Ian said some interesting things recently, about Kraftwerk and punk... They certainly must have felt more connected with the new bands from '77 onwards, than their prog contemporaries of the early 70s. Holding aside the guitars, aggression and ripped jeans for a second, there are several interesting similarities... the DIY attitude, the anti-musicianship (ie no solos), the repeated patterns, the political lyrics... Plus, we know that Kraftwerk liked "punk godfathers" Stooges and the "punk on synth" of Suicide... Also, it is very different to be a synth pop group when you are the ONLY synth pop group! Kraftwerk were practically the only ones until Telex and YMO in'78-'79. Therefore, no-one knew that they were another genre! There was no 'synth pop' then. This strong segregation of pop music into categories (eg. drum'n'bass as opposed to UK garage or 2step) is something that came much later. And I just thought of something else... the Kraftwerk-inspired pop of the UK in the early eighties, with the new romantics etc, was also started by punks! Foxx and Numan were mentioned, Visage were old punks from Magazine or Moors Murderers, Pete Shelley did some great records with Martin Rushent... I think Kraftwerk stood out from the crowd, and therefore, at least some punks liked them... Well, that would be my throppence worth. time for my pill. best oystein _________________________________________________________________ MSN Messenger http://www.msn.no/messenger - Den korteste veien mellom deg og dine venner