The fact that you did not know about his existence does not change his impact on music and culture or undermines his significance. There are a lot of people that you do not know that had huge impact on different aspects of culture.<p>&gt;&gt;Nor do I see a hacker theme.<p>I am not sure who defines what is &quot;hacker theme&quot; and what is not. Number of up-votes shows that people on HN want to see this topic here. If person of huge cultural significance dies, that impacts all subcultures, including &quot;hackers&quot;.