Karlheinz Stockhausen dead 2007-12-08 by Iai EMERITUS | 13 Comments | Karlheinz Stockhausen, widely regarded as one of the most important musical figures of the 20th century, has died. No cause of death has yet been revealed, although he was known to have been ill for a short time before his passing.
Stockhausen's influence on music, both popular and avant-garde, is astonishing. The Beatles, Bjork, Frank Zappa, Aphex Twin, Pink Floyd, Sonic Youth, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, David Bowie, and Jefferson Airplane all acknowledged his work as a primary influence. Furthermore, Kraftwerk's Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider both studied under him, as did Can's Holger Czukay and Irmin Schmitt, and notable composers Cornelius Cardew and La Monte Young, and various members of The Grateful Dead and The Mothers of Invention. He appeared on the artwork for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Beatles songs such as "Tomorrow Never Knows", "Revolution 9", and "Strawberry Fields Forever" are cited as the band's attempt to recreate what Stockhausen had achieved with "Gesang der Junglinge", a piece that Paul McCartney was reportedly a big fan of.
Perhaps just as importantly, he became a vital icon in Germany at a time when the country was struggling to come to terms with the devastation caused by Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich. His work occasionally addressed notions of German identity at a crucial time (notably "Hymnen"), making him an important figurehead in the restoration of German popular culture in the 1940s, '50s, and '60s. One could argue, with valid logic and reasoning, that Krautrock - and with that, electronic music as we know it - would never have happened without Stockhausen.
He attracted controversy later in life when he was quoted as saying that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were 'a great work of art'. He later claimed that these comments had been taken out of context, and that he had been speaking about his Licht series of operas when an interviewer had asked him to give an example of Lucifer's presence in the modern age.
He is survived by six children, and will be buried in a forest cemetery in the town of Kuerten, near Cologne.
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Tagged: Karlheinz Stockhausen
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Mandamn. 2007 continues to be a terrible year in terms of deaths in music. R.I.P.
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He was a genius. This is sad.
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The number of deaths of musicians is shocking this year. RIP
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sucks. rip
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Going to look into him, hadn't heard of him before, but sounds like my kind of artist
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At least this guy was actually kinda old.
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You guys are acting like it's some conspiracy that a 79 year old man died. It's sad though.
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I'd never heard of him, but it sounds like he was a pretty important guy back in his day. We really don't need any more deaths in music this year. I guess at least Karlheinz had a pretty full life.
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God has it out for musicians this year.
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so young...
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That is a joke right?
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A really tasteless one at that.
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i'm just impressed that one man had so much impact. must've been a great life; hope he died happy
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