RIP - Klaus Dinger

Although it apparently happened almost 2 weeks ago, only today did Klaus Dinger's death become public. Dinger was a drummer who recorded with Kraftwerk and was one of the two founding members of Neu! Kraftwerk has gotten a fair amount of praise, but I always liked Neu! more. To me, they were a little like the Velvet Underground, in the sense that Neu!'s production was slight (3 full-lengths in the 70s), yet their influence in the music world is huge (Sonic Youth, for example, wore their love of Neu! on their sleeves). The biggest difference now is that lots of people know and revere the Velvet Underground while Neu! remains an extremely underrated band. And the music is just great, thanks in no small part to Dinger's drumming - the Brian Eno quote in the article cited is pretty much dead on about beats in the 70s. At 61 years old, Dinger's death is a surprise, and marks a very real loss in the music world.