Tangerine Dream

Formed by Edgar Froese in 1967, Tangerine Dream broke the mould of guitar bands to offer an experimental, alternative keyboard-driven style and, during their 1970s peak, had a profound influence on the synth/electronica era of rock music that followed. Primarily instrumental, the band's lineup has featured numerous different musicians through the decades, refining a new musical style that became known as "krautrock". The visionary Froese - the one constant throughout Tangerine Dream's long career - initially collaborated with a series of inventive artists from the West Berlin underground scene and forged productive musical partnerships with, notably, Christopher Franke and Peter Baumann. Championed by UK DJ John Peel, their 1973 album Atem made the group cult heroes, resulting in them being signed to the Virgin label and releasing acclaimed albums like Phaedra, Rubycon, Ricochet and Stratosfear. The group has gone on to release over 100 albums, though their greatest commercial successes came in the 1980s when they started creating distinctive soundtrack themes for movies like The Keep, Risky Business, Firestarter, Near Dark and Shy People. In 2010 they released an album of cover versions including David Bowie's Space Oddity, Kraftwerk's The Model, The Beatles' Norwegian Wood and Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here.