Want to see content from United States of America

Continue
Moby
© Catie Laffoon/Red Bull
Music
Moby reveals the 4 songs that shaped his music career
The US electric music icon pinpoints the tracks that had the biggest impact on own work. Spoiler alert: they're absolute bangers
Written by Florian Obkircher
3 min readPublished on
Having sold more than 20 million records worldwide, Moby is one of the most successful electronic musicians of all time. On his new album, Everything Was Beautiful, And Nothing Hurt – his 15th – the 52-year-old returns to his signature electronica sound as heard on past hits such as Porcelain and Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?. Here, he reminisces about four songs that shaped his musical tastes while growing up in suburban Connecticut, and which set the young Richard Melville Hall on the path to acclaim.

David Bowie - Heroes (1977)

“I first heard this song when I was 13, and it transformed everything for me. It made my thoughts feel different. Soon after, I got a job as a caddy, but only so I could save money to buy Bowie records. Decades later, he and I became friends and he told me a secret: the song started out as a cover of The Velvet Underground’s Waiting For My Man, before Bowie turned it into this simple but futuristic masterpiece.”

Donna Summer - I Feel Love (1977)

“I heard this on the radio in the ’70s, and I still think it’s one of the most remarkable pieces of music ever. The genius is how [producer] Giorgio Moroder was able to create sexual tension using only rudimentary electronics. Most people – me included – would have added to it, but that would have spoilt it. Same goes for the words: it uses only 10, but they’re some of the most profound lyrics ever.”

Grace Jones - I've Done It Again (1981)

“When I first heard this track, I tried not to like it. I thought Grace Jones was cool, but this sounded so gentle, different from her dub tracks. Growing up in the suburbs, the music I was exposed to was generally masculine. This song made me realise R&B and soul could do what the punk rock I was listening to couldn’t. I didn’t know where it was coming from, and it made me feel weird, but I fell in love with it.”

Joy Division - Atmosphere (1980)

"In school, I felt closer to [singer] Ian Curtis through his lyrics than I did any of my friends. What I loved about this song, apart from its emotionality, is that it’s electronic. In the 1970s, there was this idea you made either rock or electronic music; that a traditional band understood a synthesizer and drum machine could do so much more than normal instruments was a revelation to me."
This article is taken from the April 2018 issue of The Red Bulletin. To get the new issue delivered straight to your door, subscribe here.
Music
Nightlife