It’s been a bad week for disco—first the death of Loleatta Holloway, and now comes the news that Kurt Hauenstein of the German band Supermax has passed on. Supermax were one of the most popular disco bands of their era on continental Europe, managing to seamlessly blend funk, prog rock, sci-fi and sleaze. They had also won over a lot of new fans in the last few years, when the growing interest in revisiting Cosmic and European disco shone the spotlight back in their corner. Their biggest hit was “Love Machine,” which by anyone’s standards is a bone fide classic. Here they are performing it on Dutch TV:

Supermax - “Love Machine”
 

 
With his own particular Lemmy-meets-Kraftwerk style (thanks Richard!) Kurt Hauenstein, originally from Austria, was one seriously cool guy. Supermax were still touring up until last year—unfortunately I never got to see them even though I knew a few promoters who wanted to book them (cost permitting). Well, Kurt is jamming away in that big disco in the sky they call Heaven now. Here’s what taste of what a Supermax show would have been like:

Supermax - “It Ain’t Easy” (Live 1979)
 

 
These guys were great. If you want to know more about this band, you should check out their website. You can buy the Best Of Supermax here.

Supermax - “S.U.P.E.R.M.A.X.” (“Das Ist Supermax”!)
 

 
Supermax - “World Of Today”
 

 
Supermax - “I Am What I Am” (Live 1980)