Kraftwerk (German for "power plant" or "power station") is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany.

The signature Kraftwerk sound combines driving, repetitive rhythms with catchy melodies; mainly following a Western classical style of harmony, in a minimalistic arrangement. The group's simplified lyrics are at times sung through a vocoder or generated by computer-speech software. In the mid to late 1970s and the early 1980s, Kraftwerk's distinctive sound was revolutionary for its time, and it has had a lasting impact across nearly all genres of modern popular music.

The band is notoriously reclusive; providing rare and enigmatic interviews, using life size mannequins and robots to conduct official photo shoots, refusing to accept mail and not allowing visitors at the Kling Klang Studio. Another notable example of this eccentric behavior was reported to Johnny Marr of The Smiths by Karl Bartos, who explained that anyone trying to contact the band for collaboration would be told the studio telephone did not have a ringer, since during recording, the band did not like to hear any kind of noise pollution. Instead, callers were instructed to phone the studio precisely at a certain time, whereupon the phone would be answered by Ralf Hütter, despite never hearing the phone ring. Chris Martin, lead singer of UK group Coldplay, anecdotally recalled, in a late 2007 article in Q about Kraftwerk, the process of requesting permission to sample the melody from the track "Computer Love" in its 2005 release "Talk" from its album X&Y. He recalled writing them a letter and sending it through the lawyers of the respective parties and several weeks later receiving an envelope containing a handwritten reply that simply said 'yes'.

Kraftwerk's releases in the 1970s and early 1980s, most significantly Autobahn (1974), Radio-Activity (1975), Trans-Europe Express (1977), The Man-Machine (1978), and Computer World (1981), directly influenced and continues to inspire many popular artists from many diverse generes of music.

One of the first major recording artists to claim a direct influence from Kraftwerk's music was David Bowie. Part of this can be heard in a series of albums that start with Station To Station and continue with the Berlin Trilogy-Low, "Heroes", and Lodger. Iggy Pop's association with Bowie during this period would result in the classic albums Lust For Life and The Idiot. Kraftwerk's members were mutual fans of both artists, name-dropping them in the lyrics of its 1977 single "Trans-Europe Express."

Following this were the artists in the new rock and dance-music scenes that were developing in the US, Europe, and Japan. A large number of them borrowed heavily from Kraftwerk not only musically but also in terms of image and ideas. This can be seen and heard in a wide variety of artists such as Gary Numan, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Human League, Depeche Mode, Devo, Joy Division, Telex, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Giorgio Moroder, New Order, Front 242, Cabaret Voltaire, Art of Noise, Yello, Ultravox, Visage, and Thomas Dolby.

Discography

* 1970: Tone Float (as Organisation)
* 1970: Kraftwerk
* 1972: Kraftwerk 2
* 1973: Ralf und Florian
* 1974: Autobahn
* 1975: Radio-Activity (German version: Radio-Aktivität)
* 1977: Trans-Europe Express (German version: Trans-Europa Express)
* 1978: The Man-Machine (German version: Die Mensch-Maschine)
* 1981: Computer World (German version: Computerwelt)
* 1986: Electric Café (German version: Electric Café [Deutsche Version])
* 1991: The Mix
* 2003: Tour de France Soundtracks
* 2004: The Catalogue (German version: Der Katalog)
* 2005: Minimum-Maximum (live album - 2 CDs/4 LPs, 2 DVDs, also available as a special edition Notebook with an 88-page book)

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