Musique Non-Stop

"Musique Non Stop" is a 1986 single by German techno group Kraftwerk, which was featured on the album Electric Café. It was re-released as a remix on their 1991 album The Mix. The single was their first number one on Billboard Hot Dance Club Play and was one of two songs to make it to number one there.

"Musique Non Stop"
Single by Kraftwerk
from the album Electric Café
Released	20 October 1986
Genre	Synth-pop
Length	4:13 (7" version) 5:45 (album version) 6:22 (12" version)
Label	Kling Klang EMI Warner Bros. Records
Songwriter(s)	Ralf Hütter Florian Schneider Karl Bartos
Kraftwerk singles chronology
"Tour de France (remix)" (1984) "Musique Non Stop" (1986) "The Telephone Call" (1987)
Music video
"Musique Non-Stop" on YouTube

Background and composition

"Musique Non Stop"'s lyrics comprise the title of the song being repeatedly chanted by a female voice, which is the voice of the music video's animation artist Rebecca Allen,^[1] in English and a computerized male voice in French.

The single is traditionally the final act during Kraftwerk concerts. In the early 1990s, a completely different version of "Musique Non-Stop" – slower and more melodic – was used extensively as a jingle on MTV Europe. Earlier, MTV Europe had already included elements from the original song and the video in the title graphics for MTV's Greatest Hits. This version was later released in December 2020 as "Non Stop" on Remixes, a compilation released by Parlophone. Unlike the original this version is credited to be composed by Hütter and Fritz Hilpert with lyrics credited to Hütter, Schneider and Emil Schult.^[2]

Live performances

After Florian Schneider left the group in 2008, the song was altered to accommodate video technician Stefan Pfaffe during performances. The song is basically the same, except shorter and the percussive/harmonic sequence that occupied Schneider's solo is operated by the other band members.

The Mix version (which was used in Minimum-Maximum) incorporates elements from fellow Electric Café songs "Boing Boom Tschak" and "Techno Pop". This was also done in Musique Non Stop's single version and music video.

Music video

The video for "Musique Non-Stop" is notable in itself for showcasing a computer-animated representation of the band. Created in 1983, it sat dormant for three years before finally being incorporated as the video for the song. The animation, which was complex for its time, was created by Rebecca Allen, using state-of-the-art facial animation software developed by the New York Institute of Technology. The slow rate of the album's progress, combined with rapid changes in software animation, meant that Allen had to archive the animation program developed at the Institute of Technology until Hütter and Schneider were ready in 1986, to travel to New York to edit the images to the final version of "Musique Non-Stop".

Track listing

7-inch single

Side one

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Musique Non-Stop"	4:08

All tracks are written by Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider and Karl Bartos

Side two

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Musique Non-Stop"	3:45

12-inch single

Side one

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Musique Non-Stop"	6:15

Side two

No.	Title	Length
2.	"Musique Non-Stop (Radio edit)"	4:08

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1986–1987) Peak position New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[3] 45 UK Singles (OCC)[4] 82 US Dance Club Songs (Billboard)[5] 1 US Dance Singles Sales (Billboard)[6] 6 West Germany (Official German Charts)[7] 13

Year-end charts Chart (1987) Position US Dance Club Songs (Billboard)[8] 2 US Dance Singles Sales (Billboard)[9] 40

References

1. Dayal, Geeta. "Meet Kraftwerk's Original 3-D Animator, Rebecca Allen". Wired.
2. https://www.discogs.com/release/22627976-Kraftwerk-Remixes
3. "Kraftwerk – Musique Non Stop". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
4. "Kraftwerk: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
5. "Kraftwerk Chart History (Dance Club Songs)". Billboard.
6. "Kraftwerk Chart History (Dance Singles Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
7. "Offiziellecharts.de – Kraftwerk – Musique Non Stop" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
8. "Dance Club Songs – Year-End 1987". Billboard. Archived from the original on 17 February 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
9. "1987 The Year in Music & Video – Top Dance Sales 12-Inch Singles". Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 52. 26 December 1987. p. Y-30. ISSN 0006-2510 – via Google Books.