If you missed the meaning of Kraftwerk from their earlier albums, 1978’s The man machine brings it all home: the band consists of robots, in perfect sync with technology. This album is like a manifest.
The very first record I wrote about in this website has one song that my sisters already knew, but I didn’t. The model was on that record, in a bundle produced but recognizable way. The original sounds a lot better here. It is a satirical song about a fashion model.
Weirdly, that song wasn’t recognized as a potential hit, and it took until 1982 before it was discovered as such. That rediscovery was initiated by DJ flipping to the b-side of the single that contained it in 1981, and the following marketing push by record company EMI. The irony is that a song crying out against consumerism and superficial beauty is turned into the band’s most successful product.