Julian Cope presents Head Heritage | Unsung Forum | Krautrock: Love it or Hate it!

Dog 3000

4611 posts

What is Krautrock?

Sep 02, 2004, 17:04

Certainly an English term, more than a little prejorative perhaps.

But I think of the term as referencing a SCENE -- "West Germany in the late 60's to mid-70's" -- and not a "style" or "sound."

What those groups have in common is a time and a place, and therefore a somewhat shared view of "the world" that was unique to that time & place. Obviously the "psych 60s" in the US & UK were a big influence, as was the whole "Eastern Trip" that was a fad at the time. Also I'm sure the generation gap was much more extreme, as we're talking about young hippies vs. parents who survived the Nazis & WW2.

And I think the influence of Karlheinz Stockhausen on the scene is also enormous -- seems to me a few luminaries even studied directly under him as students. Somehow Stockhausen seems like he could have only come along after something as earth-shattering as "WW2" . . .

And of course it's a bit circular -- the Beatles & Frtank Zappa and other non-German rockers were hip to what Stockhausen was doing. McCartney said he was an influence on Sgt. Pepper even (think he's on the cover collage too.)

In reply to:
Re: Krautrock: Love it or Hate it! (Stevo)

Replies:
Re: What is Krautrock? (Lugia)

Unsung Forum » Krautrock: Love it or Hate it!	Log In to post a reply

96 messages	Topic View: Flat \| Threaded