Radio-Activity

Following the success of its 1974 predecessor Autobahn, an album based on Germany's eponymous motorway network, Kraftwerk embarked on a tour of the United States with the "classic" lineup of the band formed by Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, Karl Bartos—who joined in February 1975—and Wolfgang Flür in April and May 1975.

Radio-Activity's album title displays Kraftwerk's typical deadpan humour, being a pun on the twin themes of the songs,{{cite book |last1=Bussy |first1=Pascal |title=Kraftwerk: Man, Machine and Music |date=2004 |publisher=SAF Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-0-946719-70-9 |page=78 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jyKuiI3kV_gC&dq=kraftwerk+%22radio-activity%22+play+on+words&pg=PA78 |access-date=27 October 2022 |language=en}} half being about radioactivity and the other half about activity on the radio.{{cite book |last1=Schütte |first1=Uwe |title=The Cambridge Companion to Krautrock |date=27 October 2022 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-316-51107-7 |page=99 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6BOUEAAAQBAJ&dq=kraftwerk+%22radio-activity%22+play+on+words&pg=PA99 |access-date=27 October 2022 |language=en}} Bartos revealed that the title was inspired by a chart column in the American magazine, Billboard,{{cite web |last1=Edwards |first1=Lucas |title='Radio-Activity': How Kraftwerk Went Nuclear With Their Fifth Album |url=https://www.thisisdig.com/feature/radio-activity-kraftwerk-album/ |website=Dig! |access-date=26 October 2022 |date=26 October 2022}} which featured the most played singles under the title "Radio Activity".{{cite book |last1=Schütte |first1=Uwe |title=German Pop Music: A Companion |date=11 January 2017 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-11-042354-9 |page=80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cVj1DQAAQBAJ&dq=H%C3%BCtter+Schneider+Emil+Schult+lyrics+radio+activity&pg=PT80 |access-date=27 October 2022 |language=en}} According to Wolfgang Flur, the concept arose as a result of the many radio interviews that Ralf and Florian had given on their American tour.{{sfn|Albiez|Pattie|2011|p=106}}

The album's cover depicts a Volksempfänger radio which was produced in Germany during the Third Reich regime.{{Cite web |last=Rogers |first=Jude |title=How Kraftwerk changed the course of modern music |url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/40033/how-kraftwerk-changed-the-course-of-modern-music |access-date=2025-04-05 |website=www.prospectmagazine.co.uk |language=en}}

The album was recorded in Kling Klang Studio, Düsseldorf, and it was self-produced by Hütter and Schneider.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}} It was their first purely electronic album, and the first one to be performed by the "classic" band line-up.{{cite book |last1=Esch |first1=Rudi |title=Electri_City: The Düsseldorf School of Electronic Music |date=26 August 2016 |publisher=Omnibus Press |isbn=978-1-78323-776-0 |page=70 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GUn_DAAAQBAJ&dq=kraftwerk+%22radio-activity%22+hutter+schneider+bartos+flur&pg=PT70 |access-date=27 October 2022 |language=en}} Karl and Wolfgang worked on electronic percussion.{{cite book |last1=Hardy |first1=Phil |last2=Laing |first2=Dave |title=The Da Capo Companion To 20th-century Popular Music |date=21 August 1995 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0-306-80640-7 |page=531 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CCoaAQAAMAAJ |access-date=27 October 2022 |language=en}} LP liner notes state music and production was by Hütter and Schneider, with Emil Schult collaborating on lyrics. For this album, the band had decided to record some vocals in English and Schult's command of the language after studying for a while in the United States was better than Hutter's or Schneider's. Tim Barr pointed out the impact his experiences had in the United States on his ability to speak the language and in more subtle ways as well.{{sfn|Barr|2013|p=96}} Schult also designed the artwork, which was based on a late-1930s 'Deutscher Kleinempfänger' radio.{{Sfn|Stubbs|2014|p=145-147}}

The overture instrumental piece "Geiger Counter" used Geiger counter beats based on musique concrète.{{cite web |title=Kraftwerk: Radioactivity |url=https://www.clashmusic.com/features/kraftwerk-radioactivity/ |website=Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews |access-date=27 October 2022 |date=13 February 2013}} The album featured use of the distinctive Vako Orchestron keyboard to provide vocal choir on title track.{{cite web |title=Vako Orchestron - Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express & Radioactivity |url=https://www.matrixsynth.com/2011/01/vako-orchestron-kraftwerk-trans-europe.html |website=MATRIXSYNTH |access-date=27 October 2022}} "Antenna" used an echo chamber effect, and Hütter's Farfisa electronic piano was used on "Transistor".{{Sfn|Stubbs|2014|p=145-147}} For the recording, extensive use was made of the vocoder.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

In September 1975, the band toured the UK, playing 17 shows. By 1975, Hütter and Schneider's previous publishing deals with Capriccio Music and Star Musik Studio of Hamburg had expired. The compositions on Radio-Activity were published by their own newly set up Kling Klang Verlag music publishing company, giving them greater financial control over the use of songwriting output. Also, the album was the first to bear the fruit of Kling Klang as an established vanity label under the group's new licensing deal with EMI.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

Radio-Activity was released in November 1975. For their promotion, their record company sent them to a "real Atomkraftwerk" to take promotional photos. In these photos, the group was dressed in white protective suits and anti-radiation boots on their shoes. The album reached {{nobr|No.{{space|thin}}59}} on the Canadian charts in February 1976. The title track "Radioactivity" was released as a single in May 1976 and became a hit in France, selling 500,000 copies, and Belgium in the charts.

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite web|last=Ankeny|first=Jason|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/radio-activity-mw0000462593|title=Radio-Activity – Kraftwerk|publisher=AllMusic|access-date=6 March 2019}}

| rev2 = Drowned in Sound

| rev2score = 8/10{{cite web|last=Power|first=Chris|url=http://drownedinsound.com/releases/14729/reviews/4138105|title=Album Review: Kraftwerk – Radio-Activity: Remastered|work=Drowned in Sound|date=12 October 2009|access-date=6 March 2019|archive-date=6 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306234904/http://drownedinsound.com/releases/14729/reviews/4138105|url-status=dead}}

| rev3 = The Guardian

| rev3score = {{Rating|3|4}}{{cite news|last=Sweeting|first=Adam|author-link=Adam Sweeting|title=CDs of the week: Kraftwerk reissues|work=The Guardian|location=London|date=14 April 1995|issn=0261-3077}}

| rev4 = The Irish Times

| rev4score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite news|last=Clayton-Lea|first=Tony|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/album-reviews/reissue-1.763924|title=Kraftwerk: Autobahn (1974), Radio-Activity (1975), Trans Europe Express (1977), The Man-Machine (1978) (Mute/EMI)|newspaper=The Irish Times|location=Dublin|date=30 October 2009|access-date=18 March 2017|issn=0791-5144}}

| rev5 = Mojo

| rev5score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine|last=Snow|first=Mat|author-link=Mat Snow|title=Gut Vibrations|magazine=Mojo|location=London|issue=192|date=November 2009|page=110|issn=1351-0193}}

| rev6 = Q

| rev6score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine|title=Kraftwerk: Radio-Activity|magazine=Q|location=London|page=116|quote=[A] conceptual piece that diverted Kraftwerk's music into monochrome retro-futurism...|issn=0955-4955}}

| rev7 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev7score = {{Rating|2|5}}{{cite book|last1=Coleman|first1=Mark|last2=Randall|first2=Mac|editor1-last=Brackett|editor1-first=Nathan|editor1-link=Nathan Brackett|editor2-last=Hoard|editor2-first=Christian|editor2-link=Christian Hoard|chapter=Kraftwerk|title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide|title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide|publisher=Simon & Schuster|edition=4th|year=2004|isbn=0-7432-0169-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/468 468–69]}}

| rev8 = Select

| rev8score = 4/5{{cite magazine|last=Harrison|first=Andrew|title=Kraftwerk: Radio Activity / Man Machine / Computer World / The Mix|magazine=Select|location=London|issue=60|date=June 1995|issn=0959-8367}}

| rev9 = Spin Alternative Record Guide

| rev9score = 9/10{{cite book|last=Reynolds|first=Simon|author-link=Simon Reynolds|editor1-last=Weisbard|editor1-first=Eric|editor1-link=Eric Weisbard|editor2-last=Marks|editor2-first=Craig|chapter=Kraftwerk|title=Spin Alternative Record Guide|title-link=Spin Alternative Record Guide|publisher=Vintage Books|year=1995|isbn=0-679-75574-8|pages=215–16}}

| rev10 = Uncut

| rev10score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine|last=Cavanagh|first=David|author-link=David Cavanagh|url=http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/kraftwerk/reviews/13709|title=Uncut reviews: Kraftwerk – Reissues|magazine=Uncut|location=London|date=16 October 2009|access-date=22 October 2009|issn=1368-0722|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205031308/http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/kraftwerk/reviews/13709|archive-date=5 December 2010|url-status=dead}}

}}

Radio-Activity was released to mixed reviews, with Rolling Stone criticizing the album: "...{{nbsp}}no cut on the album comes near the melodic/harmonic sense that pervaded Autobahn or the creative use of electronics on the much earlier album Ralf and Florian".{{cite magazine|last=Ward|first=Ed|author-link=Ed Ward (writer)|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/radio-aktivitat-19760212|title=Radio-Aktivitat|magazine=Rolling Stone|location=New York|date=12 February 1976|access-date=10 November 2017|issn=0035-791X}} Uncut wrote regarding their 2009 remaster that it "begins like a heartbeat in the void, accelerating into the pulse that will form the spine of the title-song, an eerie tribute to the intangibles (music, disintegrating atoms) that linger in the atmosphere." It consider that "has a musty scent of Old Europe, which proved a hit with the synth groups of 1980-81 (eg, Ultravox and Visage), and it retains a blood-chilling, Wagnerian quality even now, thanks to Kraftwerk's use of the Vako Orchestron, a choir-like relative of the Mellotron."

Chris Power from Drowned in Sound praised it for the experimental feeling in 2009: "A bridge between electronic experimentalism and the powerful, groundbreaking unification of avant-garde form and catchy, commercial function that was just around the corner, Radio-Activity is the sound of Kraftwerk finding their way in a strange new landscape that they were in the very process of creating". In a retrospective review, Jason Ankeny from AllMusic called the album "a pivotal record in the group's continuing development" and stated that it "marked Kraftwerk's return to more obtuse territory, extensively utilizing static, oscillators, and even Cage-like moments of silence".

{{track listing

| headline = Side one

| all_writing =

| title1 = Geiger Counter

| note1 = "Geigerzähler"

| writer1 = {{hlist|Ralf Hütter|Florian Schneider}}

| length1 = 1:07

| title2 = Radioactivity

| note2 = "Radioaktivität"

| writer2 = {{hlist|Hütter|Schneider|Emil Schult}}

| length2 = 6:42

| title3 = Radioland

| writer3 = {{hlist|Hütter|Schneider|Schult}}

| length3 = 5:50

| title4 = Airwaves

| note4 = "Ätherwellen"

| writer4 = {{hlist|Hütter|Schneider|Schult}}

| length4 = 4:40

| title5 = Intermission

| note5 = "Sendepause"

| writer5 = {{hlist|Hütter|Schneider}}

| length5 = 0:39

| title6 = News

| note6 = "Nachrichten"

| writer6 = {{hlist|Hütter|Schneider}}

| length6 = 1:17

}}

{{track listing

| headline = Side two

| title7 = The Voice of Energy

| note7 = "Die Stimme der Energie"

| writer7 = {{hlist|Hütter|Schneider|Schult}}

| length7 = 0:55

| title8 = Antenna

| note8 = "Antenne"

| writer8 = {{hlist|Hütter|Schneider|Schult}}

| length8 = 3:43

| title9 = Radio Stars

| note9 = "Radio Sterne"

| writer9 = {{hlist|Hütter|Schneider|Schult}}

| length9 = 3:35

| title10 = Uranium

| note10 = "Uran"

| writer10 = {{hlist|Hütter|Schneider|Schult}}

| length10 = 1:26

| title11 = Transistor

| writer11 = {{hlist|Hütter|Schneider}}

| length11 = 2:15

| title12 = Ohm Sweet Ohm

| writer12 = {{hlist|Hütter|Schneider}}

| length12 = 5:39

| total_length = 37:38

}}

Adapted from 2009 remaster liner notes.{{cite AV media notes

| title = Radio-Activity (Digital Remaster)

| others = Kraftwerk

| year = 2009

| type = CD

| publisher = Mute Records

| id = CDSTUMM304

| location = Great Britain

}}

• Ralf Hütter – vocals, synthesizers, Orchestron, electronic piano, drum machine, electronics
• Florian Schneider – vocals, vocoder, votrax, synthesizers, electronics
• Karl Bartos – electronic percussion
• Wolfgang Flür – electronic percussion

• Peter Bollig – technical engineer (Kling Klang Studio, Düsseldorf)
• Walter Quintus – sound mix engineer (Rüssl Studio, Hamburg)
• Robert Franke – photography
• Emil Schult – artwork
• Johann Zambryski – artwork reconstruction (2009 Remaster)

{{certification Table Top}}

{{certification Table Entry|title=Radio-Activity|type=album|artist=Kraftwerk|relyear=1976|region=France|award=Gold|source=infodisc|certyear=1977}}

{{certification Table Bottom|noshipments=true}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last1=Stubbs |first1=David |title=Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany |date=5 August 2014 |publisher=Faber & Faber |isbn=978-0-571-28334-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9mwZBAAAQBAJ |access-date=8 December 2022 |language=en}}
• {{cite book |last1=Albiez |first1=Sean |last2=Pattie |first2=David |title=Kraftwerk: Music Non-Stop |date=1 January 2011 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-1-4411-9136-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZVDVrWyAk2YC |access-date=8 December 2022 |language=en}}
• {{cite book |last1=Barr |first1=Tim |title=Kraftwerk: from Dusseldorf to the Future With Love |date=31 August 2013 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-1-4481-7776-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0mcj4h2qEhQC |access-date=8 December 2022 |language=en}}

• {{Discogs master|3228}}

{{Kraftwerk}}

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Category:1970s concept albums

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Category:1970s German-language albums