Neondian
| Néondian (Klausi scheißt auf Hollywood) | ||||||||||
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| Studio album by Klaus Dinger + Rhenita Bella Düsseldorf | ||||||||||
| Released | 1985 | |||||||||
| Recorded | 1983-4 | |||||||||
| Genre | Krautrock, post-punk, art rock | |||||||||
| Label | Teldec | |||||||||
| Producer | Conny Plank | |||||||||
| Klaus Dinger chronology | ||||||||||
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Néondian is a 1985 album by the German musician Klaus Dinger. Néondian was originally intended to be released as the fourth La Düsseldorf album (and titled Mon Amour), but the departure of Dinger's two bandmates in 1983 and the ensuing legal battle over the band's name forced Teldec to release the album under the obscure moniker "Klaus Dinger + Rhenita Bella Düsseldorf" (referencing La Düsseldorf's best selling single - "Rheinita").
The basic tracks for the album were recorded in 1983 by Klaus and Thomas Dinger at the newly built Zeeland Studios near the Dutch town of Kamperland. For the first time, Dinger had access to digital synthesizers and other new technology, which he made use of on the record. This later led him to dismiss the album as "mechanical music". In late 1983 the single "Ich Liebe Dich" was released under the La Düsseldorf name, but soon after Thomas Dinger left the sessions (drummer Hans Lampe had left several months previously). Dinger removed his brother's vocal contributions and finalised the tracks alone.
Feeling dissatisfied with the music produced, Dinger travelled to Cologne to enlist the help of Conny Plank, who had produced the first La Düsseldorf album.
"I must say, Conny was very friendly to me after having been very angry with me for leaving him since "Viva". He accepted me from the beginning to help me, and out of this came "Néondian"."
Plank and Dinger finished the album with studio musicians, including Jaki Liebezeit and members of Belfegore. By late 1984 sessions were completed, although their cost had driven Dinger into debt.
The album's subject matter is largely darker than Dinger's previous three albums, mirroring changes in German culture. Like contemporary bands such as D.A.F., Dinger wrote of America's political and cultural hegemony over the western world, often comparing the policies of Ronald Reagan to those of the Nazis ("Heil Ronald!" is a lyric from the song Pipi AA). Dinger also criticises the commercialism and inhumanity of society ("Businessmen verkauft die Welt / Todt und Leben gegen Geld" -- Businessmen sell the earth / Death and life versus money). By far the most famous (and inflammatory) song to come from Néondian is America, an anti-US pop song, which Warner Bros. refused to print the lyrics of in the album's official CD re-release. Perhaps the most striking lyrics are -- "Don't say you fight for freedom / You stole all your land from Indians / In a holocaust / And you still do!" This reflects Dinger's outrage at the Reagan administration's treatment of Native American Indians, and issue which he was passionate about, and for which the album is named (Néon = Neon (urban), -dian = Indian (Dinger felt persecuted by popular culture)). The album cover art features visual representations of many of these themes, Dinger having a white feather stuck to his head with a sticking plaster, and the lid of a Coca-Cola bottle stuck to the photo.
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