Robert Moog, RIP

Everyone's favorite prog rock enabler is dead. Robert Moog made synthesizers that almost anyone circa 1970, given enough time and patch cords, could use to make sounds and noises no keyboard had ever made before. Much like Les Paul's electric guitar did years before, the Moog anticipated and encouraged the DIY vibe that carries right through to today's digital musical scene.

So pull up some Kraftwerk or Tangerine Dream or, my fave, the wholly superfluous Keith Emerson solo at the end of ELP's "Lucky Man," and say a little thank you to Mr. Moog.