Red Drag Diva
2007-05-25 08:14:12 UTC
Blind Lemon Kraftwerk ("cotton mill" in German) was a German electric
Krautblues band of considerable influence.
The story of Blind Lemon Kraftwerk is a powerful cautionary tale of the
music industry's appalling and continued abuse and exploitation of
authentic cultures. Like many German musicians of the 1970s, they had a
pioneering role in the development of black culture and hip-hop music,
and their authentic cultural heritage was stolen by the wily New York MC
and turned into Detroit techno and gangsta rap.
Early German blues music traces its origins to such Krautblues artists
as Blind Lemon Karlheinz Stockhausen, Blind Lemon Walter^WWendy Carlos,
Blind Lemon Conny Plank and Blind Lemon Radiophonic Workshop. The last
in particular was responsible for the powerfully influential and
much-copied "Doctor Who Theme" riff and its haunting symphonic lyricism.
Krautblues was born in Germany, raised in the wretchedness of the
Marshall Plan and forged in the furnace of social democracy. It is the
music of a beaten but unoppressed people, unique because of its honesty,
dignity, defiance, and its ultimate middle-class truth.
Blind Lemon Kraftwerk formed when Mississippi Ralf Hütter and Lightnin'
Florian Schneider met on the banks of the Kling Klang delta in
Düsseldorf. They discovered a common interest in the authentic
Krautblues culture and how to deal with encroaching American cultural
influence.
Their breakthrough album was 1975's Fahr'n Fahr'n Fahr'n Auf Der
Autobahn Blues, with the title track's haunting symphonic lyricism:
Fahr'n fahr'n fahr'n auf der Autobahn
Fahr'n fahr'n fahr'n auf der Autobahn
Ich habe der fahr'n fahr'n fahr'n auf der Autobahn blues.
This popularised the twelve-bar "motorik" beat, as used by fellow Germans
Television on their punk rock hit "Marquee Moon".
Their 1978 album, Trans-Delta Express, featuring the hit song "The
Krautblues Had A Baby And They Called It Eurodisco", made its way to New
York, where Afrika Bambaataa and Colonel Arthur Baker heard a copy and
promptly ripped it off for their dancefloor hit "Pat Boone Presents
Planet Rock":
I am ze operator viz my pimps and ho's
I am ze operator viz my pimps and ho's
I've got those fun fun fun on der Autobahn blues.
"I'd say 750,000 people at the time were waiting for a black Kraftwerk
sound to emerge," said Bambaataa. Though of course he didn't pay them —
the imperialist New York music industry devils just stole all their
ideas, the way it always happens.
In the late 1970s, Sylvia Robinson, the genius behind genre-bending
Sugarhill Records, reportedly said "if I could only find a black boy
with the monotonous enunciation of a German, I could make a million
dollars." She found that black boy, and that black boy began cutting
Krautblues sides written by Big Boy Neu!, Little Junior Tangerine Dream
and Blind Lemon Faust. That boy’s name was Melle Mel, rapping with
Grandmaster Flash. And people thought the haunting symphonic lyricism of
"The Message" was original:
Don't - push - me - 'cos I'm - close to theee - eeedge
Don't - push — me - 'cos I'm - close to theee - eeedge
I'm try-ing — not to have them fun fun fun in the Auto Barn blues!
The Def Jam Invasion was fueled by German Krautblues. The beat goes on
with continuing CD sales, techno festivals, Eurodisco documentaries,
original 1983 first pressings of "Blue Monday", t-shirts, posters and
even a sizeable internet market for instructional videos such as How To
Play Moog Like Blind Giorgio Moroder. These are just a few examples of
the extent of the cultural theft of German music.
Germans have attempted to claim back their music. Notable examples
include Marschall "Emundem" Matters, with his lyrical symphony about a
haunting, Das Echte Dünne Schattige. Sadly, his only reward was a string
of number one albums and buckets and gobs and wads of cash, as well as
coke and fame and chicks. Mark E. Smith's fate was even worse: to become
a post-punk cultural institution.
Blind Lemon Kraftwerk died on a disco dancefloor in a snow storm in
segregated Berlin. It was regarded as such an inconsequentially
bourgeois event that no death certificate was issued, allowing the band
to come back for its 2000 tour of France, a mere shadow of its former
self, and have dumptrucks full of money forced upon it by Ecstasy-addled
ravers.
(These people proclaim what sincere fans of the Krautblues they are. But
would they ever take a moment to think what life was actually like in
Düsseldorf back then? And I can assure them, it isn't much better now.)
Techno, trance, industrial, gangsta rap — all owe their existence to the
Krautblues. Every "Funky Cold Medina" takes Deutschmarks out of their
pockets. Award-winning black artists such as Yaz and the Art Of Noise
lifted their entire gig directly from Blind Lemon Kraftwerk. The New
York music industry power structure stole the Krautblues from the German
community simply because they could. It was not given away for free, and
billions of dollars were made on the bleeps. It is time for the music
industry to pay the bill.
Can blue men sing the whites?
Krautblues band of considerable influence.
The story of Blind Lemon Kraftwerk is a powerful cautionary tale of the
music industry's appalling and continued abuse and exploitation of
authentic cultures. Like many German musicians of the 1970s, they had a
pioneering role in the development of black culture and hip-hop music,
and their authentic cultural heritage was stolen by the wily New York MC
and turned into Detroit techno and gangsta rap.
Early German blues music traces its origins to such Krautblues artists
as Blind Lemon Karlheinz Stockhausen, Blind Lemon Walter^WWendy Carlos,
Blind Lemon Conny Plank and Blind Lemon Radiophonic Workshop. The last
in particular was responsible for the powerfully influential and
much-copied "Doctor Who Theme" riff and its haunting symphonic lyricism.
Krautblues was born in Germany, raised in the wretchedness of the
Marshall Plan and forged in the furnace of social democracy. It is the
music of a beaten but unoppressed people, unique because of its honesty,
dignity, defiance, and its ultimate middle-class truth.
Blind Lemon Kraftwerk formed when Mississippi Ralf Hütter and Lightnin'
Florian Schneider met on the banks of the Kling Klang delta in
Düsseldorf. They discovered a common interest in the authentic
Krautblues culture and how to deal with encroaching American cultural
influence.
Their breakthrough album was 1975's Fahr'n Fahr'n Fahr'n Auf Der
Autobahn Blues, with the title track's haunting symphonic lyricism:
Fahr'n fahr'n fahr'n auf der Autobahn
Fahr'n fahr'n fahr'n auf der Autobahn
Ich habe der fahr'n fahr'n fahr'n auf der Autobahn blues.
This popularised the twelve-bar "motorik" beat, as used by fellow Germans
Television on their punk rock hit "Marquee Moon".
Their 1978 album, Trans-Delta Express, featuring the hit song "The
Krautblues Had A Baby And They Called It Eurodisco", made its way to New
York, where Afrika Bambaataa and Colonel Arthur Baker heard a copy and
promptly ripped it off for their dancefloor hit "Pat Boone Presents
Planet Rock":
I am ze operator viz my pimps and ho's
I am ze operator viz my pimps and ho's
I've got those fun fun fun on der Autobahn blues.
"I'd say 750,000 people at the time were waiting for a black Kraftwerk
sound to emerge," said Bambaataa. Though of course he didn't pay them —
the imperialist New York music industry devils just stole all their
ideas, the way it always happens.
In the late 1970s, Sylvia Robinson, the genius behind genre-bending
Sugarhill Records, reportedly said "if I could only find a black boy
with the monotonous enunciation of a German, I could make a million
dollars." She found that black boy, and that black boy began cutting
Krautblues sides written by Big Boy Neu!, Little Junior Tangerine Dream
and Blind Lemon Faust. That boy’s name was Melle Mel, rapping with
Grandmaster Flash. And people thought the haunting symphonic lyricism of
"The Message" was original:
Don't - push - me - 'cos I'm - close to theee - eeedge
Don't - push — me - 'cos I'm - close to theee - eeedge
I'm try-ing — not to have them fun fun fun in the Auto Barn blues!
The Def Jam Invasion was fueled by German Krautblues. The beat goes on
with continuing CD sales, techno festivals, Eurodisco documentaries,
original 1983 first pressings of "Blue Monday", t-shirts, posters and
even a sizeable internet market for instructional videos such as How To
Play Moog Like Blind Giorgio Moroder. These are just a few examples of
the extent of the cultural theft of German music.
Germans have attempted to claim back their music. Notable examples
include Marschall "Emundem" Matters, with his lyrical symphony about a
haunting, Das Echte Dünne Schattige. Sadly, his only reward was a string
of number one albums and buckets and gobs and wads of cash, as well as
coke and fame and chicks. Mark E. Smith's fate was even worse: to become
a post-punk cultural institution.
Blind Lemon Kraftwerk died on a disco dancefloor in a snow storm in
segregated Berlin. It was regarded as such an inconsequentially
bourgeois event that no death certificate was issued, allowing the band
to come back for its 2000 tour of France, a mere shadow of its former
self, and have dumptrucks full of money forced upon it by Ecstasy-addled
ravers.
(These people proclaim what sincere fans of the Krautblues they are. But
would they ever take a moment to think what life was actually like in
Düsseldorf back then? And I can assure them, it isn't much better now.)
Techno, trance, industrial, gangsta rap — all owe their existence to the
Krautblues. Every "Funky Cold Medina" takes Deutschmarks out of their
pockets. Award-winning black artists such as Yaz and the Art Of Noise
lifted their entire gig directly from Blind Lemon Kraftwerk. The New
York music industry power structure stole the Krautblues from the German
community simply because they could. It was not given away for free, and
billions of dollars were made on the bleeps. It is time for the music
industry to pay the bill.
Can blue men sing the whites?
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