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I had the chance to see Kraftwerk live in LA a couple of years ago, and it was just amazing. One of the best live shows I've ever seen. Thematically, they wer
by mturmon 10y ago
I had the chance to see Kraftwerk live in LA a couple of years ago, and it was just amazing. One of the best live shows I've ever seen.
Thematically, they were trying to address the conflicts and tension between us and the technology we create. I had forgotten about these themes from their "Radioactivity" album (from 1975), but they brought it up to date by dropping "Fukushima" into the lyrics as sung that night. It ended up sounding profoundly prescient, like so much of their other work.
I don't think JMJ has anything like the depth that Kraftwerk has. Like you, I've been listening to both since the mid 80s - I had Magnetic Fields on vinyl, but Zoolook on CD. Jarre is mostly simple entertainment for me now, but Kraftwerk makes me think.
- jacquesm 10y agoJean-Michel Jarre was besides a half decent composer excellent at marketing and a good showman. By comparison Kraftwerk was the more interesting, further ahead of the curve and more geeky. Usually the people that liked the one also like the other to a greater or lesser degree with Vangelis somewhere in the middle and Tangerine Dream somewhere to the far side of JMJ. What is amazing to me is that when I listen to that music today it does not feel nearly as dated as other music from that era.