Krautrock is a name now given to a supposed genre of rock and electronic music that originated in Germany in the late 1960s with a tendency towards improvisation on minimalistic arrangements. The term was originated, briefly and jokingly, by Melody Maker journalists. Although it was rejected by the musicians themselves and soon dropped, the German media later started to use it as a term for all German rock bands from the late 1960s and 1970s, while abroad the term was resurrected specifically to refer to more experimental artists who often used synthesizers and other electronic instruments.