Kraftwerk's Promo Videos 1976-1999

Part 3, 1986-1999

Musique Non Stop (1986)

 

Probably Kraftwerk's most well known video due equally to its computer graphics, its repeated showing on MTV and many of its images having been seen on record covers such as 'Electric Cafe', 'Musique Non Stop' and 'The Telephone Call'. In addition, promo photos of the band distributed to the press at this time were also culled from the video.

The computer generated images of the band begin with bare-boned wire-frame incarnations. The 'skin' is then filled in. Starting off quite angular, blue tinted and with garish red lips. Gradually the quality smoothes out, by the end the likeness is quite impressive. All these images focus on band members disembodied heads. As well as these images there is also wire-frame images of the four members along side one another in familiar Kling-Klang studio formation, playing keyboard and tapping their feet along with the music, a nice bit this, seen from several different angles, above, behind and the front. There is also non-Kraftwerk images of musical notation forms tumbling through the air. The staves mutate into mixing desk modules which the musical notes scroll over. All nice stuff this!

The band still use much of this video to this day when performing the song live. Directed by Rebecca Allen, the video was actually started years before this songs release and completed in 1984. Apparently, there is much more material that was never used in this clip.

The Telephone Call (1987)

 
 

This video features shots of the band members themselves, as opposed to digital or robotic manifestations, which was odd for the time bearing in mind Ralf Hütter's often quoted dislike of publicity photo sessions and the like. Shot in black and white, the band look well serious, dressed in the customary black, complete with black leather gloves which operate dated looking tape recorders, telephones, microphones, typewriters etc. All four members are shown and this is interspersed with more of the customary archive film, on this occasion showing dated footage of switchboard operators at work.

Like 'Musique Non Stop', this has been shown regularly on MTV, so copies shouldn't be as bad quality as earlier period videos.

The Robots / Die Roboter (1991)

 

Along with 'Musique Non Stop' probably the next most aired video, as it's the most recent. This video features the bands robots which were unveiled with the release of 'The Mix' in 1991. Complete with moving arms, the band also used them live in 1991-93 during 'The Robots' when played live. The robots do their stuff against different coloured backgrounds, with the songs words spelled out in large, red bitmapped type in the background. There is also the simplistic line-drawing animated robot footage too, the robot image found on the inner sleeves of 'The Mix'.

The German version has the song words spelled out in the German language, naturally.

Radioactivity (UK, 1991)

When this single was released late in 1991, Kraftwerk were on their European tour at the time. Whether it was this that prevented them from putting together a proper video, or whether they just didn't want to a video is uncertain. Whatever, EMI in the UK put together this mish-mash effort, with bits from 'The Robots', 'The Telephone Call' and 'Musique Non Stop' all clipped together, some of it with a solarisation type effect added too. The result; not too impressive, especially the lip synching, which never had a chance anyway.

Sellafield 2 (1993)

This item was distributed to the media in support of the 'REACT' campaign organised by Greenpeace, in 1993. It features a unique piece of Kraftwerk music - well, some sinister sounding electronic noises in the background while a real 'voice of doom' vocoder recites various facts and figures about the Sellafield nuclear plant. The footage is very similar to 1991's 'The Robots' - I would venture that they are leftovers from that video in fact - while the same facts and figures that are voiced are scrolled in bold capital lettering. Was shown on MTV News in 1993.

Tribal (1997)

'Tribal' is the name given to the new music first performed by Kraftwerk at 1997's 'Tribal Gathering' festival. Subsequently, a version complete with new footage of Kraftwerk themselves appeared as a video file on Kraftwerk's website and has also been distributed and aired on television too. This clip features Kraftwerk dressed in the futuristic looking bodysuits that glow in the dark and give something of 'wire-frame' look, akin to the 'Musique Non Stop' animations. This track has never been released as such, though has clearly been distributed to the media and aired by MTV amongst others.

 
 

Expo2000 (1999)

Accompanying the bands most recent single this video features computer generated imagery both of themselves (or, rather, the Kraftwerk-like clone figures as featured on the sleeve designs for the single) as well as of the Expo2000 site. Nothing particularly ground breaking in fact when compared to 'Musique Non Stop' from 14 years previously when you dwell upon it. Also features footage of Kraftwerk themselves in the 'wire'frame' luminous body suits debuted from the 'Tribal' video, as well as the animated multicoloured shapes that make up the official Expo 2000 logo. The video, as well as being shown on TV, was also available on the UK CD release of the single.

The scope of this article has been purely to cover Kraftwerk's official promo videos. However, there are a few items which fall outwith this that I'll mention briefly. There exists an animated cartoon for 'Autobahn', which is not merely the 7" edit. A promotional television advert for 'The Mix' was also aired in the UK in 1991, while rumours abound that a 'Live Mix' video exists and was scheduled for release - these have never been substantiated with anything resembling proof however. Live versions of 'Radioactivity' and 'The Robots' were issued on a commercially available video called 'Stop Sellafield', filmed at the live concert of the same name in 1992. Finally, Kraftwerk performed the theme music for an MTV programme called 'Music Non Stop' which used to be shown daily in the late afternoon. This music was new, not merely a version of the original track. I hope to cover all of these in more depth in a future article.

• Introduction
• Part 1, 1976-1977: Radio-Activity, Antenna, Trans-Europe Express, Showroom Dummies
• Part 2, 1978-1984: The Robots, Neon Licht, Pocket Calculator, The Model, Tour De France
• Part 3, 1986-1999: Musique Non Stop, The Telephone Call, The Robots (1991), Radioactivity (1991), Sellafield 2, Tribal, Expo 2000, Miscellaneous