Musical Spotlight: Brian Eno

In August 1995, millions of people flocked to Best Buys around the world to pick up the latest edition of the revolutionary new Windows OS, Windows 95. This was back in the days of innocence, when folks still gave a rats ass about Microsoft releasing a new edition of its famed (and now infamous) OS.

Most users were pining to see what kind of technological leaps had been made since Windows 3.1, which was not actually an OS, but a piece of software that ran through the antediluvian MS-DOS architecture. In their demure enthusiasm, they probably only noticed the new startup Siren’s song in passing—a futuristic and enchanting melody in juxtaposition to the anachronistic “bleep-bloops” of the Byzantine 3.1 yesteryears.

The iconic soundbite was, of course, composed entirely by Brian Eno or, as some know him, Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno. Eno, originally a glam rocker and member of Roxy Music alongside Bryan Ferry, invented the genre of modern ambient music when he was serendipitously hit by a taxi in ‘75. This simple twist of fate inexorably altered his path as a musician, leading to critically acclaimed albums like Another Green World and Evening Star, as well as the revival of tonalism with the introduction of self-replicating Generative music.

Eno’s style is unlike that of any other musician, perhaps because of his uniquely technological approach to sound, a telltale sign of Advancement (e.g., Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music). His status as one of the most Advanced artists of our times is self-evident from his own ruminations on the famed Windows 95 startup song:

The idea came up at the time when I was completely bereft of ideas. I’d been working on my own music for a while and was quite lost, actually. And I really appreciated someone coming along and saying, “Here’s a specific problem – solve it.” The thing from the agency said, “We want a piece of music that is inspiring, universal, blah-blah, da-da-da, optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, emotional,” this whole list of adjectives, and then at the bottom it said “and it must be 3¼ seconds long.” I thought this was so funny and an amazing thought to actually try to make a little piece of music. It’s like making a tiny little jewel. In fact, I made 84 pieces. I got completely into this world of tiny, tiny little pieces of music. I was so sensitive to microseconds at the end of this that it really broke a logjam in my own work. Then when I’d finished that and I went back to working with pieces that were like three minutes long, it seemed like oceans of time.

If that wasn’t enough to convince you, I suggest giving the album Another Green World a careful listen or, if you’re still weary, give this YouTube video a watch (it features game designer Will Wright (of Maxis fame) and Brian Eno talking about generative systems):

I’m really glad he’s a Mac user.

Correction: Though interest in technology is a mark of advancement, Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music is technically considered overt, thus making him an “Advanced Irritant.” I’m not really sure why this is, but I think it has to do with the dispute over whether or not he produced it as an ironic “fuck you” to the record labels, or as a genuine record.