Kraftwerk, at work in their home studios in Dusseldorf, would release an album which would shape the oncoming decade. Kraftwerk – a german band – was to invent techno – and the accompanying style of the genre. The sound as well as the look was to become heavily influential.
The techno sound of Kraftwerk was robotic, with synthezisers on the forefront. The look drew inspiration from Russian constructivism as well as the German sci-fi movie Metropolis, today hailed as one of history’s most significant silent films. Russian constructivism was an avant-garde art movement, disdainful of excess and style, striving to capture the emerging industrial and urban society. The movement was associated with Russian socialism. Typical of the constructivist art were colors like grey, black and a dash of red. The shapes du jour were the sharp ones: triangles, squares, and so on. The movement has some resemblance to futurism and cubism.
As for Metropolis, the movie – while criticized for its naive and politically uncaptivating plot – was praised for its style and look. The urban landscape – effectively illustrating the futuristic dystopia that was Metropolis – was influenced by cubism, bauhaus and futurism, not all too different from Russian constructivism. The album sleeve of Kraftwerk’s new release, The Man-Machine (78), which incorporated the constructivism as well as german sci-fi look, was to propell these stylistic influences into the mainstream. Another style Kraftwerk, and techno, would be responsible for popularising was the german military look. The neat, slick and hard was to become popular.
Examples of artists inspired by the sound and style of Kraftwerk is Visage, the techno, synth pop band of Steve Strange & Rusty Egan. Visage was making techno music heavily inspired by the german sound – the synthezisers, the sparse lyrics are both examples easy to spot. The music video of “We Fade to Grey” offers similar examples; the black and white aesthetic, the clean-cut visuals, and the cubistic, sharp lines drawn on Steve Strange’s body.
Midge Ure had been a member of Visage – and the Kraftwerk influences was to follow him into his other band, Ultravox. The clean, black and white music video of Vienna was as much a product of Kraftwerk’s influence as We Fade to Grey was.
Kraftwerk was a band who’s influence on the 80’s would be enormous, but there were other things, related and unrelated, that was happening at the end of the 70’s. Punk, as a cultural phenomenon, was dying. Perhaps an effect of Kraftwerk, the guitar was old news, and synth was the new instrument you wanted to play. But the craving for something new – something fresh – didn’t stop at the level of instruments. The No Future attitude of John Lydon was a thing of the past, and ambition would become the new cool. Motivation, hard work, the drive to succeed, to triumph. Britain elected a female Prime Minister – the whole country was looking to the future Britain was so suddenly to have.
Punk was not only out of fashion – the people part of the movement were growing rotten. The Oi crowd was repelling enough to drive away the original punk crowd; the freaks would return to their Bowie roots. Punk had been a no-fashion statement, and being ugly, trashy, appearing low-effort (wether you were or not) had been the trend. Now, the winds were shifting. The Bowie kids wanted back to the glam rock of the early 70’s; people wanted to dress up again – chiffon, glamour, makeup, cross-dressing. The contemporary culture was again appreciative of effort; effort in music, in fashion, in thinking. You wanted to see artists trying again. Multimedia, the video, glamour. Another era in music and fashion was about to emerge.
In the year of 79, one particular crowd seemed to have caught up on the change that was happening. Aware or no, they were driving the change forward, living the change as it was taking place. The Blitz club of London, run by Steve Strange & Rusty Egan – two creative thinkers influenced by Kraftwerk. The Blitz club played the right music (german techno), and had the right look (a reinvention of glam, color and cross-over-dressing). The Blitz kids were the children of the next generation, knowing to adopt a new sound and look. Similar clubs were to be found in Birmingham, with the Rum Runner being at the forefront of the reinvention of glam fashion.
Punk was dying – and the cultural phenomenon that was now on the rise was to be named the New Romantics and/or New Wave movement – synthesizers as well as colorful and innovative fashion being trademarks for the movements. Examples of New Wave bands of the 80’s range from Duran Duran & Spandau Ballet to Culture Club & the Eurythmics. A more in depth exploration of the New Wave of the 80’s, as well as the New Romantic look, is beyond the scope of this blog post.
Such sophistication! Thou hast proven thyself a true poet, not even Shakespeare himself hath ever penned such a beautiful piece.