
Bryan Ferry on how Roxy Music invented art pop: 'We were game for anything' - tintinnabula
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/feb/01/bryan-ferry-roxy-music-invented-new-pop-game-for-anything
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regexnerd
Roxy Music were smooth, they sounded a bit more upscale than other bands, even
bands they were supposed to have drawn influence from. Bryan Ferry knew what
he was doing. Avalon was a brilliant album, and I discovered it at 13. I went
on to acquire most of their catalogue.

I live in America now and most Americans have never heard of Roxy Music.
Granted, I grew up on bands like The Jam, New Model Army, Style Council, The
Clash, etc. With the exception of modern EDM artists like Shingo Nakamura and
Roger Shah, I still gravitate to Roxy Music and the aforementioned artists.

~~~
chiph
I picked up Brian Ferry with _Bête Noire_ \- definitely more of an art-house
sound than anything else going on at the time.

Shingo Nakamura is quite good. There are a couple of 2 hour tracks on Youtube
by him under the Silk Music label.

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nutcracker46
Whaaat? Invented? More like creativity following acts like the Velvet
Underground or Plastic Ono Band.

Roxy Music music is actually pretty slick, but I point out that there have
been others before them in the business of art pop / avant garde.

Actually, if you examine their influences, it is more like evolution of a
theme in arts and music.

~~~
pocketsquare2
Well. Aren't Velvet Underground basically a Genghis Khan of 20th century
western music, as in 95% of people who attended their shows started a band,
and roughly 37% of contemporary bands carry their DNA? :)

That said, baity title but the subtitle is better in terms of Roxy not really
sounding like anyone before (or since). Also grateful that the universe
allowed Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno to occupy the same space long enough to make
choice music without collapsing into a singularity.

~~~
dredmorbius
Not, ever, to be confused with Dschinghis Khan.

[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NvS351QKFV4](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NvS351QKFV4)

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aaavl2821
There aren't many occasions where we can retrospectively "feel", on a visceral
level, the impact of the introduction of technologies and ideas that have now
become mainstream. We can intellectually appreciate how cool it would have
been to be at "the mother of all demos", or to see a Monet landscape in the
midst of the Realist movement, but it is much harder to feel it emotionally.
After all, we use hyperlinks and video chat everyday, and you can see high
quality images of so much famous art on google that it all seems banal

But every once in a while i see some piece of historical innovation that just
blows my mind and makes me realize that some people just have a unique genius.
I am filled with wonder and shake my head thinking how the hell did this
person come up with that. These moments for me usually happen when I am
learning something for the first time in a setting that provides the context
of the times and with an instructor who loves their subject. The most
memorable instances for me of this phenomenon are:

1\. Listenting to a lecture on the political and social messages the Medici
wanted to deliver in commissioning the art and architecture in the new
sacristy in San Lorenzo in Florence, while in the new sacristy in San Lorenzo
in florence

2\. Learning about the concepts of structs and linked lists in C for the first
time after having done some basic C exercises as part of David malans CS50
class -- hobbyist programmer here :)

3\. Watching a live performance on YouTube of "editions of you" by roxy music,
specifically Brian enos synth solo, after creating some songs on Logic Pro and
learning about ambient music, minimalism and the beginnings of electronic
music in an undergrad course on electronic music taught by john supko.
Electronic music these days is just pop music, but Brian eno used new
technology to create strange, energetic yet catchy sounds that simply didn't
exist before: they walked a fine line between surreal and relatable. His solo
in editions of you sits between a great sax solo and a great guitar solo, and
he uses a basic analog synth to twist, chop and stretch sax samples to sound
like something Jimi Hendrix would play if he were in an acid rock rendition of
phantom of the opera. And you can tell that the music is such a raw, natural
and forceful expression of "him". He was so far ahead of his time

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mychael
If you've never heard of Roxy Music or Bryan Ferry, I suggest starting with
Roxy Music's For Your Pleasure and Bryan Ferry's Boys and Girls. Timeless
records.

~~~
Wildgoose
"Viva!", their first live album, is one of my all-time favourites - and also
includes John Wetton (of King Crimson and Asia fame) on bass guitar.

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robertc2017
Avalon is awesome. I can live without the rest of the catalogue.

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ahdroit
"Like a Warhol, you mean? “Exactly, yeah.”"

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devindotcom
Super random to see this pop up like 30 seconds after I was listening to this
Todd Terje song featuring him (a cover actually but this version is great):

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Din_eWjJWe0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Din_eWjJWe0)

Great slow synth pop type track if you're into that.

