Neu! (the German word for “new”, pronounced “noy”) a band from Germany, were probably the archetypal example of what the UK music press at the time dubbed krautrock. The band had minimal commercial success when active, but are credited with being a huge influence on a diverse group of artists, including The Sex Pistols, Public Image Ltd., David Bowie, Gary Numan, Ultravox, Simple Minds, Devo, Sonic Youth, Radiohead, Stereolab, Wilco as well as the current electronic music scene.
The group were formally a duo consisting of Klaus Dinger (1946-2008; drums) and Michael Rother (*1950; guitar). Both played a variety of other instruments, notably Dinger sang and played guitar on ‘Hero’ and ‘After Eight’ from the third album “Neu! 75”, his brother Thomas Dinger and Hans Lampe both played drums for this version of the line up. All three of the group’s official albums were produced by the famous Krautrock producer Conny Plank.
After Neu!, Klaus Dinger would form La Düsseldorf and La! Neu?. Michael Rother performed as a solo artist and between “Neu! 2” and “Neu! 75” performed as part of a supergroup called Harmonia with members of Cluster, and occasionally Brian Eno |
