Editing Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft (section)

==History==
===Formation and early albums===
Görl came to Düsseldorf in August 1978 and met Delgado as both were regulars at punk club Ratinger Hof. Görl noted, "The earliest line up of DAF was Gabi and me in the basement of the Ratinger Hof. We created our basic ideas and we had a very strong will as a duo. Gabi Delgado played the [[stylophone]] and I played the drums." Several early Neue Deutsche Welle bands formed from this social group, and Görl and Delgado played with multiple other bands.<ref name=popshifter>{{cite web|url=http://popshifter.com/2009-03-30/disliking-influence-q-a-with-robert-gorl-of-daf/|title=Disliking Influence: Q & A with Robert Görl of DAF|first=Emily|last=Carney|work=Popshifter|date=30 March 2009|access-date=23 March 2014}}</ref> The first two D.A.F. albums featured the original four-piece line-up and a range of styles. Their first album, ''[[Ein Produkt der Deutsch-Amerikanischen Freundschaft]]'', was released in 1979 on Dahlke's Ata Tak label (then called Warning). The album was 22 improvised untitled instrumentals, Delgado having temporarily left the band at the time.

The band then moved to [[London]]. As Delgado later noted, "at that time if you wanted to do new music you’d go to London because that was the center, not Düsseldorf."<ref name=venia>{{cite web|url=http://venia-mag.net/interview/a-i/daf-deutsch-amerikanische-freundschaft/?langen|title=DAF – Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft|work=Venia-Mag|first=Ivana|last=Sataić|date=11 September 2010|access-date=15 March 2014}}</ref> Daniel Miller signed DAF to [[Mute Records]] because "they weren’t relying on past rock traditions at all, which is the criterion of what goes on Mute."<ref name="Rip It Up, ch. 18">''Rip It Up'', ch. 18.</ref> DAF recorded ''[[Die Kleinen und die Bösen]]'' (The Small Ones and the Evil Ones) for Mute, one side studio and most of the other side live. According to the Trouser Press, ''Ein Produkt...'' featured "shrieking, colliding overdubbed synths and guitars" while ''Die Kleinen...'' presented a more polished sound "with anarchic synthesizer work slowly integrating a solid, defined beat."<ref name="trouser-press" />

===Virgin trilogy===
DAF then shrank to just Delgado and Görl, who signed to [[Virgin Records]] and released ''[[Alles ist gut]]'', their breakthrough album. The band became pop stars in Germany and gained great critical acclaim in the UK.

Görl played drums — usually fairly simple and relatively [[Syncopation|unsyncopated]] patterns, but with simple variations that prevented them sounding robotic — while Delgado sang. The only other instruments used were Korg MS-20 and ARP Odyssey [[analogue synthesizer]]s usually driven by a Korg SQ-10 [[analog sequencer]]. Typically only a single sequencer-driven line would be used for a song, the sequence functioning both as melodic accompaniment and as a bassline. The song "Der Mussolini" is a perfect example of this. On other songs, such as the title track, certain notes of the sequence were set slightly out of tune. Overall the songs entail a complex tension between the predominantly visceral (the voice), the relentlessly robotic (the 16-step sequences), and the drums, which lie somewhere in between. One song, Der Räuber und der Prinz (The Robber and the Prince), also features a [[Glockenspiel]]-like sound as a sinister reminder of childhood.

''Alles ist gut'' sold hundreds of thousands in Germany, and DAF became the fifth-biggest [[German language#Geographic distribution|German-speaking]] group in Germany.<ref name="Rip It Up, ch. 18"/>

[[File:DAF 0016 small.jpg|thumb|Gabi Delgado-Lopez and Robert Görl onstage, 1981]]

The next two albums, ''[[Gold und Liebe]]'' (Gold and Love) and ''[[Für immer (D.A.F. album)|Für Immer]]'' (Forever), continued in the same vein, until, as one British music journalist of the time put it, D.A.F. had exhausted all the possibilities of the 16-step sequencer. These possibilities ranged from something resembling [[rhythm and blues]] — you could just about play Der Mussolini as R'n'B if you wanted — to the [[Microtonal music|microtonality]] of ''Im Dschungel der Liebe'' (In the Jungle of Love) (on ''Für immer'') or ''Knochen auf Knochen'' (the B-side of the single "Sex unter Wasser").  These three albums (from ''Alles ist gut'' to ''Für immer'') were all produced by [[Conny Plank|Konrad "Conny" Plank]], who was renowned for his pioneering work both with minimalist-influenced [[Krautrock]] bands and other experimenters in the 1970s, and with [[electropop]] artists in the 1980s. The band added an Oberheim OB-Xa for ''Für immer''.

The band split during the recording of ''Für immer''.

===Post-split===
Each member released solo albums: Delgado ''Mistress'' (on Virgin), and Görl ''Night Full Of Tension'' (on Mute).

Delgado and Görl reunited in 1985 to record ''[[1st Step to Heaven]]'', their only album in English, which achieved one week in the Swedish album chart at no. 46.<ref name="sweden-charts"/> Delgado later noted: "So we wanted to break our own rules and said: OK, so now we sing in English, now we don’t wear black. ''(laughing)'' With purpose. Because we wanted to break our own rules."<ref name=venia/>

During this extensive period their historical importance began to become clearer. Legendary radio DJ [[John Peel]] went as far as to call them the ''Grandfathers of [[Techno]]''. Both Robert and Gabi had solo musical careers, with Robert becoming a respected techno artist in his own right. Gabi Delgado also recorded two albums as [[DAF/DOS]] ('Dos' here referring to the Spanish word for 'two') together with [[Wotan Wilke Möhring|Wotan Wilke]].

[[File:Gabi Delgado-Lopez - Live with DAF in Mannheim.jpg|thumb|Gabi Delgado-López, DAF live in 2012]]
When DAF reformed for the 2003 album ''[[Fünfzehn neue D.A.F.-Lieder]]'' (15 New D.A.F Songs) their style had shifted to a fusion of the classic [[Conny Plank|Plank]]-produced D.A.F. sound with elements taken from Robert's techno work. The drums were replaced with crisper electronic beats, but the [[ARP Avatar]] and, of course, Gabi's vocals remained in place. According to Deutsche Welle, the album "takes specific aim at American cultural imperialism and political dominance" as evidenced by the first single, "Der Sheriff", a song about the George W. Bush administration.<ref name="dw-2003">{{cite news |author= <!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Punk Legends DAF: 'Ami Go Home' |url=https://p.dw.com/p/3CYR |access-date=9 May 2021 |publisher=Deutsche Welle |date=24 January 2003}}</ref> "Der Sheriff" peaked at #2 on the German Alternative Charts (DAC) and ranked #15 on the DAC Top 100 Singles of 2003.<ref name="dac-singles-03">{{cite web |title=DAC Top 100 Singles 2003 |url=http://www.public-propaganda.de/charts/jahrescharts2003/DAC/index.html |website=Trendcharts oHG |publisher=AMC Alster Musik Consulting GmbH |access-date=20 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040110234321/http://www.public-propaganda.de/charts/jahrescharts2003/DAC/index.html |archive-date=10 January 2004 |date=2004 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The band prepared more music, but split before they could make another album. Görl played in 2007 as DAF.Partei with Thoralf Dietrich (from Jäger 90) as lead singer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.side-line.com/news_comments.php?id=20889_0_2_0_C |title=DAF is dead, long live DAF.Partei + Spetsnaz reunion |publisher=Side-line.com |date=22 February 1999 |access-date=18 March 2015}}</ref>

Delgado-Lopez and Görl have played occasional reunion shows since their thirtieth anniversary tour in 2008. In 2010, the band returned with a new single "Du bist DAF", limited to 2010 copies.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.deutschamerikanischefreundschaft.de/ |title=Damned-Clothing – Damned Fashion for Damned People |language=de |publisher=Deutschamerikanischefreundschaft.de |date=28 June 2011 |access-date=1 April 2012}}</ref> The sound snippet is available via [[SoundCloud]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://soundcloud.com/du-bist-daf/du-bist-daf |title=DU BIST DAF by DU BIST DAF on SoundCloud – Create, record and share your sounds for free |publisher=SoundCloud.com |access-date=1 April 2012}}</ref>

The band declared its split again in January 2015, with another farewell tour to start in May.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.side-line.com/news_comments.php?id=51861_0_2_0_C |title=D.A.F. calls it quits and announces farewell-tour – DAF news at |publisher=Side-line.com |date=22 February 1999 |access-date=18 March 2015}}</ref>

An authorised biography of the band, "Das ist DAF", written by Miriam Spies and Rudi Esch, was published in 2017. There is no English translation of the text available at present. According to the publisher's page, "This richly illustrated book tells the unique DAF story from the perspective of [[Gabi Delgado]] and [[Robert Görl]]", both of whom as DAF are "regarded as a forerunner of the [[techno]] and [[Electronic body music|EBM]] scene."

Delgado died in 2020. Görl released one last album as DAF, ''[[Nur Noch Einer]]'' in 2021, based on old DAF tapes and with new lyrics by Görl.

===Legacy===
The D.A.F. track "Alle Gegen Alle" was remade by [[Laibach]] in 1994.  "Der Mussolini" was remade by [[Atrocity (band)|Atrocity]] in 1997 and by [[KMFDM]] in 2006.  Patrik Sampler's 2017 novel ''The Ocean Container''<ref>{{Cite book|title=The ocean container|last=Patrik.|first=Sampler|date = 16 June 2017|isbn=9780979132049|edition= First|location=Rome, GA|oclc=1032773267}}</ref> makes reference to "Greif Nach Den Sternen".