# Talk:Autobahn (album)

There appears to be some deletions from this article. Roeder is mentioned as having left the band without any introduction as to who he was. Can the author please restore his introduction, especially as official Kraftwerk information sources make no mention of him! --Andy-106 12:26, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

Andy has added "personnel info from AMG" - is this "All music guide"? why is this? the info as printed was that given on the original vinyl album release. Crediting Schneider with drums is revisionist and believing his story that he, not Flür, invented the drum pads (the subject of a court case in Germany)
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Feline1 (talk • contribs) .

I wasn't aware about the German court case, but AMG (yep, that's All Music Guide) does credit Scheider as playing the drums, and not actually inventing it. :) --Andylkl (talk) 10:56, 16 October 2005 (UTC)
I doubt very much Schneider played any "drums" on the Autobahn album. Nothing in the Barr book, the Bussy book, Flür's autobiography, any interview I've ever read, nor the sleeve of the 1974 album on Philips lend any evidence to this claim! The only drums one can hear on the record are the electronic ones on "Autobahn" and the two "Kometenmelodies". Flür says he recorded these at Klingklang on Plank's mobile equipment. I suggest you revert the line-up list to its prior state.--feline1 11:13, 16 October 2005 (UTC)

If there's a problem with Schneider and the "drums" we'll just remove that bit of info instead of reverting it. :) Nothing else wrong with the rest of the personnel list? --Andylkl (talk) 11:18, 16 October 2005 (UTC)

Gah?! Why does the wikipedia style guide say to use en dashes like that?!? If you even look up on *wikipedia* what an en dash is for, it's used as a substitute for the word "to" when giving a numeric range. It ought to be an em dash! Mind you, there's plenty of other arbitrary, dubious or plain perverse style choices in that guide!
--feline1 16:00, 16 October 2005 (UTC)

Calm down and relax, you wouldn't want to pop a blood vessel, do you? ;) The dash article you linked says "The en dash is used to indicate a closed range, or a connection between two things of almost any kind: numbers, people, places, etc." So, I guess it's acceptable as well. --Andylkl (talk) 16:17, 16 October 2005 (UTC)
Yeah but the latter usage is only in America, where they can't even spell "colour" /shudders/ --feline1 17:00, 16 October 2005 (UTC) :)
It's America, they spell everything differently! TM ;) --Andylkl (talk) 17:15, 16 October 2005 (UTC)
Tsk, but Kraftwerk are German! :)--feline1 17:19, 16 October 2005 (UTC)

The article says that Roeder's electro-violin was "apparently" mixed out of the finished album.  However, I hear an instrument during the first instrumental break in "Autobahn" with a violin-like sound, echoing the melody played on flute.  Could this be the electro-violin?  Unless someone knows better, that would be my bet. Jphillst 03:22, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I kmow the sound you mean - it's definately violin - whether or not Roeder plays it is impossible to be sure without a proper cited source - since Florian Schneider plays violin himself on the previous 3 albums - however Roeder is both credited and pictured on the 1974 Philips LP sleeve, so the notion that he was "mixed out" of the audio would seem strange, given that he was prominently featured on the artwork.--feline1 10:01, 26 April 2007 (UTC)
Röder was apparently associated with the band for a year, according to the biography on his website – http://www.klaus-roeder.org/. Ralf Hütter (cited recently by Dirk Matten) stated that Röder only played on certain tracks on side 2 of the album – presumably Mitternacht (violin) and Morgenspaziergang (guitar) and that the guitar in that instrumental break of Autobahn was played by Hütter – also Matten says “both [Hütter and Schneider] played electronic percussion on the track Autobahn”.  Ricadus 21:53, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
Yes, but this claim has been through the German courts already. We all know that Wolfgang Flür played electronic percussion on the album, as originally credited on the sleeve, and despite R&F's removal of this credit on subsequent pressings. I've been subject to emails from Matten myself about wikipedia articles, trying to browbeat me into making partisan edits. I suggested to him that if he wants to edit wikipedia on the same footing as everyone else (verifiable sources, neutral point of view, etc etc) then he should log in and get editing - he didn't appear to bother.--feline1 11:24, 3 May 2007 (UTC)
For what it's worth, I put on my record company hat there and logged into http://www.ppluk.com 's CatCo database. I inspected the entries for the Autobahn recordings. Currently, it lists Roeder as playing violin and Flur as playing electronic percussion on these tracks. Whether this is accurate or not, the current legal situation would be that if the recordings are broadcast in the UK, Roeder would receive performer royalties.--feline1 11:32, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

I have added some information to all of the record label entries in order to give a clearer picture of who released what, and when.
I took this from the entries on the Electric Cafe forum [1]. 
If there are any mistakes, or if it looks too cluttered, please let me know.Electrokinesis 08:16, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Really? Would you really think that this is a synth pop recording? Can you really call what Kraftwerk does pop by any extent? (even synthpop) Doc Strange 17:13, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

I agree.  I would never classify any of their work as pop music.  The only "exception" I can think of would be the single Popcorn, which is commonly (and erroneously) attributed to Kraftwerk.  Therefore, I think the synthpop designation is inherently fallacious. EganioTalk 06:04, 23 November 2007 (UTC)
You could arguably say that the track (and particularly) the single of "Autobahn" was a prototype for the entire genre of synthpop... to call a track like "Mitternacht" synthpop though is just silly.--feline1 (talk) 10:26, 23 November 2007 (UTC)
Good point, although I think Kraftwerk's music to be far too complex and sophisticated to ever be considered a blueprint for popular music.  Besides, the track Autobahn is much too involved, lengthy, and heady to hold the short attention spans of pop music fans (hence the 3-minute abridged radio edit).  I would venture an opinion that they helped provide the prototype for electronica more than anything. EganioTalk 00:50, 24 November 2007 (UTC)
Well, I think that's it, it was the 3-minute edit of "Autobahn" that helped synthpop along because it was, by definition, synthesizer-based and popular (#11 in the UK - and I even have it on an old vinyl K-Tel style compilation of pop hits from 1975 in Australia)! So a prototype for synthpop, sure, but because it wasn't a recognized genre when they produced it, it doesn't fuss me either way whether it's in or out of the infobox here. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 04:38, 24 November 2007 (UTC)
My vote is to remove the synthpop tag. EganioTalk 03:08, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
Kraftwerk had a stronger influence on synth pop because of there later releases "Trans Europa Express" and "Die Mensch-Maschine" which have been released in 1977 and 1978. In particular "Das Modell" already had distinct characteristics of an eighties synth pop song. The subsequent synth pop of the eighties was mainly developed by artists like Gary Numan. These artists had a more british approach. They combined the electronic music with elements of rock, punk and other popular genres. Kraftwerk however was rooted in the german music tradition and more 'experimentierfreudig' (this means to enjoy experiments). -- Greetings from Germany, Thiv8Oow, 24. Aug 2008  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.210.199.91 (talk) 23:21, 23 August 2008 (UTC)
Autobahn isn't a synthpop or electronica album. Should be tagged as Electronic music, Experimental, Krautrock --95.74.246.99 (talk) 19:06, 29 December 2009 (UTC)

The article shows a release date of 1975 in the United States.  My copy of Autobahn (purchased in the U.S.) shows a copyright date of 1974.  It was manufactured and distributed by Phonogram, Inc. of Chicago, but also shows Vertigo VEL-2003.  Does anyone have any insight on the difference in dates? Thanks, Alanraywiki (talk) 02:47, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

The copyright date is related to the ownership of the recordings and would reflect the date of its initial release (in Germany). At this time their recordings tended to have delayed releases in countries outside Germany, due to the band's (then) obscurity. After the international success of Autobahn things became better coordinated until the CD reissues in the late 1980s. For further info on release dates of originals and reissues worldwide try http://www.Poecker.homepage.t-online.de/01/discog.htm  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ricadus (talk • contribs) 21:30, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

I removed the following line from the article:"Kraftwerk used a Minimoog as one of their synthesizers, which were known to cost as much as a Volkswagen at that time."This doesn't tell me anything. How much was a Volkswagen at the time? And in which currency? And which type? And does it really matter how much a MiniMoog costs? It's the same kind of 'pseudo-fact' as "The U2 video screens use as much electricity as 15 homes". Way too vague, and unsourced. An IP editor restored the line and I removed it again. Any opinions on the matter?    SIS  23:08, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

The notability of the fact is borderline, but there's definitely no place for it without a proper source, and I'm not talking about a user-made comparison of two sources citing the prices of a Minimoog and a Volkswagen, but a secondary source comparison. Admiral Norton (talk) 23:14, 16 August 2008 (UTC)
My guess, is that this comparison was inserted into the article, only because Ralf Hütter had brought it up in many interviews around the time of the album's release, and even recently. But I do agree, there should be at least one source quoted.Electrokinesis (talk) 18:24, 13 September 2013 (UTC)

Maybe this is all in my mind, but i interpret the album to have a kind of story line, with the first track describing a leisurely trip on the autobahn, while the following tracks describe an accident on the autobahn and its aftermath. I know this is original research, but maybe someone could find some sources on this stuff? It would be worth including, i think.

There is a cartoon made in 1979 by Roger Mainwood and it is called Autobahn. The music is by Kraftwerk.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.203.238.19 (talk) 07:15, 10 August 2009 (UTC) 
Dyko
Dyko has a cover of Autobahn.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.203.238.19 (talk) 08:31, 15 February 2010 (UTC) 

The Frames has covered the song in a concert in Hamburg in 2010.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.41.208.247 (talk) 12:49, 7 December 2010 (UTC) 

As much as I would LOVE Autobahn to be Vertigo Records' biggest international hit, I must pose the question; didn't that originally go to Black Sabbath around the time of "Paranoid" in late 1970 and '71?Electrokinesis (talk) 18:28, 13 September 2013 (UTC)

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The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Autobahn (album)/CommentsTalk:Autobahn (album)/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.
Last edited at 23:33, 11 May 2008 (UTC).
Substituted at 08:40, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

I gave the article a major re-write with hopes of promoting it to a GA. It has been submitted for a copy-edit, but any further corrections or questions regarding it are welcome. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:08, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

@Kkollaps:, per your previous edits you have removed some genres from the infobox and replaced it with a citation from Drowned in Sound. I've re-instated the genre per the prose and added yours. I reject adding it to the infobox as the infobox should give a clear view of the album as a whole, not individual specific songs. Secondly, just adding Kosmiche musik isn't very helpful to readers. What is post-psychedelic kosmiche music? What makes it more? Alternatively, sources within the article state that this album is a move away from the genre. I'm not saying it's not included, but if it's only two songs on a 6 or so song album (one of which consists of the entire A side of the record), I don't believe we should include it. I've also formatted the genre and citation to match the citation style of the article. I look forward to your response. Andrzejbanas (talk) 13:03, 24 January 2022 (UTC)

This review is transcluded from Talk:Autobahn (album)/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Reviewer: 100cellsman (talk · contribs) 05:15, 3 February 2022 (UTC)
A great album. Will review. 웃OO 05:15, 3 February 2022 (UTC)

"The authors noted other than a rare occurrence of flute and guitar, the album was created on a synthesizer and drum machine..." This feels wonky to me. I would first say its created on a synthesizer and drum machine.
Tried to re-phrase. Hope it's good. Andrzejbanas (talk) 11:20, 4 February 2022 (UTC)
"Van Matre found "Autobahn" "an impression of…" I would personally refer to the song title as just the title track here, just so the quotation marks don't bump into each other. Same with "Reynolds said "Autobahn" "sounds like…"
Good call, i've changed it both places. Andrzejbanas (talk) 11:20, 4 February 2022 (UTC)
That's all I could find really. Great work! 웃OO 05:49, 4 February 2022 (UTC)

Awesome! I think I've covered it all @100cellsman:. Andrzejbanas (talk) 11:20, 4 February 2022 (UTC)

This article cites Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells as an example of electronic music. While there is a synthesizer on the record, it is used in the same way all the other instruments are used. Tubular Bells is not electronic music. Oldfield makes the point within the piece, itself, that it is played on conventional instruments, overdubbed. rowley (talk) 01:36, 18 March 2025 (UTC)