Twenty years ago, a reviewer for the Britain’s New Music Express argued that the German electronic band Kraftwerk – currently in the midst of a nine-night residency at Walt Disney Concert Hall – was one of the two most influential bands in rock history. The other? The Beatles . You can debate that – you can debate anything in rock and roll – but considering the German group’s influence on bands such as New Order and Daft Punk, and genres including techno and house music, his point was solid.
Two decades later, watching Kraftwerk perform all of its third album, “Trans-Europe Express,” and songs from across the other seven albums (each album gets its own night in Los Angeles this month), I’m happy to stick my neck out and argue that Kraftwerk is even more influential than the Beatles when it comes to the music of the 2020s. Look at Coachella, or many other festivals, where electronic rock and dance music dominates the lineup and guitar-bass-and-drums bands are few and far between. Look at the way modern pop music is created more often by producers who’ve mastered the digital wizardry of the studio.
Listen to Kraftwerk on stage at Disney Hall during this run, and hear sounds, sometimes specific Kraftwerk samples, found in tracks created by artists as diverse as Coldplay and Dr. Dre , LCD Soundsystem and Blondie . In the 50 years since Kraftwerk released “Autobahn,” which opened this residency on Tuesday, the alchemy they discovered – coaxing beauty and .
