Faust’s Fractured Future: An Extramusical Study of Krautrock Discourse

Abstract

Since its resurgence in the 1990s, krautrock—a diverse range of experimental music practices rooted in the radical West German counterculture—has garnered renewed critical and scholarly attention. Whereas earlier accounts often approached the style through a lens of exoticised Othering, recent discourse has shifted towards more nuanced interpretations that foreground krautrock’s sociohistorical origins. Among the movement’s most radical groups is the band Faust, whose subversive sonic experimentations and anti-authoritarian ethos have left a legacy shaped by both critical acclaim and controversy.

Adopting a dialogical, extramusical framework grounded in theories of national identity, genre theory, topic theory, and social aesthetics, this thesis examines how Faust’s collage-based, Dadaist aesthetics and improvised studio practices articulated a rejection of both Anglo-American rock traditions and the perceived cultural stagnation of postwar Germany. Through historical-analytical contextualisation, post-positivist qualitative research, NVivo-assisted coding, and visual discourse mapping, the study analyses both contemporary and retrospective critical reception of Faust’s work across British, German, and French music criticism. The focus shifts from the sonic material itself to the ways in which Faust’s artistic practices have been interpreted, framed, and politicised in critical discourse.

The study’s findings reveal that early reception of Faust’s first four studio records was notably shaped by processes of cultural Othering and international fascination, which gradually gave way to increasing scepticism towards krautrock as the band’s releases continued. Over time, however, retrospective critiques increasingly reframed the band’s sonic interventions within a broader krautrock movement that sought to redefine Germanness through experimentation. The study thus traces a critical trajectory in which Faust’s output evolve from radical negation to a more melancholic and self-aware engagement with national identity by the release of Faust IV (1973). Ultimately, this research demonstrates how critical reception functions as an active site for negotiation of national identity and cultural memory. It also proposes a methodological model for future reception studies in popular music that traces how musical meanings evolve over time and across sociopolitical contexts.