'Showroom Dummies' is the Kraftwerk single release that never quite 'made it'. Released several times in the UK as well as in the US, Canada, Japan, Spain and France, 'Showroom Dummies' was no hit.
The melody line for 'Showroom Dummies' was developed in improvisations in concerts, probably from as early as 1974 onwards. When 'Showroom Dummies' finally appeared on the 'Trans Europe Express' album in 1977, it was Kraftwerk's first multi-language song with a version in French as well as German and English.
As 'Trans Europe Express' was chosen as the first single for the album, 'Showroom Dummies' was the obvious choice for a second single. 7" singles were released in France (Les Mannequins) and Spain.
The Spanish single, although titled 'Los Maniquies', features the English-language version. In the UK, a 7" single was also released, without a picutre sleeve. As there was no standard edit version of the song, all countries used unique versions.

In the UK, a 12" single of 'Showroom Dummies', backed with 'Europe Endless', was released as a limited edition in 1977. 12" singles were also released in Canada and the US, backed with 'Les Mannequins' - both without a picture sleeve. 1979 saw the release of another 12" single of 'Showroom Dummies' in the UK, this time a three - track single featuring the 1977 7" edit (2.43 minutes) on side A, 'Spacelab' and 'Europe Endless' on side B. The sleeve features the photograph known from the inside of the 'Man Machine' album.

In 1978, 'Showroom Dummies' was released as a single in Japan, with 'The Robots' on the flipside - both tracks full - length album versions. Following in 1979 or 1980 a 12" promo - only 'Showroom Dummies' single was released in Japan, with 'The Model' on side B. It does have a unique sleeve design, without direct link to Kraftwerk though.