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Kraftwerk music biography continued...

of Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider-Esleben, who had met studying classical music at the Dusseldorf Conservatory. Their 1971 debut, titled simply Kraftwerk 1, offered a hint of their unique sound, featuring Schneider's attempts at designing homemade rhythm machines. After their third LP, 1973's Ralf and Florian, the pair added Klaus Roeder and Wolfgang Flür to round out the line-up. Kraftwerk really broke through with 1974's Autobahn, their first album released in the U.S. Autobahn was an international hit; an edited single version of the epic title track was a major hit at home and abroad, and in America the previously unknown group reached the upper ranks of the pop albums chart. According to critics, the album, which was performed in large part on a Moog synthesizer, "crystallized the distinctive Kraftwerk sound while making the group's first clear overtures towards conventional pop structure and melody, establishing a permanent foothold for electronic music within the mainstream." Kraftwerk followed up with 1975's Radio-Activity, a concept album exploring the theme of radio communication, and 1977's Trans-Europe Express, another concept album about train travel. After a brief hiatus they returned with 1981's Computer World, a meditation on the new global dominance of technology -- a society their music had long ago envisioned.



After another hiatus, Kraftwerk returned in 1986 with Electric Café. However, by this time, pop music was dominated by the very technology they had introduced it to years earlier, and they were no longer considered innovative and unique. Except for a 1991 best-of collection titled The Mix, they remained out of view for much of the decade. In August 2003 the band released Tour de France Soundtracks, its first album of new material since 1986's Electric Café. In June 2005 the band's first-ever official live album, Minimum-Maximum, which was compiled from the shows during a tour in the spring of 2004, was released to great critical acclaim, proving that after all these years, Kraftwerk could still deliver the goods.