The Foreign Correspondent - Stories About German Rock Music # 15

Let us look back at 1973/74. To the times when most of the guys had long hairs and the girls wore ultra skirts they ended Millimeters under their bottoms. At this time the hipsters listened to glam rock or some kind of arty rock like Styx and others still stuck in the late 1960 listening to them heroes like Led Zeppelin or Frank Zappa. In this sphere Edgar Froese and Klaus Schulz have started to do handicraft in a new sound not knowing that this would be one basic of the so called Krautrock. They experimented to integrate unusual instruments like flute, bird's voices and organ into her very own sound. At this time you could buy the first generation of synthesizers. That was the beginning of a real new sound created by Tangerine Dream. Most of the people I knew at this time could start nothing with this kind of music. For most of them ears was the competitions to difficult to understand or the songs much too long. Friends that enjoyed this kind of music these days have smoked pot. And I saw a few years later the same ones smoking pot to the sound of Bob Marley. Most of them get rid of it but a few one died a couple of years later on that fucking heroine. In their early days Tangerine Dream was more successful in Great Britain than in Germany. Also under the influence of John Peel who named their album Atem (breath) as the best record of the year 1973. In fact of this Richard Branson signed them for his Virgin label and they released Phedra which reached the top 20 in the British charts. In the following years the made soundtracks for some movies, experimented with classic music and collaborated with Terry Riley. Their influence to the next generation of musicians and remix projects is immense. I can't give a better compliment to them as saying: Their Music is still not suitable for all ears.

Tangerine Dream - Atem

Tangerine Dream - Circulation Of Events

Tangerine Dream - Phaedra