Krautrock is a term coined by the British music press, and is generally used to refer to the progressive and experimental groups of late 1960s and early 1970s Germany.
These groups combined a variety of influences and styles, including British and American psychedelic rock groups, the free jazz of
Ornette Coleman and
Albert Ayler, experimental classical composers (most notably
Karlheinz Stockhausen as well as the minimalists
Terry Riley and
Steve Reich). The desire to eschew conventional song structure and melody also led to some groups developing a more mechanical sound and feel for their compositions, which also often made use of early synthesizers and other electronic instrumentation.
Although they all differed in their approach to their music, the underlying link between all the Krautrock groups was the attempt to take the rhythm ("motorik" was the name given to the steady 4/4 beat used by many groups) and energy of American rock music and disassociate it as much as possible from its
Rhythm & Blues roots, instead drawing inspiration from other sources.
Kraftwerk are far and away the most commercially successful of all the Krautrock groups, finding major commercial success when they developed their sound into a pioneering form of
Synth Pop combining catchy synthesizer melodies with the motorik rhythm.
Critically, however, many Krautrock groups are held in high esteem by the vast majority of commentators. Albums by groups such as
Amon Düül II,
Can,
Faust,
NEU!,
Popol Vuh and
Tangerine Dream are regarded as classics in the experimental and progressive rock canon.
It should be noted that, although Krautrock has come to be accepted as the general term for the music of this style, it was (and is) percieved by some as a xenophobic or derogatory term, since "Kraut" is an ethnic slur against Germans. As a result, some of the so-called Krautrock groups have distanced themselves from the term, instead referring to their music as German Progressive Rock or Kosmische Musik.