Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider met while they were both studying music at the Dusseldorf Conservatory. The two of them were classically trained and had a strong interest in improvisation. Their first group called Organisation, reflected these qualities. The band did not survive to see the release of the first album, however. Instead, Hutter and Schneider retreated to the industrial heart of Germany to form KlingKlang studios. They renamed themselves Kraftwerk, German for "power plant." Work began on what was to become their self-titled second record. Their third album as a duo, Ralf and Florian, featured input from a violin playing art student that they had recently met named Emil Schult. Schult would leave a lasting impact on the band, contributing artwork and lyrics, although he would never be accepted or photographed as a full member.

Synthetic instrumentation became increasingly important to Kraftwerk. Their next album, Autobahn, made a commitment to expanding the importance of the synthesizer beyond what bands like Hawkwind, Tangerine Dream, and ELP were already doing at the time. The 22 minute title track was pared down to an unlikely 3 minute single release. Surprisingly, it charted in the top 30 in the US and in the top 20 in the UK. Kraftwerk became fondly known as the "teutonic Beach Boys." Their follow up was a concept album focused on communication called Radioactivity. It was Kraftwerk's first fully electronic album and the first to feature lyrics in English. From here on, Kraftwerk would release English and German language versions of their records.

Kraftwerk began to develop a rather strong and loyal fan base after the release of Autobahn, despite many calling them a one hit wonder. Many musicians began singing the praises of the group, however. The most notable was David Bowie who named a song on his Heroes album, "V-2 Schneider," in honor of Kraftwerk co-founder Florian Schneider. In 1977, Kraftwerk released the album Trans Europe Express, an album which many considered to be the most important electronic album of the decade. In France, the album was promoted with a press only ride on a real 1930s Trans Europe Express train from Paris to Reims.

The group's distaste for the trappings of musical success, mostly touring and promotions, gave birth to the idea of replacing themselves with look-alike robots which would do everything except create their music. The band had a vision of the robots which would even play concerts and conduct press conferences. This concept led to the release of their next album, The Man Machine, and that record's defining song, "The Robots." The robot concept would follow them thereafter.

During the three years that followed the release of The Man Machine, Kraftwerk spent their time reorganizing and refitting the KlingKlang Studio, including perfecting a traveling version of the studio which they could use for touring. In 1981, Kraftwerk released Computerworld, which led to the band's most extensive tour ever, 90 shows in 6 months worldwide. Audience participation was encouraged and facilitated during the shows through tiny pocket calculator-like instruments which were wired to the group's main console and manipulated by concert-goers. Rumors abounded during this tour, including an untrue rumor which said that the band never actually appeared at any of their shows. Instead, they supposedly realized their dream of having their look alike robots stand in for them.

Following the success of the tour, work on the new album was non-existent because Hutter and Schneider discovered a new hobby, cycling. This became their inspiration for the song "Tour de France." "Tour de France" was intended to be the theme of a new concept album, but the idea was never brought to fruition. The theme still spawned about a half dozen mixes of the melody, however, including French and German versions. Their new hobby brought about a near tragedy when Hutter was involved in a cycling accident and rendered comatose for two days. They were forced to cancel their upcoming promotional events which were hinged around the actual dates of the Tour de France race. The song did not achieve very much success and received its most attention when it was included in the soundtrack to the film "Breakdance."

Following the release of the single, work on the new album called Technopop was said to be well under way throughout 1983. Release dates for the album were scheduled and postponed continuously, however. It would be three more years before Kraftwerk released Electric Cafe, which included songs originally meant for the now non-existent Technopop LP. In an attempt to sound as cutting edge as possible, nearly as much time was dedicated to remixing it as recording it.

After the 1986 release of Electric Cafe, five years would pass with absolutely no new music from Kraftwerk. Although, they did become increasingly popular and their music was heavily sampled for dance tracks during this period. This inspired Hutter and Schneider to get back together not to write new songs, but to revamp old songs. The result was their next album, The Mix. Hutter explained, "The Mix is a retrospective that goes forward."

During the time around the release of The Mix, Wolfgang Fleur and Karl Bartos left due to discouragement by the snail like production pace of the band. Bartos left the band to form Elektric Music with Lothar Manteuffel. Emil Schult is also credited on the record.