUM and you will know it’s true and from the heart. Look at a pedofile and you know his only cure is a bullet. Only those that are so bereft of the basic intuition required to see that or have become accustomed to needing to scientifically validate/quantify everything and anything that doesn’t sit well with them, are the ones losing out (define “losingout” lol) cos metal is pretty basic fundamental stuff boy so why don’t you get with the program, and start praising the strong and shitting on the weak :P
Actually you might be right about some of that stuff. I’m starting to see a different side of you Richard.. :)
METAL ON METAL!
I love Kraftwerk.
Here are some interesting Prozak reviews on this band that appeared on Heidenlarm/a metal and neoclassical music zine back in 2003:
.
http://web.archive.org/web/20090415002330/http://www.anus.com/metal/about/zine/death_metal/issue3.txt
Stupid question perhaps: Prozak=Brett ?
No.
Prozak is/was a demonic figure of evil, lust and sodomy that spread clarity and knowledge throughout the metal world that inspired perhaps thousands of young metallers to become better human beings.
It is unclear his relationship with goats though…
METAL ON METAL!
Rumours of new KRAFTWERK material have been on the burner for years now. And though 2014 has been one of shittiest years of my life (or probably many others too that remain in denial), I’ve still got a few tricks up my sleeve and got a really good feeling the album’s coming up sooner that we might realize, of course when it does I’ll be there to receive it as some of the best tidings since god only knows what, but if it fails well then who knows how much more broken and despondent a god’s honest knucklehead could become :(
Thanks again to all that helped bash TitPR and the false which deserve annihilation!
We all know that your favorite band is Gojira and that youre a closet homo.
Nevermind Gojira cos I’m obviously too narrow minded to even have given them a try, and so I just say they suck cos trusted sources said so (and why waste time and brain matter finding out for sure?) As for homosexuality, do you think it may yield better individual results if left in the closet (i.e. Tchaikovsky, Wittgenstein, Mishima) or something put on parade and glorified through popular culture. O Lord of nature bleed us all for our sins (Cowardice and slovenliness of spirit).
If popular culture will cause metal to sell itself out, can it do the same for a sexual preference? Worrying.
Popular culture causes underground movements to sell out, sure. But it’s a dynamic system. Underground movements are created as the old ones are destroyed.
Some of us have to keep in mind the cyclical nature of culture and society to avoid succumbing to terminal depression.
lol Richard, if I don’t skip the regular doses how can I stockpile them for a rainy day. Are you trying to say there’s some way I can have my methylpheni-cake and eat it too ??
But in all honesty Rich, there are in fact a good many things I would simply love to say to you, yes, directly face to face with YOU (and I’m not playing around either); for starters if you’re anywhere near NJ (?) I’m putting together a band and true-metal cohort for old-schoolers, skaters, testosterone junkies, dudes with short-man syndrome etc and to be quite frank we could very much use a guy like you. The allusions to showing me, a champion of the internet tough guy (ITG) mentality, your physical strength shows balls and is commendable. And if you think you could deliver me a decent enough beating I don’t see a problem with that (I got your goat – you took my bait – and I deserve it!) hell I’d probably even let you go with it for a bit, lay a couple in, and think of it as the ultimate initiation into manhood! but promise me just this one thing, don’t you ever lose your sense of child-like sense of wonder for the Summoning albums ;)
(cos angst without fantasy is for those that lack Ritalin)
better cool off you two. or else i’m gunna have to step in and settle you guys down!
N-no problem here, officer.
Don’t call me Rich. If you have to shorten my name, I prefer Dick.
I would probably have fun fighting you irl and would also try out for your band (I can play 3 Death songs on the guitar and also play some mean bass) but unfortunately I don’t live near NJ. Midwesterner here. If anything I would move out west. I love deserts, mountains, forests, rivers, and isolation. I get some isolation here, forests, some river, but no mountains and no deserts (although miles of corn and soybean fields are just as bleak).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJo0fBQnQYk#t=187
or skip to 3:07 ;)