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3 - Krautrock in the British and American Music Press

from Part I - Context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 October 2022

Uwe Schütte
Affiliation:
Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany
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Summary

The leitmotif of both American and British Krautrock reception in the 1970s was the continuing popularity of German stereotypes and clichés, with the music press coverage in both countries differing only in nuances. It was not before the end of the decade that those ascriptions and stereotypes slowly started to fade away; by then, in a broad consensus among critics and pop journalists, the ‘future sounds’ of Krautrock were widely regarded as a transformative contribution to pop music and culture. The shift in the Anglo-American music press’s understanding of Krautrock in the 1970s suggests that Krautrock’s mission to create a new and transnational cultural identity, for themselves and for West Germany, can ultimately be considered successful; British as well as American observers clearly placed Krautrock outside the Anglo-American realm of pop music, viewing it as a distinct West German phenomenon detached from pop music’s Anglo-American roots. In addition, and as a result, Krautrock’s soundscapes and performative elements were perceived as the first fundamental contribution to pop music from outside the Anglo-American sphere.

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Chapter
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

Recommended Reading

Glen, P, NEU! Europe: Krautrock and British Representations of West German Countercultures during the 1970s. Contemporary British History, 35:3 (2021), pp. 439–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schütte, U, From Defamation to Adoration: The Reception of Kraftwerk in the British Music Press, 1974–1981, Angermion 13:1 (2020), pp. 124.Google Scholar
Siegfried, D, Time Is On My Side: Konsum und Politik in der westdeutschen Jugendkultur der 60er Jahre (Göttingen: Wallstein, 2006), pp. 601–44.Google Scholar
Simmeth, A, Krautrock Transnational: Die Neuerfindung der Popmusik in der BRD, 1968–1978 (Bielefeld: Transcript, 2016), pp. 117–33, 227–45, 292311.Google Scholar

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