Brian Eno is perhaps one of the most influential musicians
and composers of the last century. His innovative recording techniques,
experimentation, and groundbreaking ambient compositions have had a massive
impact on today’s musical styles and trends.
Eno began as a painter, heavily influenced by the minimalist style, but it wasn’t long before he began his experimentation with music. At a young age, he experimented with tape recorders, and, along with his university instructor Tom Phillips, played with stripped pianos struck with tennis balls; “Piano Tennis”. This marked the beginning of Eno’s strange and astounding musical career.
It wasn’t long before Eno was offered a position in experimental art rock band Roxy Music as a keyboardist. His time spent in Roxy didn’t last long, however. After only two years with the band, he left in 1973 due to conflicts of interest with Bryan Ferry, the lead singer. Eno also stated he had grown weary of the life of a rock musician. It was then, beginning with his departure, that he began his solo career. He released several pop albums over the course of a few years including Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) and Another Green World, both of which would prove to be highly influential and received good critical reception, if not immediate commercial success.
In 1975, Eno began releasing what is, to me, his most influential recordings; a series of “ambient” records created using innovative tape delay and looping techniques. His first album, Discreet Music, is seen as a massive turning point for minimalist music. The following albums in the Ambient series, Music for Airports, The Plateaux of Mirror, Day of Radiance, and On Land, cemented his place in music history. Eno coined the term (or at least is most often credited with coining the term) “ambient music”, meaning minimalist, low-volume, and often heavily repetitive music that can sit in the background and be largely ignored or be the center of the listener’s attention just as easily.
Since the Ambient series, Eno has gone on to record a multitude of other works and collaborate with countless artists, up to this very day. He is perhaps the biggest influence on me as a composer. I find his ambient recordings breathtakingly beautiful and alien, and I am repeatedly blown away by each new album Eno releases. Truly, Eno is one of my most highly revered musical idols.
Eno began as a painter, heavily influenced by the minimalist style, but it wasn’t long before he began his experimentation with music. At a young age, he experimented with tape recorders, and, along with his university instructor Tom Phillips, played with stripped pianos struck with tennis balls; “Piano Tennis”. This marked the beginning of Eno’s strange and astounding musical career.
It wasn’t long before Eno was offered a position in experimental art rock band Roxy Music as a keyboardist. His time spent in Roxy didn’t last long, however. After only two years with the band, he left in 1973 due to conflicts of interest with Bryan Ferry, the lead singer. Eno also stated he had grown weary of the life of a rock musician. It was then, beginning with his departure, that he began his solo career. He released several pop albums over the course of a few years including Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) and Another Green World, both of which would prove to be highly influential and received good critical reception, if not immediate commercial success.
In 1975, Eno began releasing what is, to me, his most influential recordings; a series of “ambient” records created using innovative tape delay and looping techniques. His first album, Discreet Music, is seen as a massive turning point for minimalist music. The following albums in the Ambient series, Music for Airports, The Plateaux of Mirror, Day of Radiance, and On Land, cemented his place in music history. Eno coined the term (or at least is most often credited with coining the term) “ambient music”, meaning minimalist, low-volume, and often heavily repetitive music that can sit in the background and be largely ignored or be the center of the listener’s attention just as easily.
Since the Ambient series, Eno has gone on to record a multitude of other works and collaborate with countless artists, up to this very day. He is perhaps the biggest influence on me as a composer. I find his ambient recordings breathtakingly beautiful and alien, and I am repeatedly blown away by each new album Eno releases. Truly, Eno is one of my most highly revered musical idols.
Hey Zachary, Thanks for the great post on Brian Eno!
ReplyDeleteIt was well-written, extremely informative, and fun to read as it unfolded.
Like you, Eno is one of my music idols. I enjoy ambient music, so I obviously owe a debt to him for the creation of the genre. I knew about "Music for Airports" a long time ago, and knew that he worked with the Talking Heads and David Byrne, but somehow I missed a key piece of his legacy: producing U2.
Another piece of his history that I only recently learned through the book Sonic Alchemy by David N. Howard, was how Eno was inspired to create ambient music. While he was recovering from a terrible accident, he turned on the record player and laid back down - only to realize the rain was drowning out most of his harp music. The music and rain blended together into something else, something bigger than each individual part. Ambient music was born!
Thanks again for such a great post!
Brian Kerley
Hello Zachary,
ReplyDeleteI am a fan of Brian Eno as well and agree that has been and is a big influence on musicians and the music industry in general. I didn’t know this but he collaborated with David Byrne, David Bowie and John Cale in the 1970’s. He has accumulated a huge list of production and writing credits since his start in 1970. This guy has been so busy and he is still going strong. He is an inspiration and interesting to learn about yet I don’t think the general public really knows who he is. I am glad you wrote about him in your blog as I think he is a critical part of the music industry and hope that many other people learn more about him from your post. I have no criticism regarding your post but I suggest adding more content about his body of work as a very important aspect of his work history.
Nice work,
Michael Vealey