Bryan Ferry on how Roxy Music invented art pop: 'We were game for anything'

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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