Electronic music pioneers rock out

…So there I was, using Songbird to find some good music to load onto my Creative Zen player. On a whim, I searched for songs with “Heavy Metal” in the title as I was looking for Sammy Hagar’s “Heavy Metal Noise.” Never found that tune, but another tune jumped out at me. It was called “Heavy Metal Kids.” Take a listen to it.

First time I listened to it, I would have sworn upon Satan’s testicles that the tune was from Black Sabbath; It certainly sounded like Sabbath. But NO! It was from Kraftwerk!

Yes! THAT Kraftwerk!

Behind the music. Ralf and Florian formed Kraftwerk in 1970, working with other musicians at the time. Their big breakthrough was the 1974 album “Autobahn,” which would set the standard for their future albums… and the electronic/dance music to come. Before “Autobahn,” Kraftwerk was a “krautrock” band; A band that experimented with various music styles and even some electronics at the time. Two members of Kraftwerk at the time were guitarist Michael Rother and drummer Klaus Dinger, both of whom would form Neu!. “Heavy Metal Kids” features Rother and Dinger along with Ralf and Florian, but it’s not the only tune they play on. There’s a rare album on the net where Kraftwerk rocks out to challenge Sabbath.

K4: Bremen Radio 1971. Live at Gondel Kino, Bremen, Germany, June 25, 1971. This is an apparently rare live recording of the band that hasn’t been released… until now.
From BigO Worldwide:

“There isn’t any extra information about this unofficial release either in the liner notes or on the interweb thing - however, as you listen it becomes obvious that this is indeed a recording of the rather short-lived lineup of Kraftwerk that includes Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger in its ranks! That’s right - Neu! as part of Kraftwerk!!!

“It’s basically a whole CD of extended “side-long” jams in the style of the first Kraftwerk albums performed in front of a small but enthusiastic audience and broadcast on Bremen Radio in 1971. The members of Neu! really take a forward role here, with Rother’s guitar driving things for most of the time and sounding quite rocking, with glimpses of his future soaring melodic sound in the extended jam passages. The guitar and drums are backed up by synth and I believe organ bass, with notable exceptions of flute taking the forefront on the great version of Ruckzack (from the first Kraftwerk LP) and is it distorted electric violin on K4? Maybe just Rother taking a violin bow to his guitar strings! Proto-Kraftwerk and proto-Neu! It’s exciting stuff, and on top of that the sound quality is excellent - a professional radio recording.

“How has this recording not become better known over the past 35 years since it was made?! I don’t know. It appears to be a newly released CDR edition with good-quality (but privately printed) packaging. Maybe it has stayed in the Radio Bremen archives until now? If you’re sceptical about the authenticity I’m sure a listen will persuade you… and hearing someone in the crowd shout “Michael!” in the last second of the recording is the icing on the cake.” - Little Bear [who shared the recording on the internet]

Proto-Kraftwerk and proto-Neu? After hearing parts of the tunes, I was thinking “proto-industrial metal.” Knowing how Kraftwerk pioneered electronic music, hearing what could be the prototype of industrial metal bands like KMFDM, Nine Inch Nails, and Orgy is just… WOAH!!!!!!