You might think a keyboard player would know more about electro pioneers. I think that the Human League was one of the very first bands playing entirely synthesised music.
Tangerine Dream? Kraftwerk? Both pre-dated post-punk/late-1970s-early-1980s British electronica by a fair bit, as I remember.
TD were never truly fully synthesised, and were more in the zone occupied by NEU! and Can. Konrad Plank from NEU! later worked with Ultravox. Kraftwerk had patents on their transducers, and eventually sacked the drummer for 'moving about too much.' * They all owed lots to Musique Concrète in the sense of 'music from
sounds' as opposed to just
notes. We could use that to lead into Ron Grainer and Delia Derbyshire, The Radiophonic Workshop and the Doctor Who? theme. Jean Michel Jarre (who is excellent as a live performer BTW) also worked in experimental Musique Concrète in the 60's. I saw a documentary during which JMJ said 'watching somebody stand behind a laptop for two hours isn't very sexy...' and having seen Kraftwerk, I can only agree.
I'm only a keyboard player in the sense of dabbling, but I know quite a bit about the history of electronic music, mostly by osmosis over the years. I'd suggest that 'lack of interest' in your chosen field might be a disadvantage. Having said that, I can also say without a doubt that not knowing about what's
on TV isn't a barrier to working in that field - but that's because I need to know about technology, rather than production ideas. I'm not sure where I'd stand on popular culture: Like the stuff in the gutter, I'd probably prefer not to.
*This may be slightly exaggerated for comic effect.