Kraftwerk are often talked about in terms of their influence alone\u2014which was, of course, considerable, given they more or less invented electronic music and gave a big helping hand to hip-hop too. But The Man-Machine, their seventh album, shows how brilliant their music is in itself. Just like the cyborg melding that the title suggests, the songs combine robotic rhythms with gleaming, affecting melodies. And with the opening track itself called \u201cThe Robots,\u201d it can\u2019t be said that Kraftwerk don\u2019t know how to poke fun at their buttoned-up image.<\/p>\n
Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd (1975)<\/strong><\/p>\n Prog rock has a bad reputation, but not all of it succumbs to the stereotype of pretentious concept albums and 10-minute keyboard solos. Pink Floyd\u2019s Wish You Were Here has more than a famous cover\u2014it contains some of the band\u2019s best music. The elegiac, understated title track balances out the album\u2019s more complex moments: in particular, the seven-part epic \u201cShine on You Crazy Diamond,\u201d a tribute to the band\u2019s troubled former singer Syd Barrett.<\/p>\n Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division (1979)<\/strong><\/p>\n The first of Joy Division\u2019s two albums, and the only one released while singer Ian Curtis was alive, has an even more famous cover\u2014Peter Saville\u2019s design has been replicated and parodied on thousands (probably millions) of T-shirts around the world. The music itself is dark, echoing and utterly magnetic, reflecting the bleak, post-industrial northern England the band grew up in. Just as you see the cover everywhere, you can hear the influence of the music in so much of what followed.<\/p>\n