Introduction

Summary

The Introduction first considers the enthusiastic reception of Krautrock in Britain, comparing it to the limited contemporary interest in Germany and locating the origins of a homegrown pop music in the desire to develop a pop musical countermodel to the hegemony of Anglo-American pop and rock music. Then the trajectory of Krautrock’s rediscovery beginning in the mid-1990s is traced; first, the renewed media interest from the 2010s onwards, which has resulted in several journalistic books on both the movement in general and on individual bands; next, the concomitant academic research on Krautrock that accelerated in the mid-2010s and continues apace. The Introduction further discusses the neglect of female voices in the received Krautrock narrative und critiques essentialist attempts to reduce the highly heterogenous movement. Rather, the Introduction proposes understanding Krautrock as the specifically (but not exclusively) German variety of a ‘sound of revolt‘ thriving in the politically charged period from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s. By considering German experimental music as an attempt to give voice to the longing for a better future, the conclusion links Krautrock to Ernst Bloch’s utopian philosophy.