Kraftwerk

Wolfgang Flur getting kicked up the arse, more than once, by some punks was quite amusing though. He could see the funny side.

Kraftwerk probably one of the few bands that made it out of the 70s and 80s without trying a single reggae tune

is there a "failed reggae diversions" thread?

Geir left us with this, which probably counts:

White boy does reggae music

Except it's not just white guys who can't do reggae. Also this:

A reggae song by a person or band that has no business playing a reggae song

oh dear @ that first one

the second one, yes, that's what I mean

I was just interested to know if they actually used the word 'hate', is all.

People often tend to use it instead of simply 'dislike', the former obviously being much more robust.

Hall Of Mirrors would work quite well as a reggae song, thinking about it

this vancouver show rules ...

Somebody should do an album of reggae Kraftwerk covers just to piss off Ralf.

Not reggae obvs, but this album used to entertain me for hours:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGnFF5w5sro

... called "Reggaeoactivity". Can totally hear "Radioland" as a reggae track.

I just read an admittedly pretty gossipy book about the Dusseldorf music scene and Kraftwerk come in for a fair amount of stick in that!

sounds interesting, what's the book?

Willing to bet it's this one:

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/31753116-electri-city

Have a copy myself, quite good.

That's it. As I say it's very gossipy but full of interesting anecdotes.

Somebody should do an album of reggae Kraftwerk covers just to piss off Ralf.

Here's a reggae Model, and there's a moderate smattering of reggae in the 8+ hours of DJ Food Kev's Kraftwerk Kovers Kollections

Not reggae obvs, but this album used to entertain me for hours:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGnFF5w5sro

always liked this too but I'm still irritated it was all done with synthesizers

what why?

idk the idea of a real mariachi band doing Kraftwerk is funny to me, some German dude setting his Casio to "Spanish Trumpet" less so

I saw him perform live with a full horn section about 15 years ago. was fun

xp aw i s'pose. i like these on their own outside of the idea of this as comedy. TEE as cumbia was p inspired.

anyone watch this krautrock documentary on Nite Flight app? my friend did, it's 3 hours and is apparently super great despite being kind of amateur.

Not reggae but another cover with Caribbean roots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLEk7Xcz1B4

That cheered me right up

that song was made for steel drum, lovely

Re the "Green" interview, he'd written to them suggesting they pair up with Gregory Isaacs. To which Ralf replied that Kraftwerk didn't like Reggae. Not Ralph himself, kraftwerk as a unit. A band that have never used guest artists, and don't move into other music styles.

That's how I understood it anyway.

this whole "does kraftwerk dislike or hate reggae" issue is pretty funny

“It was meant to be a duet between Kraftwerk and Gregory Isaacs,” recalls Green. “We got a positive response from Gregory Isaacs’ management, but nothing from Kraftwerk. A few years later, I met Kraftwerk. I went to see Tito Puente with Ralf [Hutter] and Florian [Schneider]. I think I brought it up, and I remember them saying that they hated reggae.”

--

I wrote a song called "The 'Sweetest Girl'", and I went to [Rough Trade's] Geoff Travis and told him I wanted to get Gregory Isaacs to do it with Kraftwerk. I don't really know how that would have worked. We did get a response from Gregory's management saying that he would be up for it. We didn't get a response from Kraftwerk, though. I did meet [Kraftwerk's] Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider a few years later in New York at a Tito Puente gig. They were kind of vague about whether or not they knew that I had approached them, but they did say that they didn't like reggae.

we may never know.

everyone should be free to dislike anything. it's not like musicians are sage, super-human creatures - we all have limitations, many of them self-imposed, at any moment in time.

I close can't stand reggae either, because it's been ruined for me as a signifier for bored bourgeouis youth trying hard to let their hair down. although I have accrued lots of reggae albums myself, I still have this pain inside when thinking of college parties. I love dub though, and I also like whenever my favourite white musicians dabble in reggae (for example, Duran Duran with "The Reflex" live in '87).

I'm sure if KW said they can't stand country music (as many musicians have gone on record saying it) no one would have but flipped an eyelid.

I read in the recently published book 'Kraftwerk: Future Music From Germany' by Uwe Schutte that Michael Jackson was up for collaborating in the 80s but they were having none of it

Green would've been better off approaching YMO if he wanted an electronic act, they'd collaborate with pretty much anyone and everyone.

Hearing a reggae version of Kometenmelodie 2 in my head now thx thread

I'm sure you know this already but MJ did record a version of "Behind the Mask" for Thriller, not sure why it was axed

Apparently YMO's management dithered for too long about the proposed royalty rates and the Jackson camp lost patience. A real shame, as its inclusion would have (a) made Thriller even better and (b) made Sakamoto a very wealthy man.
Jackson was made aware of BtM by his keyboardist Greg Phillinganes, who subsequently released his own version of it, using Jackson's rewritten lyrics. That arrangement was then adopted by, of all people, Eric Clapton.

YMO (well, Ryuichi Sakamoto) even collaborated with Kraftwerk! They got him to write new lyrics in Japanese for Radioactivity after the Fukushima disaster

日本でも　放射能
きょうも　いつまでも
フクシマ　放射能
空気　水　すべて
日本でも　放射能
いますぐ　やめろ

There’s radioactivity also in Japan
Today and Forever
Fukushima Radioactivity
Air Water Everything
There’s radioactivity also in Japan
Stop Right Now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWsQgmq-fNs

I did meet [Kraftwerk's] Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider a few years later in New York at a Tito Puente gig.

this is amazing

I read somewhere that Jimi Hendrix hated surf music...

That's it, I don't like Jimi Hendrix anymore.

thats when jimi hendrix became...james hendricks to me

Unconfirmed rumours that Florian Schneider has passed away.

According to a close associate of the group, Schneider left Kraftwerk on 21 November 2008, due to a dispute over a bicycle pump.

Xp fucking hell. Pls no

Ahhh man.

really hoping this is some Kim Jong Un situation

I used to have the albums from Autobahn to Computer World framed in my basement, just recently I replaced them just cuz it's been a while. My wife's reaction..."awww, I miss the guys"

Rumour seems to be gathering pace but no confirmation as yet.

Coming here to see if anyone's found confirmation, just heard the rumour through the grapevine so far.

Billboard: https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/obituary/9372433/florian-schneider-dead-kraftwerk-co-founder-dies :(

uuugghhh RIP

Holding out hope until it's officially confirmed.