NME With news of the sad passing of Florian Schneider, Peter Hook tells NME about the seismic impact that Kraftwerk had on Joy Division and New Order’s music, style and attitude
“I was so sad to hear of Florian Schneider’s death. My earliest memory of Kraftwerk was being given an LP by Ian Curtis. He gave me ‘Autobahn’ and then later ‘Trans Europe Express’. I was absolutely mesmerised by both. Ian suggested that every time Joy Division go on stage, we should do so to ‘Trans Europe Express’. We did that from our first show, until nearly our last.
“Ian’s musical education was fantastic. He taught us about everything from The Doors to Can. He put these artists in front of Barney [Sumner, bandmate] and I and they became so important to us. Joy Division were very tied to Kraftwerk, but it wasn’t until we got to New Order and were able to afford the toys that our primary source of inspiration became, ‘Let’s rip off Kraftwerk’. Their music was beguilingly simple, but impossible to replicate.
“You never knew Kraftwerk individually. I know that they’ve had their problems as a group, in the way that all of us have, but I like the way they always seemed to this one tight, closed unit. Ian always modelled what he wanted Joy Division like from an attitude point of view on Kraftwerk, without a shadow of a doubt. When everyone was trying to turn us into ‘Ian Curtis And Joy Division’, he would say, ‘No no, we need to be like Kraftwerk – it’s all of us, together’. That was the image that I bought into. I still don’t know which of them did what. I think there’s a strength, an honesty and a respect in that.
“Kraftwerk were such a huge influence on us, both musically and stylistically. Ian was so in awe of the way that they dressed and the way they acted as well as their music. It was the perfect triangle. If you listen to a lot of music now, you hear Kraftwerk’s influence completely. It’s funny, because I remember seeing Kraftwerk when acid house first hit and it was the first time I didn’t enjoy it, because I was begging for a 4/4 beat. I remember thinking, ‘What have you become, Hooky?’
