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Comment by pjbrunet | Hacker News Reader

You have to look for the Amiga MODs. Nearly all electronic music was in MOD format back before MP3.

http://amp.dascene.net/detail.php?detail=modules&view=5024

"This is a compilation of some of my demoscene music made between 1989 and 1993 when I was still called Moby, before some other guy took my moniker :P. These tunes were released by some of the best demogroups ever : Sanity, Alcatraz, Quartex, Dreamdealers... All tracks were composed using Protracker on the Amiga." https://elmobo.bandcamp.com/album/amiga-days-remasters

The worldwide distribution was though BBS networks and the Internet. Just for reference, when these Amiga modules started circulating, the IBM PC was only capable of making "beeping" noises.

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Come on. Moby was releasing published songs in 1990, which means he was signed to a label at least several months prior. This whole "89-93" thing is misleading and invents a conspiracy theory where there is none.

Not to mention, I had an Amiga those days. And used Protracker. That doesn't make Amiga MOD groups a required staple for anyone in electronic music in that 6-18 month window, and it's disingenuous to claim otherwise.

Edit: in fact, per http://www.instinctrecords.com/artists/moby :

"Born Richard Melville Hall, Moby received his nickname as a child; it derives from the fact that Herman Melville, the author of Moby Dick, is his great-great grand uncle. Moby was raised in Darien, CT, where he played in a hardcore punk band called the Vatican Commandos as a teenager. Later, he briefly sang with Flipper, while their singer was serving time in jail. He briefly attended college, before he moved to New York City, where he began DJing in dance clubs. During the late ’80s and 1990, he released a number of singles and EPs for the independent label Instinct."

I think the jury of reasonable men err on the side of coincidence, not coat-tail riding moniker-stealing.

Like I said in my other comment, I looked up the pack to refresh my memory and Motte was already dominating the BBS scene by 1989. By today's standards, "new" Moby is more widely known than the whole BBS/Demoscene combined. But I still think it's a weird coincidence.

So he was making music as Moby for a year before Hall made his first release as Moby? I think what's happening is that people aren't responding to "Motte was first" so much as to the claim that Hall "hijacked Frédéric's name and reputation".

I'll let the historians figure it out. All I can tell you is that Moby had already established himself worldwide by 1989. I know this because I had one of the largest MOD music collections in Florida from 1987-1993 http://bbslist.textfiles.com/407/ and this stuff was way more popular in Europe, I wasn't even part of the demoscene, I was just an unknown ANSI artist. Moby (Motte) was one of the most prolific, talented guys making electronic music at that time. When I heard this one in 7th grade, I couldn't believe what I was hearing from my IBM PC/AT speaker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKEmR6mWl1U the rain and thunder samples, it was unique and unprecedented. This track is from 1989 because I was still living in Coral Springs when I heard it and here is the Impact Inc pack http://arabuusimiehet.com/break/amiga/index.php?mode=group&g...

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