Can Artistfacts

1968–1979, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1999
Irmin SchmidtKeyboards, vocals1968-1999
Holger CzukayBass, electronics, vocals, French horn 1968-1988
Michael KaroliGuitar, vocals, violin1968-1999
Jaki LiebezeitDrums, percussion, double bass, piano1968-1999
Malcolm MooneyVocals1968–1970, 1986, 1988, 1991
Damo SuzukiVocals, percussion1970-1973
Rosko GeeBass, vocals1977-1979
Rebop Kwaku BaahPercussion, vocals1977-1979
Can were a German experimental rock group whose mix of avant-garde composition, funk, jazz, and psychedelia made them one of the most influential bands of the "krautrock" era. Anchored by keyboardist Irmin Schmidt and bassist Holger Czukay, the group treated the recording studio as an instrument, splicing hours of collective jam sessions into hypnotic, repetitive tracks that completely redefined what rock music could sound like.
Irmin Schmidt never set out to start a traditional rock group. "I hadn't in mind a rock group at all, just this idea of bringing together people with totally different musical backgrounds from classic, contemporary, electronic," he told Mojo magazine. "I liked to have the four instruments like rock bands, keyboard, guitarist, the bass and the drummer, but I expected that we would do something totally different, not the usual like The Pretty Things or something."
Both Schmidt and Czukay studied under avant-garde pioneer Karlheinz Stockhausen at the Cologne Courses for New Music in the mid-1960s. That connection brought the two musicians together, setting the stage for Can's formation a few years later.
The band's lineup came together through an odd mix of credentials. When Schmidt reached out to Czukay to gauge his interest, Czukay brought along Michael Karoli, a student who was studying law at the time instead of music. "He was a pure amateur! Just a young guy who played some quite good guitar," Schmidt recalled to Mojo. "He liked rock music, stuff like The Rolling Stones. And it developed into what it became."
The band's name holds a clever multilingual pun. In Turkish, "can" (pronounced "jahn") translates to "soul," "spirit," or "life," a nod the group embraced on their 1972 album Ege Bamyasi, (Turkish for "Aegean okra").
Drummer Jaki Liebezeit was famous for his relentless, machine-like precision, but he saw his hypnotic style as a practical response to modern sound. "The way of listening has changed because of machines, so you have to play like a machine today," he told Modern Drummer.

To hit harder, Liebezeit even ditched standard foot pedals and switched to striking a modified floor tom directly by hand.
The band's most famous lead singer was discovered right off the street. In 1970, after original vocalist Malcolm Mooney abruptly quit, Czukay and Liebezeit spotted Japanese street performer Damo Suzuki busking outside a Munich club. They invited him to jump on stage with them that very night.

"They saw me and asked me to be their singer not because they liked my voice, but because they wanted somebody who looked like an alien," Suzuki admitted to Vice. "Japanese or Chinese people in the early seventies were seen seldom, totally different to now... They wanted me for this; they didn't know how I sang."
Suzuki abruptly walked away from both the band and the music industry at the peak of Can's success. After singing on 1973's Future Days, he left to marry his girlfriend and join the Jehovah's Witnesses, spending the next decade working everyday jobs as a hotel receptionist and vintage car exporter.
Can earned their only UK chart hit with the disco-infused "I Want More" from 1976's Flow Motion. Peaking at #26 on the UK Singles Chart, "I Want More" scored Can a performance on Top of the Pops. Since guitarist Michael Karoli was on safari in Kenya at the time, the band hired a local stand-in guitarist to fill in for the TV taping.
Czukay's signature look on stage came out of practical necessity. He wore white gloves during live shows to protect his hands while performing live reel-to-reel tape editing and splicing in the middle of songs.
Can's innovative production style left a massive footprint on modern alternative rock:

Radiohead pointed to Can as a major blueprint for the experimental studio sessions behind Kid A and Amnesiac, and have covered Can's "The Thief" during live shows.

Indie rockers Spoon took their name directly from the Ege Bamyasi track "Spoon."

Dance-punk pioneers LCD Soundsystem namechecked the band in their breakout debut single "Losing My Edge."

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