Can: Why are they the greatest band of all-time? Part 1

So, I’ve been putting off explaining it for some time now and that’s not fair. The time has come to spit it out: it’s time to start discussing why Can are the greatest band of all time…

First of all some history… I’d always liked Can’s music since I first heard it (inspired by The Fall’s mighty “I am Damo Suzuki” and had enjoyed exploring Can’s back catalogue over a space of maybe 10 or so years. But it wasn’t until late last year, when I read this posting on the sadly defunct Solid Gold Facts blog, that I realised that, yes indeed, Can were the finest pop group of all time. So how did this come to be? How come they are better than The Beatles, The Stones, The Beach Boys, Neu! and Kraftwerk? I suspect that there are far too many reasons to do all at once, so here’s the first batch:

#1: Chess
Legend has it that many were confused by why Ege Bamyasi was such a short record after the towering rhythmic freak-outs of Tago Mago. Was this a huge artistic gamble? Was it the beginning of punk? No, it was down to Damo and Irmin spending long periods of studio time playing chess (see below):



#2: Mushroom
"When I saw mushroom head
When I saw mushroom head
When I saw mushroom head
I was born and I was dead"



David Niven
Smooth and suave, the Pink Panther actor may have been, but seemingly he also liked his Krautrock too. Niven famously allegedly attended Damo Suzuki’s first live outing with the mighty Can when the intensity of his instant vocal composition stylings almost frightened the audience to the point of rioting.