The band Dull Knife, founded in Hanover in 1970 and named after the famous chief of the Cheyenne Indians, consisted of Gottfried Janko (keyb, voc), Christian Holik (g), Martin Hesse (b) and Claus Zaake (dr, perc). As the major label Philips was constantly on the lookout for new, fresh, innovative bands at the time, they signed Dull Knife a year later. Led by the band's frontman, Gottfried Janko, who wrote all the songs and was an exceptionally good singer, composer and keyboardist, they recorded their debut album at Dieter Dierks Studios in August 1971. Produced by Rainer Goltermann, they played hard, guitar-heavy prog rock with psychedelic, driving organ sounds and vocals that were sometimes varied with distortion effects. The LP Electric Indian was released at the end of the year with a controversial cover showing a knife stabbing into a torso.

But none of this helped; the LP sold virtually nothing. Unfortunately, as with many other Krautrock bands, it remained their only album. Shortly afterwards, Gottfried Janko and Martin Hesse left the band, which then broke up. Today, the German original enjoys cult status among collectors due to its rarity.