KRAFTWERKDiscography & Lyrics

Kraftwerk is a German experimental music group founded in 1969 that are considered the godfathers of electronic pop music. The founding members were Ralf Hütter of Krefeld in West Germany and Florian Schneider of Düsseldorf in West Germany.

Kraftwerk’s Ralf Hutter is a huge cycling enthusiast. Their 1983 track, Tour de France, was composed as  soundtrack that year’s Tour de France race.

https://youtu.be/dY1XZ02x0jo

The song and the band’s love of cycling also is relevant to mountain biking. These are great songs to listen to in your earbuds while you are crashing down a single track trail or flying down roots and slinging around curves. It is not quite the same as being in a huge race along closed roads in France, but flying along on a mountain bike is close enough and is an experience we’ll take any day of the week or weekend!

Songs or albums by Kraftwerk could be the perfect gift for the cycling enthusiast, but the normal mountain biking hobbyist might look at you like you are crazy for getting them a bunch of Kraftwerk music. It is simply too much “connecting the dots” required for a mountain biking enthusiast to really feel that a Kraftwerk-themed gift is something to get excited about. If you’re shopping for a mountain biker, check out this idea for a best gift for a mountain biker.

Did you know that Kraftwerk means “power plant”? This became the name of Kraftwerk’s original group The two of them and a small group of collaborators built an austere sound as part of a cult of German musicians who experimented with electronic instruments and sounds long before it was popular.

The overall movement was known as Krautrock by the British press. Kraftwerk became the best known and most influential of a list of names that included Can, Faust and Neu!.