The model

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The model
power plant
publication	1978
length	3:39
Genre (s)	Pop , electronic music
text	Emil Schult
music	Karl Bartos , Ralf Hütter
album	the human machine
Cover version
1997	Rammstein

The model ( Engl. The Model until the 2009 remastered album title: The model ) is a song of the German band Kraftwerk . It first appeared on the 1978 album Die Mensch-Maschine and was also released as a single in 1978 . The piece is 3:39 minutes long. The text is by Emil Schult , the music was composed by Karl Bartos and Ralf Hütter . The song hit the charts three times: 1981 in Kraftwerk's English version The Model , 1982 the single in Germany and 1997 as Das Modell von Rammstein .

background

When the text idea for the song came up, Emil Schult was hopelessly in love with a model . Under this influence, he wrote down the verses that later became the text framework of the song. Schult had also composed music for it that was very guitar-heavy and therefore did not fit the musical concept of Kraftwerk. That is why Bartos and Hütter rewrote the music. The voice that shouts “correct!” After the line “She always drinks champagne in the nightclub ” belongs to a waiter who was regularly serving the band in a Düsseldorf scene at the time of the recording and his question to new guests - “ Hey there. Sekt? ”- basically answered:“ Correct! ”Kraftwerk then invited him to their studio and recorded him for the song.

publication

The song tells the story of a model and is the only song that falls outside the otherwise futuristic overall concept of the album. It is the catchiest track on the album and was therefore selected as a single. The model is still one of the songs the band plays at concerts today.

The first release of the song was as a single from the album Die Mensch-Maschine , on the B-side was the piece Neonlicht . An EP with two other songs was also released: Die Roboter and Trans Europa Express . These publications could not place in the charts. In 1981 the record company EMI released the English language version of Computer Love (English title Computer Love ) from the 1981 album Computerwelt as a single, although the lyrics were shortened. On the B-side was the English version of Das Model (English title The Model ). English DJs played the B-side more often than the newer A-side in the course of the New Romantic movement. Then EMI re-released the single and it reached first place in the UK singles charts in 1982 . It reached number 7 in Germany, making it Kraftwerk's most successful single to this day.

The song was also released on Kraftwerk's album Minimum-Maximum (2005) .

Cover versions (selection)

• Snakefinger on the album Chewing Hides the Sound (1979)
• Big Black on the album Songs about Fucking (1987)
• Hannes Kröger on the single Das Model (1990)
• the Bălănescu Quartet on the album Possessed (1992)
• Ride on Ruby Trax: The NME's Roaring Forty (1992)
• Rammstein on the single Das Modell (1997)
• Sopor Aeternus under the title Modela est with Latin text on the album Voyager - The Jugglers of Jusa (1998)
• Zoot Woman on the album Living in a Magazine (2001)
• Veronika Zemanová The model (2002)
• The Cardigans on the single For What It's Worth (2003)
• Scala & Kolacny Brothers on the album Limitless (2005)
• Eläkeläiset in the Humppa style on the EP Das Humppawerk (2006)
• Erdmöbel on the album No.1 Hits (2007)
• Polkaholix on the album The Great Polka Swindel (2007)
• Messer Chups "the model" released in Russia
• The Swell Season live since 2008
• Schwartz on the EP Geliebte Mutti
• Seu Jorge on the album Seu Jorge and Almaz (2010)
• Tangerine Dream on the album Under Cover - Chapter One (2010)
• [em] on the album Wasted & Wanted (2012)
• Die Toten Hosen on the album The Spirits We Called (2012)
• Dieter Thomas Kuhn & Band (2013)
• Stefan Stoppok on the album Popschutz (2014)
• Annett Louisan on the album Berlin, Cape Town, Prague (2016)
• Heino on the album ... and bye (2018)

In addition to the above, there are other cover versions of less well-known bands, classic adaptations and also a children's choir version. All of these versions are approved by the band. Only Rammstein did not obtain consent and for this reason paid Kraftwerk an amount of money not known to the public. It was released on November 23, 1997 together with a revised version of Alter Mann from the album Sehnsucht and the previously unreleased song Kokain and the computer game Asche zu Asche as the title track as a CD single , which was placed in the charts in Germany, Austria and Sweden . The cover of the single shows a winter landscape.

Chart successes

year	Title artist	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, artist , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1981	The Model / Computer Love Kraftwerk	-	-	-	UK1 (21 weeks) UK	-	The English version of Das Model was published as a double A-side together with Computer Love .
1982	The model / computer love Kraftwerk	DE7 (20 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-
1997	The Rammstein model	DE5 (13 weeks) DE	AT18 (12 weeks) AT	-	-	-

literature

• Freestyle: The Model , Radio Eins , broadcast on March 10, 2009.
• Pascal Bussy: Kraftwerk: man, machine and music . SAF Publishing Ltd, 2005, p. 105-108 .

Web links

• List of publications
• Album: The Man-Machine List of Releases
• Kraftwerk - The model on YouTube

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Chart sources: The Model in the German Singles Charts , The Model in the UK Singles Charts , The Model in the Austrian Hit Parade