Man-Machine

THE MAN-MACHINE and its predecessor, 1977's TRANS-EUROPE EXPRESS, deserve their exalted position in the pantheon of modern music, if only for their importance in shaping the future development of hip-hop and dance music. The concept behind The Man-Machine took Kraftwerk's mechanistic vision of humanity to its logical extreme, but the music within captured the group at their most engagingly melodic. Instantly memorable, "The Model" reached number 1 in the UK singles chart three years later, and proved to be a direct inspiration for the wave of gloomy electronic bands that quickly followed. However, none of them ever came close to grasping the subtle human touch that lay behind Kraftwerk's faceless exterior.