Klaus Dinger

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Klaus Dinger was a German drummer, guitarist and songwriter. He was born in 1946 in Scherfede in Westphalia and grew up in Düsseldorf. After secondary school he trained as a carpenter and practised on pieces of wood until he could afford a drum kit. In 1966 he started the band The No, which drew inspiration from The Kinks and The Rolling Stones. He studied architecture for a while, but in the end chose music entirely. In the summer of 1970 Ralf Hütter asked him to drum on Kraftwerk's debut, and Dinger briefly became a member of the group.

Music and breakthrough

In 1971 Dinger and guitarist Michael Rother left Kraftwerk and together started Neu!. With the producer Conny Plank they recorded the first album, Neu!, in Hamburg. On it Dinger played his famous beat for the first time: a tight, constantly repeated rhythm in four-four time with almost no interruptions. Later it was given the name motorik, although Dinger himself preferred to call it the long straight line. After Neu! 2 (1973), Dinger and Rother went their own ways. With his brother Thomas and Hans Lampe, Dinger founded La Düsseldorf, in which he played guitar and sang. Later he made solo records such as Néondian (1985). He died in 2008.

Influence

Dinger also had a clear idea of what a band should look like. He devised the name Neu! and the logo in the style of pop art, as a protest against consumer society. His motorik beat became one of the most recognisable sounds of krautrock and echoes through much later electronic music and indie rock.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1985Néondian (Klausi scheißt auf Hollywood)
• 2013Japandorf
• 20172000!

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 4: When Rock Was Still Pop^NL Reader

Mentioned in other articles

• Krautrock Genrewas founded by Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger, who had played briefly with Kraftwerk.