by Passing_Stranger » Fri Jan 05, 2018 10:23 am
It certainly was a novelty, something like "Popcorn". And the radio stations took to it - but it only reached the twenties on the various charts (Billboard, Cash Box, Record World) so it wasn't such a big hit as a single. The album sales were certainly driven by radio play, as the radio has been more open to the experimental music in the wake of progressive rock (Kraftwerk were certainly seen as an act having much in common with the gernre). Maybe also the press showed its influence. And the band cemented the LP success by touring. It was during 1975, by the way.
Still, it was a fluke (commercially speaking, of course) - just another flavour of the month, it seems, an "interesting" record that just happened. Of all their subsequent albums only "Computer World" made Top 100, and only peaked at 72 (Billboard), while only "Trans Europe Express" charted in Top 100 (very humbly) as a single.
As for black stations playing their music, it didn't start until "Trans Europe Express" - and looks like since then the major part of their sales were to black audience through "their" stations. It's maybe due to them that Kraftwerk had a kind of chart resurgence in 1981 (and college radio).
Have to counter the claims that Kraftwerk weren't played at clubs - actually, it's just there that they've found their greatest support. "Computer World" tracks and "Tour de France" were major hits on Billboard club survey, while "Musique Non Stop" and "The Telephone Call" even topped that chart. In fact they were seen primarily as a dance act since the late 1970s.