Kraftwerk and Yellow Magic Orchestra were the immediate European and Japanese forebears of electro

Electro fused American funk and hip-hop with European and Japanese technopop, and its immediate forebears were Kraftwerk and Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). YMO was the first band to use the TR-808 programmable drum machine (1980), and YMO member Ryuichi Sakamoto’s ‘Riot in Lagos’ (1980) is credited with anticipating the beats and sounds of electro, influencing Afrika Bambaataa and Mantronix. Kraftwerk, the ‘acknowledged forefathers of pure electro,’ supplied the model of pop built entirely from synthesizers and drum machines; Bambaataa’s ‘Planet Rock’ (1982) built on Kraftwerk’s ‘Trans-Europe Express’ and ‘Numbers.’ This Black-American-plus-German/Japanese synthesis is the defining genealogy of electro.

Examples

‘Planet Rock’ draws on Kraftwerk’s ‘Trans-Europe Express’ and ‘Numbers’; YMO’s ‘Riot in Lagos’ used the TR-808 before any American electro producer.

Assessment

Name the two immediate forebears of electro and, for one specific track, explain what it contributed to electro’s sound.