Radio-Activity

Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider were students at the Robert Schumann Hochschule. They joined the band Organisation which released the album "Tone Float" in 1970. That band soon split up and Ralf and Florian started their own band Kraftwerk including Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother. The first 2 albums are simply titled 1 (1970) and 2 (1972) including experimental improvisations with no vocals. After the first 2 albums Klaus and Michael left the band to form their own band Neu. 

Kraftwerk 1 and 2 album covers

Album covers for the album "Ralf and/und Florian" (1973)

The third album titled "Ralf und Florian" was released in 1973 and they used synths and drum machines. Producer and engineer Konrad "Conny" Plank was very important those days for the krautrock scene and he also worked with Cluster, Can, Harmonia and Neu. He co-produced the first 2 albums by Kraftwerk. Then in 1974 Kraftwerk had their breakthrough with "Autobahn" which was also engineered by Conny Plank. An album which included real vocals in German. 2 permanent other members of the bands were introduced: Karl Bartos and Wolfgang Flür.

Kraftwerk in the studio

In 1975 Kraftwerk released their fifth album "Radio-Activity" ("Radio-Activität" in Germany). The album is a concept album half being about radioactivity and the other half about activity on the radio.  The album was recorded at the Kling Klang Studio, Düsseldorf. They recorded vocals in German and English. Although the album is released with the German title "Radio-Activität" it's exactly the same album being a amultilingual album. Flutes and Guitars are now gone and they only used synths. The album includes songs and sound collages. They were far ahead of their time back in 1975 with synthesizer music.

Back of original album cover

In 1976 the band toured to support the album and were invited by David Bowie to become the support act for his Station to Station tour but Kraftwerk declined. The band had a lasting influence on Bowie resulting in doing some instrumentals based on Krautrock in 1977 on his albums "Low" and "Heroes".

The original LP came with a sticker sheet

ALBUM COVER

The original album cover displays a Volksempfänger radio which was produced in Germany during the Third Reich regime. The original album included a sticker sheet with the nuclear sign. The later album cover was designed by Peter Saville and displayed the nuclear sign. 

Orginal album cover

New album cover by Peter Saville

Radio-Activity/Radio Activität (1975)
Geiger Counter (Geigerzähler) / Radioactivity (Radioaktivität) / Radioland / Airwaves (Ätherwellen) / Intermission (Sendepause) / News (Nachrichten) / The Voice of Energy (Die Stimme der Energie) / Antenna (Antenne) / Radio Stars (Radio Sterne) / Uranium (Uran) / Transistor / Ohm Sweet Ohm

AUDIO/VIDEO

Radio-Activity

Antenna

Airwaves