Tour de France: Man-Machine
Tour de France (1983) by Kraftwerk, one of the coolest album covers ever. It was inspired by a hungarian stamp, shown below. The faces of the cyclists resembles those of Kraftwerk members Ralf Hütter, Karl Bartos, Florian Schneider and Wolfgang Flür.
Apparently the cover was changed for the reissue in 1999, only keeping the faces of the remaining members Ralf and Florian. Kraftwerk as a group failed because Ralph and Florian were a little to much fond of being out cycling instead of making music in the studio, at least according to former member Karl Bartos.
In my opinion the bicycle captures the essence of Kraftwerk, man and technology overlapping, and in harmony. The song could just as well have been on their record "The Man-Machine".
Another stamp-cycling connection: When US Postal Service sponsored Lance Armstrong's adventures of Tour de France, there were jokes of the need to raise the price of postage to afford his salary...
Stamps, art, music and Tour de France. How's that as a hybrid post?
2 comments:
I guess when it comes to post-hybridization, the only thing that is missing for you is coffee?
Great post! Who is winning? I would never have guessed that the Kraftwerk band was out cycling (bara att de var ute och cyklade musikalist, tycker jag, hihi).
I can think of a few more components to complete the hybridization, but I save that for later. Otherwise it will be post-hubris. ;)
I think it is Ralf Hütter who is the leading cyclist, makes sense since he is the lead singer.
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