as are the great British public for putting 'Autobahn' in the charts a few years earlier.

Undeniably influential and great.

After 40-odd years though, I now find the four-stationary-blokes-behind-laptops schtick a bit old. They have done it for so long that Kraftwerk now *must* be like that because it's their act.

Kraftwerk seem to be as creatively trapped as Wee Jimmy Krankie and no new music since 2003 means that they're happy to plod along with the live show. It's a living.

thought it was about me, as it's my 30th birthday today.

Alas, no.

Carry on!

Jarvis Cocker's show with Kraftwerk covers, other electronic music and archive clips. the one of David Kid jensen interveiweing Rallf (I think) when the MOdel got to No.1 was hilarious.

The Beatles and Kraftwerk. Kraftwerk's contribution to how popular music sounds - and is created - cannot be overstated. And I facking love the Beatles.

I've seen Kraftwerk about 30 times, all over the place. Oslo in a tiny club where I almost got kicked out for taking photos; Coachella in 100-degree heat at 9pm; in the middle of a working steelmill in Krakow; at the Velodrome in Manchester where the British Olympic cycling team appeared and cycled around the track during Tour De France and Ralf was more animated than I ever saw before - he smirked, even; 8pm and midnight at the disused, gargantuan VW powerstation (Kraftwerk, geddit?!) at the VW Autostadt in Wolfsburg, where the second half had the visuals in 3-D for the first time; and at Brixton Academy, again at 8pm and midnight, where I had the wrong ticket on me (a spare for the Glasgow show a few days earlier that looked identical) and had to ask a stranger to get his mate's proper ticket for me so I could stop hanging around in the foyer. They even called me in between shows to ask if I wanted anything from McDonalds, then delivered me a Happy Meal that I consumed during the second outing for The Man Machine that evening. Lovely boys.

Kraftwerk are like Elvis, The Beatles, The Pistols... they fundamentally changed the landscape, and the aftershocks are still with us. As a top-20 taping 12 year-old, Autobahn was the first track that made me go "wow, what's this??" and I love them to this day.

They've disowned the first albums for years, but have apparently been remixing them for their first (official) CD release soon... so in Kraftwerk time, that's maybe 2015? They're far from essential listening, but are an interesting missing link between krautrock and what Kraftwerk eventually became from Autobahn onwards.

And it's worth reminding ourselves that when The Model reached number 1, it was already 4 years old, a nice example of how ahead of their time they were... actually, the Trans-Europe Express album still sounds ahead of its time.

but I haven't played a full album by them for years, and that's as a fan of long standing.

... I had Computer Love on from beginning to end three nights ago. I sat there with a wee whiskey, warmed to my very cockles and thinking that I didn't give a monkeys if it was their last truly great thing, it's just so completely perfect that I'm glad that it exists.

Anyway here's The Model, but IN GERMAN!!!!!!

As a young fan in the mid-70's, I remember seeing an article about Kraftwerk in the Daily Record. It had a full glossy colour picture of their replica dummies alongside their pride and joy, the electronic rhythmn computer - all dials and switches & sliders. The article was about how they intended in future to design dummies they could send out on tour while they stayed at home. (A technique Simon Cowell would perfect a few short decades later, albeit with musically less-interesting results.)

I was so inspired by the article that I immediately went away and made my own 'rhythmn computer' out of a cardboard box and some old knobs borrowed from my dad's reel-to-reel tape recorder.

I can report that unsurprisingly it didn't work. But something about the waves of warm radioactive bakelite emanating from the Daily Record that day made me think it might.

Great was the kudos at school when The Model hit #1.

I think they're a band who have improved with the years, although the high point remains Computerworld to my ears. I also prefer most of the updated versions inThe Mix.

As for the unavailable early stuff, I had it all on vinyl.

No-one's missing much. Godawful racket. Imagine a Stylophone in a tumble-dryer whilst someone noodles in the background, somewhat atonally, on a variety of flutes.

Were / are they that influential? Not, I suspect, to the degree that people think. The bands which came after would probably still have existed. Were they pioneers? Absolutely. And for that alone, they should be lauded.

I have a terrible memory of personal events so all those I Love xxx shows don't always strike a chord, but I was amazed how many of the reminiscences of Kraftwerk were so similar to mine.

Yes I remember being amazed by the Tomorrow's World appearance

Yes I remember being stunned by hearing Autobahn for the first time on Radio Luxembourg

And I totally remember hearing Showroom Dummies for the first time and having a vivid mental image of the Autons from Doctor Who

Page 30/31 of the Smash Hits from 30 years ago 'this week'

http://www.likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/

Plummy-voiced 'Tomorrow's World' chap gamely gets down with the band in their "laboratory in Dusseldorf'