A Tribute to Kraftwerk: 50 Years of "Autobahn" and Far Beyond

The German electronic band Kraftwerk was formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the genre. The group began as part of West Germany's experimental krautrock scene in the early 1970s before fully embracing electronic instrumentation, including synthesizers, drum machines, and vocoders.

On commercially successful albums such as Autobahn (1974), Trans-Europe Express (1977), The Man-Machine (1978), and Computer World (1981), Kraftwerk developed a self-described "robot pop" style that combined electronic music with pop melodies, sparse arrangements, and repetitive rhythms, while adopting a stylized image including matching suits. The band's work has influenced a diverse range of artists and many genres of modern music, including synth-pop, hip hop, post-punk, techno, house music, ambient, and club music.

Now for the 50th anniversary of the band’s international breakthrough album Autobahn, music technology expert Mark Jenkins presents a striking live solo performance of the band’s hits, music they never play, and music they might have played in some alternate future reality of computer graphics, vocoder vocals and artificial intelligence imagery.