Jabbascript
Arceus' Mouthpeice
The piano. Almost everything is composed using the piano, then carried over to other instruments.
Can I get a booyah from my clarinet bandies?
Can I get a booyah from my clarinet bandies?
-
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Which instrument do you think has effected the music world the most?
- Thread starter Ethan
- Start date
raichu2626
Volt Tackle
Does the synthesizer count?
Hammerheart
Son of Wōden
Well I voted it, so I assume so.
Then again I recently did an Essay for uni, on the Influence of Kraftwerk on Music and music Technology, so I might have synths on the brain lol
Then again I recently did an Essay for uni, on the Influence of Kraftwerk on Music and music Technology, so I might have synths on the brain lol
Hammerheart
Son of Wōden
Its not the best piece of writing in the world, but it's all right I suppose.
How would you like me to do it? Like post it and stick spoiler tags on it? or upload the word document to megaupload and post the link? or another way?
How would you like me to do it? Like post it and stick spoiler tags on it? or upload the word document to megaupload and post the link? or another way?
Empoleon Bonaparte
Well-Known Member
Without percussion and drums, there would be no rhythm and no music.
Hammerheart
Son of Wōden
yes there would. I'm sorry, but that's complete nonsense.
Night Avenger
Rust In Peace
Bass.
...
...
Yeah, right.
I'd say either Guitar or Piano actually.
I'm a bassist BTW.
...
...
Yeah, right.
I'd say either Guitar or Piano actually.
I'm a bassist BTW.
Viridian's Yellow
Mmm~♪ Hmm~♪
I have to say guitar. Just add the human voice and its already a masterpiece in the making.
Hammerheart
Son of Wōden
I was reading through it before, and I just thought I'd warn you, im not the best at spelling, and I noticed some of the sentences don't flow as well as I'd have hoped they would, and I didn't Harvard Reference. But It got me a B at University level, so im happy enough.
Edit: It seems a lot shorter than I thought, it was about 4 sides of A4 on MS Word
Kraftwerk are an electronic music, or synthpop as they are often reffered to, band from Düsseldorf, Germany who were formed in 1970 by Florian Schneider and Ralf Hütter. Though in Mojo Magazine Ralf refers to the bands music as ‘alle tag’ which means every day. He goes on to say “at the same time ‘alle’ is the universe, ‘das alle’. And all means everything, all. The all-day music.” When they first started they did not really play the electronic style of music they became famous for, as they were more part of the Krautrock scene at the time. Krautrock was quite similar to progressive rock in style, but with other influences such as jazz, and modern experimental classical music. Though lots of progressive rock bands also had jazz influences, such as the band Caravan, Krautrock took a different element from it. The name Krautrock was given by the British press, as the word Kraut was a derogatory term for a person from Germany during the war.
At the time in the late sixties German pop music was mainly Schlager, a sort of simple ‘inoffensive light weight pop’. Other than that, there was only really the classical and folk music of Germany.
The Krautrock bands all grew up in post war Germany, were there was still a lot of Nazi’s, (according to John Weinzierl from the band Amon Düül II). He said for example Judges, and teachers, couldn’t not be employed just cause they were nazi’s, cause you would have no one employed, there was rebellion against this, also rebellion the government and the police. They were against everything they felt was wrong with society, (which when you think about it, is obvious really, as you wouldn’t be all for something you didn’t like). But they had no guns or weapons to fight them with, so they made music, and drew people in with similar understandings and desires. Weinzierl went on to say, they didn’t want to make English or American music, nor did they want to make Schlager music, so they decided to try and come up with something new. That’s why a lot of bands looked towards space, as space wasn’t tied down to a nationality. So this music was a sort of rebellion against everything they didn’t like with the world. Other reasonably well known bands to come out out of the scene apart from Kraftwerk and Amon Düül II were Tangerine Dream and Faust.
Though they wanted to be different from the English music of the time, I feel they had a lot in common with some of the more psychedelic prog rock bands from England. Such as early Pink Floyd, Van Der Graaf Generator and The Nice. These bands took a lot of influence from classical music, ever as far as The Nice covering part of Jean Sibelius’ Karelia Suite. This was also partially true for the Krautrock musicians, as Renate Knaup from Amon Düül II says, all the Germans had really was their classical and folk music. So it makes sense they would take some influence from it, as the only other music they had was, as mentioned before, Schlager, which the people involved in the Krautrock scene really didn’t like.
Other big music at the time when Kraftwerk had moved to a more fully electronic sound, around the time the Man Machine album came out, was rock music or ‘Slow lethargic long hair hippy music, The Grateful Dead and The Eagles’ according to Moby, who was talking about Kraftwerk in mojo magazine; though ironically Kraftwerk came from a sort of long haired hippie movement. It wasn’t just the music of Germany that went through this sort of ‘reaction’. The Art, literature, and films of the time also got fed up of the current state. Ralf often says they started from zero, as there was no contemporary German music at the time. So they had noting to build on. He says they were lucky in a way to develop their own sounds.
On the Debut album Ralf Hütter played organ and keys, and Florian Schneider-Esleben played flute violin and percussion. 2 session drummers were used as well. But With every album they progressed further and further to a fully electronic synth based sound. They weren’t the only band to do this either, Tangerine Dream also moved towards a more electronic based sound, and went on to pioneer, what some would call, New Age music, though Tangerine Dream aren’t too pleased with being called that apparently. One of the biggest contributions to kraftwerks development was the Kling Klang studio; which was named after a track on the bands second album, Kraftwerk 2. This is where the band creates all their music, and stores all their old equipment, and records their music.
The album that finally got them recognition, and really the start of Kraftwerk as we know them, was the 1974 album Autobahn. This was the first Kraftwerk album to have vocals, most of which were done on a Vocoder. They weren’t the first band to commercially use a vocoder, but they were amongst the first to use one on the twenty two minute and a bit title track Autobahn. But this piece of music is no simple song; it is a soundscape, a similar idea to what the impressionist composers were doing; for example Claude Debussy’s La Mer, which was a ‘symphonic sketch’ of the sea. Autobahn on the other hand painted a mental picture of driving down an Autobahn, from the synthesised sound of a car panning from one ear to the other, as if a car is whizzing past you on the autobahn, to the sound of horns beeping at the start of the piece, and even the constant repetitive drum and bass motifs, representing the constant repetitive scenery and the sort of, monotony, of a long motorway journey. The next album the band would release was called Radio-Activity. Apparently the title is a sort of pun, on the themes of the songs from the album. As some are about Radioactivity, and the others about activity on the Radio. An example of this would be that album starts with the sound of a Geiger counter, for the first track also called Geiger counter. This album also started to show Kraftwerk sense of humour, notably the last track Ohm Sweet Ohm. But it was the next album, Trans-Europe Express, that the band really began to make the music they are famous for, getting rid of pretty much all traces of the Krautrock sound. With the exception of the instrumentals Franz Schubert and Endless Endless, it is the first album that really utilises the lyrics in a pop hook, sort of way. Though previous albums had had tracks with hooks, it hadn’t been that way for the whole album. But with Trans-Europe Express, every track apart from the instrumental tracks had a memorable vocal line. Metal on Metal, is thought to be instrumental, though it seems to use the chorus and motif from the title track of the album, so in a way, it does have vocals. The next album, The Man Machine took the formula for Trans-Europe express, and built on it. It used simple yet effective vocals hooks that were more mini poems than a traditional lyric. They relied on the phonics of the words being said. For example ‘She’s Going out to nightclubs drinking just champagne’. That sentence perfectly fits the melody. When you break down the music, it isn’t that complicated, just repeated patterns and motifs. But it’s the sound they create, and the way in which they arrange said motifs, that set them apart. A lot of equipment was custom made for them, enabling them to get their unique sounds.
The bands influence has been huge. They influenced a whoe generation of synthpop artists such as ultravox, human league and Spandau ballet. Martin Kemp from Spandau ballet says “I think Kraftwerk was the electronic sound really, that kinda led Spandau into the first record. It gave us that sort of electronic synthesizer edge that we all know so well nowadays that even the likes of La Roux have imitated in a way.” So even now, they are relevant, in terms of influence. They have also transcended genres, for example Afrika Bombaataa, who bought the Trans-Europe express, because of how odd he thought the cover looked. But when he got it home, in his own words, ‘It blew my mind’. He even went on to sample two tracks on his track Planet Rock. He used the drums from Numbers, from the album Computer world, and the main melody from Trans Europe Express, from the album of the same name. He says to this day, he still plays all their albums regularly and introduces new people to Kraftwerk, and the ‘True School of music’ as he calls it. The band U2 took influence from Kraftwerk, even covering Neon Lights. They also influenced Coldplay, who borrowed the the main melody for the track Computer Love on their song Talk. Moby says about The Man Machine; “about as flawless a record as I could ever imagine, everything from the artwork to the photography and the production. Apart from The Model, every track had an elegiac quality to it, really warm and rich, with synths that sounded like violas. The Eagles looked and sounded like their peers, wearers with Kraftwerk , it seemed like they’d invented an alternate universe.” So as you can see, he is quite the fan.
They essentially created Synth based electronic pop music, something that nowadays we take for granted, but there was a time, when it was something new and exciting, and in my opinion ahead of its time. This and all the stuff mentioned above, is why I feel Kraftwerk have contributed to the development of Western music and or music technology.
References:
Mojo Magazine, November 2009, issue 192, ‘Back to the Future’
Krautrock Documentary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B89-69icyc
The Man Machine – The Story of Kraftwerk (bbc radio) http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pzf3j/The_Man_Machine_The_Story_of_Kraftwerk/
History of afrika Bombaataa
http://www.hiphop-network.com/articles/djarticles/bamstory.asp
At the time in the late sixties German pop music was mainly Schlager, a sort of simple ‘inoffensive light weight pop’. Other than that, there was only really the classical and folk music of Germany.
The Krautrock bands all grew up in post war Germany, were there was still a lot of Nazi’s, (according to John Weinzierl from the band Amon Düül II). He said for example Judges, and teachers, couldn’t not be employed just cause they were nazi’s, cause you would have no one employed, there was rebellion against this, also rebellion the government and the police. They were against everything they felt was wrong with society, (which when you think about it, is obvious really, as you wouldn’t be all for something you didn’t like). But they had no guns or weapons to fight them with, so they made music, and drew people in with similar understandings and desires. Weinzierl went on to say, they didn’t want to make English or American music, nor did they want to make Schlager music, so they decided to try and come up with something new. That’s why a lot of bands looked towards space, as space wasn’t tied down to a nationality. So this music was a sort of rebellion against everything they didn’t like with the world. Other reasonably well known bands to come out out of the scene apart from Kraftwerk and Amon Düül II were Tangerine Dream and Faust.
Though they wanted to be different from the English music of the time, I feel they had a lot in common with some of the more psychedelic prog rock bands from England. Such as early Pink Floyd, Van Der Graaf Generator and The Nice. These bands took a lot of influence from classical music, ever as far as The Nice covering part of Jean Sibelius’ Karelia Suite. This was also partially true for the Krautrock musicians, as Renate Knaup from Amon Düül II says, all the Germans had really was their classical and folk music. So it makes sense they would take some influence from it, as the only other music they had was, as mentioned before, Schlager, which the people involved in the Krautrock scene really didn’t like.
Other big music at the time when Kraftwerk had moved to a more fully electronic sound, around the time the Man Machine album came out, was rock music or ‘Slow lethargic long hair hippy music, The Grateful Dead and The Eagles’ according to Moby, who was talking about Kraftwerk in mojo magazine; though ironically Kraftwerk came from a sort of long haired hippie movement. It wasn’t just the music of Germany that went through this sort of ‘reaction’. The Art, literature, and films of the time also got fed up of the current state. Ralf often says they started from zero, as there was no contemporary German music at the time. So they had noting to build on. He says they were lucky in a way to develop their own sounds.
On the Debut album Ralf Hütter played organ and keys, and Florian Schneider-Esleben played flute violin and percussion. 2 session drummers were used as well. But With every album they progressed further and further to a fully electronic synth based sound. They weren’t the only band to do this either, Tangerine Dream also moved towards a more electronic based sound, and went on to pioneer, what some would call, New Age music, though Tangerine Dream aren’t too pleased with being called that apparently. One of the biggest contributions to kraftwerks development was the Kling Klang studio; which was named after a track on the bands second album, Kraftwerk 2. This is where the band creates all their music, and stores all their old equipment, and records their music.
The album that finally got them recognition, and really the start of Kraftwerk as we know them, was the 1974 album Autobahn. This was the first Kraftwerk album to have vocals, most of which were done on a Vocoder. They weren’t the first band to commercially use a vocoder, but they were amongst the first to use one on the twenty two minute and a bit title track Autobahn. But this piece of music is no simple song; it is a soundscape, a similar idea to what the impressionist composers were doing; for example Claude Debussy’s La Mer, which was a ‘symphonic sketch’ of the sea. Autobahn on the other hand painted a mental picture of driving down an Autobahn, from the synthesised sound of a car panning from one ear to the other, as if a car is whizzing past you on the autobahn, to the sound of horns beeping at the start of the piece, and even the constant repetitive drum and bass motifs, representing the constant repetitive scenery and the sort of, monotony, of a long motorway journey. The next album the band would release was called Radio-Activity. Apparently the title is a sort of pun, on the themes of the songs from the album. As some are about Radioactivity, and the others about activity on the Radio. An example of this would be that album starts with the sound of a Geiger counter, for the first track also called Geiger counter. This album also started to show Kraftwerk sense of humour, notably the last track Ohm Sweet Ohm. But it was the next album, Trans-Europe Express, that the band really began to make the music they are famous for, getting rid of pretty much all traces of the Krautrock sound. With the exception of the instrumentals Franz Schubert and Endless Endless, it is the first album that really utilises the lyrics in a pop hook, sort of way. Though previous albums had had tracks with hooks, it hadn’t been that way for the whole album. But with Trans-Europe Express, every track apart from the instrumental tracks had a memorable vocal line. Metal on Metal, is thought to be instrumental, though it seems to use the chorus and motif from the title track of the album, so in a way, it does have vocals. The next album, The Man Machine took the formula for Trans-Europe express, and built on it. It used simple yet effective vocals hooks that were more mini poems than a traditional lyric. They relied on the phonics of the words being said. For example ‘She’s Going out to nightclubs drinking just champagne’. That sentence perfectly fits the melody. When you break down the music, it isn’t that complicated, just repeated patterns and motifs. But it’s the sound they create, and the way in which they arrange said motifs, that set them apart. A lot of equipment was custom made for them, enabling them to get their unique sounds.
The bands influence has been huge. They influenced a whoe generation of synthpop artists such as ultravox, human league and Spandau ballet. Martin Kemp from Spandau ballet says “I think Kraftwerk was the electronic sound really, that kinda led Spandau into the first record. It gave us that sort of electronic synthesizer edge that we all know so well nowadays that even the likes of La Roux have imitated in a way.” So even now, they are relevant, in terms of influence. They have also transcended genres, for example Afrika Bombaataa, who bought the Trans-Europe express, because of how odd he thought the cover looked. But when he got it home, in his own words, ‘It blew my mind’. He even went on to sample two tracks on his track Planet Rock. He used the drums from Numbers, from the album Computer world, and the main melody from Trans Europe Express, from the album of the same name. He says to this day, he still plays all their albums regularly and introduces new people to Kraftwerk, and the ‘True School of music’ as he calls it. The band U2 took influence from Kraftwerk, even covering Neon Lights. They also influenced Coldplay, who borrowed the the main melody for the track Computer Love on their song Talk. Moby says about The Man Machine; “about as flawless a record as I could ever imagine, everything from the artwork to the photography and the production. Apart from The Model, every track had an elegiac quality to it, really warm and rich, with synths that sounded like violas. The Eagles looked and sounded like their peers, wearers with Kraftwerk , it seemed like they’d invented an alternate universe.” So as you can see, he is quite the fan.
They essentially created Synth based electronic pop music, something that nowadays we take for granted, but there was a time, when it was something new and exciting, and in my opinion ahead of its time. This and all the stuff mentioned above, is why I feel Kraftwerk have contributed to the development of Western music and or music technology.
References:
Mojo Magazine, November 2009, issue 192, ‘Back to the Future’
Krautrock Documentary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B89-69icyc
The Man Machine – The Story of Kraftwerk (bbc radio) http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pzf3j/The_Man_Machine_The_Story_of_Kraftwerk/
History of afrika Bombaataa
http://www.hiphop-network.com/articles/djarticles/bamstory.asp
Edit: It seems a lot shorter than I thought, it was about 4 sides of A4 on MS Word
Last edited:
Trainer Yusuf
VolcaniNO
Human voice and human hands.
Cobalt_Latios
Well-Known Member
Wow, great essay. Considering an essay is supposed to provide an opinion on something using supporting information, this pretty much did the job.
C_L