Moby

Trivia

• Moby was one of the most controversial figures in techno music, alternately praised for bringing a face to the notoriously anonymous electronic genre, as well as being scorned by hordes of techno artists and fans for diluting and trivializing the form.
• In either case, Moby was one of the most important dance music figures of the early '90s, helping bring the music to a mainstream audience both in England and in America.
• Moby fused rapid disco beats with heavy distorted guitars, punk rhythms, and detailed productions that drew equally from pop, dance, and movie soundtracks.
• Not only did his music differ from both the cool surface textures of ambient music and the hedonistic world of house music, but so did his lifestyle; Moby was infamous for his devout, radical Christian beliefs, as well as his environmental and vegan activism. "Go" became a British Top Ten hit in 1991, establishing him as one of the premier techno producers.
• By the time he came to the attention of American record critics with 1995's Everything Is Wrong, his following from the early '90s had begun to erode, particularly in Britain.
• Nevertheless, he remained one of the most recognizable figures within techno; after he abandoned the music for guitar rock with 1996's Animal Rights, he returned to a heavy electronic base with 1997's I Like to Score and 1999's Play, the latter of which made him a genuine breakout pop star.
• Moby continued performing at dances and raves throughout 1991 and 1992, culminating in a set at 1992's Mixmag awards where he broke his keyboards at the end of his concert.
• Moby, his first full-length album, appeared in 1992.
• In 1993, he released the double A-side single "I Feel It" / "Thousand," which became a moderate U.K. hit. According to the Guinness Book of Records, "Thousand" is the fastest single ever, appropriately clocking in at 1000 beats a minutes.
• In 1993, Moby signed a record contract with Mute and his first release was Ambient, which compiled unissued material recorded between 1988 and 1991.

Quotes

• “I'm not a particularly attractive person - 5ft 8in, stooping, with a receding hairline.”
• “If I was a sex symbol, I would be getting laid a lot more than I am now.”
• “The basis for Richard Melville Hall -- and for Moby -- is that supposedly Herman Melville was my great-great-great-granduncle.”
• “I wish I had stories about me getting them myself, ... hanging out in prisons and farms in Georgia, Atlanta or Alabama, or whatever. But no, I just went around the corner to my old record store and bought the reissues.”
• “Three of the dolphins were born at the facility, and had never been in the wild, compacting our concern for their well-being.”
• “Three of these eight dolphins were born at the facility and had never been in the wild, compacting our concern for their well being, ... Once we realized the dolphins had been swept out to sea during the hurricane, we feared that they had died. We are just thrilled that they have stayed together during the past couple of weeks.”
• “The little characters I draw are very simple, very naive, and I guess I am too in a lot of ways.”
• “I see 'Ahab's Wife' as offering an alternative vision to ”
• “It's their security blanket, ... We feed them … fish, vitamins and medicine.”
• “I personally donated $2,500 to the Red Cross yesterday. Normally I don't like to tell how much I donated and to whom, but I felt sometimes it's good to share info in the hopes that others will feel inspired to donate whatever they can.”