Autobahn by Kraftwerk

Autobahn, Kraftwerk's fourth album, rolled out on Philips in November 1974, and it's the record where these Düsseldorf boffins ditched the krautrock clatter of their early work and went fully electric: synthesizers, drum machines, a hum like a motor under the hood. Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, a duo until now, brought in Klaus Röder on guitar and flute and Wolfgang Flür on percussion, started work at their own Kling Klang setup and finished most of it at Conny Plank's studio, with Plank producing. Their friend Emil Schult chipped in words and a new look.

The title track eats nearly the whole album, 22 minutes of cruising down Germany's highways, the machines mimicking engines and passing traffic, and it's hypnotic as a white line at night. Rolling Stone was not impressed. A Chicago station started spinning the single, America caught on, and in 1975 it was an international hit. David Bowie was among those who later called the album a major influence.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.