Today, reports have come in on the passing of Kraftwerk Co-Founder Florian Schneider. Scheider was 73. When it comes to electronic music, Kraftwerk is probably the earliest band that I can think of, formed in 1970 by Ralf Hutter along with Schneider. Numbers, off of their 1981 album Computer World was a fantastic song, particularly in New York’s early days of hip-hop. Way before sampling ever became the norm, Afrika Bambaataa & the Soul Sonic Force used part of Kraftwerk’s “Trans Europe Express” in their own song, Planet Rock.
Numbers is basically the numbers 1, 2,3,4 in different languages, but with the beat and synths, it made for easy breakdancing music.