Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser Saw Music As A Revolutionary Force

I finished the Dutch edition of Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser's book De Nieuwe Popmuziek (original German title: Das Buch der neuen Pop-Musik). Written in 1969, it gives a pretty accurate description of musical developments since the early 1960s, seen through the eyes of the man who helped so many krautrock bands release their first albums.

Kaiser started his career in the world of music as a journalist. He wrote a number of books on this topic which are all hard to find now, but luckily, I  managed to get hold of a copy.

In his book, Kaiser regarded pop music not just as art or entertainment, but as a revolutionary force that would help create an entirely new society based on anarchist ideas. His biggest hope was Frank Zappa, the most intelligent and politically conscious musician around according to Kaiser.

When reading his work, you get the impression that he almost despised artists that did not sing about relevant social topics or did not make "psychedelic" music, a kind of music he felt you could only understand if you had a revolutionary soul.

For this reason, Kaiser saw musicians like Leonard Cohen or supergroups like Led Zeppelin as marionettes of the record industry, a business that he felt had no other objective than to manipulate and silence "progressive" young people in order to save the political establishment.

No Krautrock Without The Pink Floyd?

Read an interview with first generation krautrockers and many will mention the first Pink Floyd (then still The Pink Floyd) album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn as an influence. And it's not difficult to hear.

It's kinda ironic that these German artists who didn't want to reproduce anglo-saxon examples fell in love with a British band that was named after two American blues musicians. But listen to this legendary debut album and you understand the appeal of The Pink Floyd.

It was the sole album that the band recorded with their founder, Syd Barrett, who was not only the singer and guitarist but also the main songwriter.