Computerwelt

I wrote a post yesterday on Tumblr about the science fiction that I read in my youth. I'm not sure how much of an influence that had on my subsequent love of electronic music but, in retrospect, it seems almost inevitable that I'd fall in love with Kraftwerk.

Except I couldn't have fallen in love with them just as a matter of principle. What seduced me was the unique combination of sound, melody and rhythm. And their much overlooked sense of humour.

Sometime in 1981 I went on a school trip to an exhibition in Kingston, which was about computers. I don't know what the machines were but I was wholly disappointed. Brought up on Arthur C Clarke, I was still waiting for the Internet. But the music playing was Kraftwerk's 'Computer World', so I wandered around, ignoring the hardware, enjoying the electronic sounds coming from the speakers, so much bigger than the ones I had at home.

Over thirty years later, though, the future has surpassed all my hopes and expectations. This evening I was sat on the train with a glass of wine and my iPod. 2037 albums on a device significantly smaller than my old walkman, which could play just 90 minutes of music. How amazing is that?

That's the advantage of technology. It's not so you can work when you should be relaxing. I should have had a word with these folks in the photo.