1981Jürgen Engler; Bernward Malaka; Ralf Dörper; Eva-Maria Gößling; Frank Köllges

Along with bands such as Kraftwerk and Einsturzende Neubauten, Die Krupps belong to a small group of highly influential bands who pioneered electronic & industrial music.
Die Krupps rose like a phoenix from the remains of Male, Germany's early punk band (1976-1980) which Jurgen Engler led as lead singer/guitarist. After their dissolution, Jurgen, then also keyboardist and metal percussionist, founded the first version of a band that may be regarded as the spearhead of international electronic music. Bands like Nitzer Ebb and Front 242 frankly admit to have been influenced by Die Krupps, but reminiscences are also traceable in songs of Depeche Mode up to Detroit-Techno-Sound (producer Tyree). Die Krupps created a new identity for German pop culture by combining German history with new musical technology. Jurgen Engler provocatively named the band after the Krupp heavy industrial plant that aided the Nazi war machine.
Die Krupps' 1981 debut release was the monumental "Steelworksymphony" whose merciless metal drumming simultaneously stamped down and exorcised German demons in its inexorable drive for release from both the German past and Anglo-American cultural colonization. This release went on to become "Lp of the week" in the British NME.
Die Krupps' next release was entitled "Wahre Arbeit Wahrer Lohn" (roughly translated as A Fair Day's Pay For A Fair Day's Work). "Wahre Arbeit..." relocated the factory floor in the dancehall. It mobilized the rhythm of labor, sinewy electronics and runaway dance beats hammered out with steel on steel behind the banner of the title. This became the "single of the week" in the British NME.
It was at this time that Jurgen invented a new musical instrument called a "Steel-o-phone" which added metal percussion to the hard driving sequenced keyboards of the bands music.
 
 

Die Krupps' next album entitled "Volle Kraft Voraus" (Full Speed Ahead) was released in 1982 and became a classic among the electronic body music scene. Ralf Dorper, having been envolved with Die Krupps since the bands inception, left in 1982 to begin another musical project called Propaganda on Trevor Horn's ZTT label.
In 1983, Die Krupps released two totally new versions of "Wahre Arbeit Wahrer Lohn" and "Goldfinger" for the U.K. market. With these releases, Die Krupps presented themselves as a fully synthesized yet danceable band, and these traits followed them throughout the years. Next came the 1985 mini album entitled "Entering The Arena," produced by Zeus B. Held (Dead or Alive, Nina Hagen). This album again displayed the bands versatility in incorporating electronic sounds and metal percussion.

Between 1986 and 1989, Jurgen Engler focused his energies on starting his own record label and recording studio "ATOM H" with partner Chris Lietz. This record label focused on speed/thrash metal and crossover artists. This influence would later become an inspiration that culminated in a major turning point for Die Krupps. After being released from his commitments with Propaganda, Ralf Dorper reunited with Jurgen Engler and Die Krupps once again moved into full production.
In 1989, a new single entitled "Machineries of Joy" was released on Mute/Geffen Records. At this point a new member, Rudiger Esch, joined the band. This single featured a collaborative effort with Nitzer Ebb and gained momentum among dance floors accross the world rising up to No. 25 on the U.S. Billboard Dance Charts.
Then in 1990, the single "Germaniac" was released expressing a critical statement about the German reunification and the bands fear of a new born rising of right wing power that may have come along with it. This track brought the bands true essence into perspective.
 
 

Enter 1992, the year Die Krupps released the single "Metal Machine Music" with which the title bears to this day the essence of their music. Follwed by the album entitled "I" (one) which like "Metal Machine Music" bridged the gap between electronics and guitars, these releases were further enhanced by the collaborative presence of guitarists from the band Accuser which was signed to Jurgen Engler's record label "ATOM H." In turn, a video was shot for the hit single "Metal Machine Music." An extended tour throughout Germany followed this release and soon the band expanded their tour to include England, Belgium, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, Holland and Scandinavia.
During this time, Jurgen Engler's admiration for the metal madness performed by Metallica brought the next Die Krupps project into focus. At the end of 1992, Die Krupps released a collection of Metallica songs entitled "A Tribute to Metallica." This album, perfomed 100% on keyboards & samplers, brought new meanings to songs like "Enter Sandman," "Nothing Else Matters," and "One."
John Fryer (Nine Inch Nails, Jesus Jones, Depece Mode) stepped in to provide his engineering and production techniques to the recording. When picking up the gold & platinum award for Metallica on November 24th at Dortmund, the two Metallica musicians, Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammet met Jurgen Engler who had personally been invited by Lars Ulrich, after he listened to the mini album "A Tribute to Metallica" which in their opinion opened new doors to their music. With the aid of Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammet, Die Krupps was successful in releasing "A Tribute to Metallica" in the U.S. on Hollywood Records.

Shortly before the summer festivals of 1993, Jurgen set out to elicit new members into the band. The new line up included Lee Altus & Darren Minter formerly from the U.S. band Heathen. With his congenial songwriting partner Lee Altus, Jurgen set out to arrange and record Die Krupps' most successful album to date. "II The Final Option" released in 1993, widened the bands musical territories and further enhanced their accessibility to new listeners. "With The Final Option, we tried to widen peoples horizons by combining different musical styles, such as industrial, metal, techno and EBM or gothic and even hip hop. Die Krupps' aim is to create a less narrow-minded interest in music." The three hit singles "Crossfire," "Fatherland" and "To The Hilt" were accompanied by visually stunning music video's.
The video for "To The Hilt" became the most requested video on MTV and brought Die Krupps into the spotlight. The popularity of "II The Final Option" gave way towards a fourth hit single, "Bloodsuckers." This again was followed by a unique music video filmed in the outskirts of Texas. With the bands popularity and exposure increasing with each show and hit single which culminated in the enormous success at the Dynamo Festival in Holland in front of 100,000 people, artist friends including The Sisters of Mercy, Revolting Cocks, Charlie Clouser (Nine Inch Nails), KMFDM, and many more expressed an interest in producing remixed versions of their songs. Encouraged by this, Jurgen and Lee got other fellow musicians such as Biohazard and Jim Martin (ex-Faith No More) involved. The project took on a wide scope as the number of interested artists soon outnumbered the amount of songs available on "The Final Option." To resolve this, Jurgen added several songs from the previous album "I" (one) to bring the total number of tracks to 16. And thus, "The Final Remixes" was born.
Released in late 1994, "The Final Remixes" became a remixed frenzy of 16 mind altering songs from both albums "I" (one) and "II The Final Option." The aim of this release was to amplify the bands appeal to a larger variety of music listeners.
 
 

At this time, a CD single for the "Crossfire" remix was released along with some live tracks recorded during their European tour. A few months later, another CD single was released for "Bloodsuckers" with remixes by Biohazard, Die Artze and Julian Beeston (ex-Nitzer Ebb) along with unplugged versions takes from MTV's "Most Wanted." This CD single was released seperately since time constraints did not allow their versions to be included on "The Final Remixes." Now in 1995, Cleopatra Records has arranged the very best material from "I" (one), "II The Final Option" and "The Final Remixes" for the very first time. This new release entitled "The Rings of Steel," presents the listener with a wide variety of Die Krupps' best work from 1992 through 1994.