1960s
Can, initially named the Inner Space, was formed in Cologne, Germany, in 1968 by Holger Czukay (bass), Irmin Schmidt (keyboard), Jaki Liebezeit (drums) and Michael Karoli (guitar). Czukay and Schmidt were from academic backgrounds, students of the composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, and were fascinated by the possibilities of rock and roll. By mid-1968, Can played their first show at an art opening at invitation of art collector Christoph Vohwinkel. The performance was taped, and extracts were released in January 1985 as a cassette Prehistoric Future. The live performance was recorded with Manni Löhe who played flute and percussion, with occasional vocals. In July 1968, Irmin's film industry connections delivered the group’s first commission. German public broadcaster ARD requested a track for 1970 film Das Millionenspiel. The title track featured saxophone player Gerd Dudek and appeared on The Lost Tapes compilation.
In late 1968, the Inner Space enlisted the American vocalist Malcolm Mooney. They recorded an album, Prepare to Meet Thy Pnoom, but could not find a recording company to release it. The Inner Space made the soundtrack pieces for 1969 films Agilok & Blubbo and Kamasutra: Vollendung der Liebe, making a brief appearance in the latter movie. "Man Named Joe", a track from Prepare to Meet Thy Pnoom, resurfaced on Kamasutra: Vollendung der Liebe. At Mooney's suggestion, the band changed their name to Can. Around the time of Johnson's departure, Mooney suggested the name for its positive meanings in various languages—for example, the English can ("be able to"); the Turkish can (pronounced [dʒan]), meaning "soul", "spirit", or "life"; and the Japanese 感 (kan; "feeling, emotion") and ちゃん (-chan, a suffix meaning "beloved"). Liebezeit later suggested the backronym definition "communism, anarchism, nihilism", after an English magazine claimed that this was the intended meaning.
At invitation of Vohwinkel, they moved to Schloss Nörvenich, where they established a recording studio Inner Space. There, they recorded their debut album, Monster Movie (1969). It contained new versions of two songs previously recorded for Prepared to Meet Thy Pnoom, "Father Cannot Yell" and "Outside My Door". Monster Movie received acclaim.
During one live performance, Mooney shouted "upstairs, downstairs" for three hours, even after Can had stopped playing. On his psychiatrist's advice, with this episode being diagnosed as a mental breakdown, he left Can and returned to the US at the end of 1969. He made his last recordings with Can that December. In 1970, Czukay and Liebezeit found a young Japanese expatriate, Damo Suzuki, busking outside a Munich café, and they invited him to join their performance that night at the Blow Up club. He subsequently replaced Mooney as their lead vocalist.
In 1970, Can and Cat Stevens recorded music for the soundtrack to the film Deep End (1970); Can contributed the fourteen-and-a-half-minutes psychedelic opus "Mother Sky", which was utilized throughout the film's Soho sequence. It was simultaneously released on Can's Soundtracks (1970) album alongside other music they had recorded for films.
