Letters to the Editor
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"Play" has aged well
I freely admit that I myself got sick of Moby - the endless ads, the overexposure - by early 2000...
But believe it or not, while lazily rummaging thru my CD collection (just yesterday) I found my copy of "Play" - which I had not listened to in ages.
I put on "Bodyrock" (Best. Workout. Song. Ever.)...and just like I did 9 years ago, I almost involuntarily began to shake my unhip, uncoordinated South Asian booty all over my apartment. =)
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I probably will not buy Moby's new album; frankly, I've never been a huge club/techno fan. (Sadly, it's people like me who probably got the poor guy branded a sellout by "hardcore" techno fans & purists)
Yet I still love "Play" for the way it melded blues, funk and rock to driving loop beats. The 21st century brought the advent of mash-up albums between Jay-Z and the Beatles, etc. - but back in '99, "Play" was ballsy, fresh and innovative.
And FWIW: It has aged very well, Moby.
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P.S. - The man has a great talent for climactic movie songs!
Moby's Extreme Ways - which plays at the end of all three films in the Bourne trilogy - is as much a signature aspect of the flicks as are intricate car chases and combat scenes.
And NO song may have been more appropriately matched with a movie's final scene as his pre-"Play" tune God Moving Over the Face of the Waters was to the climax of the film Heat...
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Moby, we loves ya for your Pan Bagna recipe
Moby, the man with the vegan plan!
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Typical Garden Variety Alcoholic
All too familiar scenario: Egomaniac With An Inferiority Complex (Takes one to know one). Get help or go down the way your friends have. At 42, your arrested development, apparent in your infatuation with the toxic NY club scene of your youth, is no longer edgy/alternative, but simply self-destructive. Get over it.
Big self-delusion: "Getting F'd Up enhances creativity", anymore than it makes us dance, talk or drive better.
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Oh, Lordy trouble so hard...
Interview read like sad gospel sample from Play album. Feel little bit sorry me for 42 year-old who eat vegetable, drink too much and go home with stranger, but Mr Moby is no dick.
Svutlana
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Hey, how come you pinched the name of my hard disk drive: Moby Disk?
Moby, Moby, Moby, keep doing what you're doing, man. No hate for you in this house. :)
And I first heard some of my favorite music in (shock! horror!) advertisements.
Best wishes,
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hey, moby, i remember you in the corner of the beat...
used to dance to your tunes with my crazy spanish girlfriend, then go across the street to texas for some non-vegan dogs...for some reason, hearing your stuff in commercials everywhere was cool, not a turn-off at all
the girlfriend didn't make it onto the 90's - said goodbye to her and to willow street, and hello to jersey...don't listen as much anymore, but once in a while, i still move while cooking for the kids
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selling out
Although not huge techno fan, I loved Play and 18, and never quite got all the hate about "selling out". In fact, it can be argued that since Moby, the music on commercials has gotten alot better. I loved hearing Nick Drake and Wilco on the Volkswagen adds, as well as Megan Wyler's cover of "I walk the line" on the Levi's add. What is the big deal?!!! If the ads get people to turn on to Drake, Wilco, or Wyler, then good for them.
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teany
love the tea
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He shouldn't be so down
Hey I saw your album and had to grab it. Never was annoyed and loved your sound. The marketing was over the top but they were really great songs loud.
great movie music too. Speaking of which the Patti Labelle cut on Miami vice sound track was awesome. Had it on repeat driving through the rockies and it was sweet.
I have been listening to the new one and it certainly has the sound and is solid. I only skip a couple on the whole album. It is nice to still get the beat and the wash of sound without remembering that movie, commercial or rap feud.
I hope he keeps creating since it really is a unique sound. I can pick Mobys' sound out
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"Play" was an early success?
'"Play" was the kind of early success that can cast a shadow over an entire career...'
Is it me or does this sound like Moby wasn't releasing albums throughout the '90s?
"Next is the E" was one of my favorite early (for me) raver songs, and I even enjoyed the "Ambient" album.
The "Play" album's success struck me more as someone who has paid his dues getting his propers.
And I still like the "Play" album and look forward to the new one.
- Ghost of Tima
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Poor Thing
Perhaps people hate him so much because of his insufferable, holier-than-thou BS.
Like when he came to San Francisco and deemed it his duty to inform us of how dirty and "degenerate" our city was. Thankfully we were able to provide at least one very expensive vegan restaurant for him to dine at...because he "cares" so much about suffering.
Give me a break. Make music and shut it. We already have enough politicians and martyrs.
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Politics is not a purity contest...
"A lot of the people, Harold Ickes and Terry McAuliffe and James Carville -- these guys are nasty. You think Democrats are all like soft, tree-hugging NPR listeners? The people she's surrounded with are just ... awful. Their approach to politics is sort of "take no prisoners." They are like the collective equivalent of Karl Rove on the left. They don't care what it takes; they want their person to be installed in office."
Well, yes. That's usually the goal. I forgot where I read it, and who said it, but the upshot was that politics is not a purity contest. It's a nasty business, but one whose importance cannot be overstated.
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If it weren't for commercial sampling...
I'd never gotten to know Röyksopp (from one of the earliest Geico cavemen adverts).
Who actually cringes when they hear a song they adore, just because it's playing in the background of a tv commercial?
Selling out? How about selling up... making their music accessible to some who'd never know about it otherwise.
Who's zoomin' who? as Aretha might say.
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Strange Bedfellows
Hate is a strong word, but I do find Moby and much of what he stands for annoying to the extreme (PETA, anybody?). But I have to agree entirely with his assessment of the Democratic primary campaign. Of course, maybe Moby and I aren't so different, considering I originally backed Kucinich and Gravel, then Dodd. I suppose we differ in that I never wanted Clinton to win the nomination because of her strong negatives, but would reluctantly vote for her if it were a choice between her and Senator McCain.