Claudio Simonetti
Keyboardist and composer, founding member of Goblin who defined the sound of horror film music. His aggressive, percussive Minimoog work on 'Profondo Rosso' and 'Suspiria' created templates for horror scoring still followed today—arpeggiated menace, dissonant stabs, relentless forward drive that mirrored Argento's editing rhythms. Unlike British keyboard players who favored pastoral sounds, Simonetti went for the jugular: immediate, visceral, unsettling. After Goblin's dissolution, led various incarnations including New Goblin and Claudio Simonetti's Goblin, continuing to tour horror soundtracks for film screenings. Formed tribute band Daemonia to keep the horror film music tradition alive through the nineties and beyond. The fragmentation of Goblin into multiple splinter groups claiming the name has made Simonetti's career as much about legal battles and competing versions as about music, but his influence on cinematic horror scoring remains undeniable.