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The musical madness of Moby


There’s a bald little man you should know about. He puts together rock ‘n’ roll, hardcore punk, new wave, jazz fusion, even hints of disco, in addition to introducing a whole new style of music he invented. The techno artist Moby, born Richard Melville Hall, is the man behind the mixing of all these genres. He is able to compile all sorts of styles, clips, and sounds without making a mess of the whole situation.

The first time I learned who Moby actually was, he sounded sort of ridiculous. My friend defined him as "a little old man with no hair who was a vegan or something" as I was listening to something off of Play, his newest album, which is definitely not "little old man" music. But it was after going to his concert, here at the Greek Theatre, that I really realized what this guy was about. Not just some commercially produced celebrity figure, Mr. Moby does everything by himself. He literally runs from instrument to instrument while he’s performing, never pulling some Spears or Aguilera stunt where all he does is prance around and lipsync to some song he never wrote. You can tell he’s not trying to hide behind his synthesizer by the way his skill shows in everything he does, from composition to performance.

Moby has a relationship with music that started at a very young age. At 10 he picked up the guitar, and by 15 was playing bass, drums and keyboard, and was in a few small new wave/punk outfits. He also began sneaking out to famous New York clubs, which undoubtedly were huge inspirations to the young artist. Before becoming the Moby of today, he was a Manhattan deejay/college dropout. After being signed to an indie label in the for a while, Moby jumped more into the mainstream after signing with Elektra and Mute records in two separate contracts, and touring in the famous Lollapalooza.

After many hits and me getting addicted to all of his radio tunes, I have gained a lot of respect for Moby and what he does. Not only does he make good music, this guy is humble, and isn’t really interested in the fame scene. This shows either he is pulling an "I don’t want to be famous, therefore I am cool so buy my album" act, or he is really in it for the love of music, which is hard to find these days. And even if he is in it for the money, Moby really is good at what he does. He’s a compiler, a mixer, and a musician, and is not afraid to do his own thing or stand up for his beliefs (which include not driving a car to protect the environment). I recommend checking out any of his albums (Everything is Wrong ’95, Animal Rights ’96, I Like to Score ’97, and Play ’99) to find out more about who this artist is, and what he can communicate through his music.