Songs About Security: Computer World

17 Feb 12

Virtually everything we do in life these days has some kind of electronic connotation to it. Smartphones let us access social media, pay the bills, surf the Internet... and even make phone calls.

An extension of that is the tablet – no, not the Scottish sweet but the Apple iPad – with which you can do everything, almost, except make the tea.

What’s fair to say is that 99% of us couldn’t function in this world without a computer of some kind. It’s a computer world, alright, which is something Kraftwerk began to recognise as far back as 1981.

Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider and Karl Bartos – the pioneers of electronic music, without any shadow of a doubt – wrote songs for their seminal album Computer World that were solely focused on technology.

Tracks included Pocket Calculator, Numbers, Computer Love and It’s More Fun To Compute. There’s a theme there, eh?

Computers and the security world

Of course, today we make absolutely massive use of computers and digital technology in the security arena. Whether it be companies devising online training for their staff or new product solutions, computers are the bedrock of it all. We couldn't exist without them.

Alas, the criminals continue to use digital technology for their own dubious activities. In turn, that has created a whole sector within our world dedicated to halting cyber crime.

The UK Government’s recently issued cyber security strategy is evidence of how seriously this issue is viewed within the corridors of power.

Anyway, let us marvel at the wonderful legacy the brilliant Apple founder Steve Jobs created, and at the sheer metronomic majesty of Kraftwerk - often dubbed 'the kings of Kling-Klang' - duly performing Computer World/Home Computer on their fantastic 2004 Minimum-Maximum World Tour.

"Interpol... and Deutsche Bank, FBI... and Scotland Yard, CIA... and KGB..."