Moby

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Moby
Background information
Birth name	Richard Melville Hall
Also known as	Voodoo Child, Barracuda, UHF, The Brotherhood, DJ Cake, Lopez, and Mindstorm
Born	September 11, 1965 (age 41)
Genre(s)	Techno Trance House Electronica Ambient
Instrument(s)	Keyboard Guitar Bass
Years active	1991 – present
Label(s)	V2 Records
Website	Official website

Moby (born Richard Melville Hall on September 11, 1965, in Harlem, New York, and raised in Darien, Connecticut) is an American songwriter, musician and occasional singer. Moby also serves as the name of his live band.

After some limited success in the 1990s with techno music, his biggest success was his more mainstream album Play, released in 1999, which sold 10 million copies worldwide.^[1] He continues to record and release music today.

Moby plays keyboard, guitar, bass guitar and drums. He took his nickname from the novel Moby-Dick, which was written by Herman Melville, his great-great grand uncle.^[2] He has also released music under the names Voodoo Child, Barracuda, UHF, The Brotherhood, DJ Cake, Lopez, and Mindstorm. He has received a lot of attention for his political, environmental and religious beliefs.

Contents 1 Music career 1.1 Early years 1.2 1994-1998 1.3 1999-2004 1.4 2005 to date 2 Innovation 3 Essays 4 Besides music 5 Activism 6 Faith 7 Political quotes 8 Moby's songs used in other media 9 Discography 9.1 Albums 9.1.1 Moby albums (studio) 9.1.2 Limited edition bonus discs 9.1.3 Albums released under pseudonyms 9.1.4 Moby compilations 9.1.5 Virtual Albums 9.2 Singles 9.2.1 Moby 9.2.2 Voodoo Child 9.2.3 Other aliases 9.3 Videos 10 Biographies 11 References 12 External links

[edit] Music career

[edit] Early years

Moby was in a punk band called the Vatican Commandos, which was formed in 1980, but was kicked out^{[citation needed]} after their first release, a 7-inch titled "Hit Squad for God". He claims it was because he realized his music tastes and growth were going in opposite directions of his previous bands.

He was a house disc jockey at The Beat in Port Chester, New York from 1985, and signed a recording contract with Instinct records in 1989. His first success was "Go", a progressive track using the string line from "Laura Palmer's Theme" from the TV drama Twin Peaks. It reached the UK top ten in Autumn 1991 and earned him an appearance on Top of the Pops,^[3] and features on his first album, The Story So Far (aka Moby).

In 1993 he toured with The Prodigy, Orbital, and the Aphex Twin,^[3] and released a B-sides album named Rare: The Collected B-Sides 1989-1993. One song on this album, "Thousand", earned him a world record for the fastest song ever. It reached 1015 BPM.

[edit] 1994-1998

His first album for Mute Records was Everything Is Wrong in 1995, which earned early critical praise and minor commercial success. (It was distributed in the USA by Elektra Records.) He followed this up in early 1996 with the double album Everything Is Wrong - Mixed and Remixed.

Later in 1996 he released a hard rock/electronic album called Animal Rights and toured Europe with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Unusually for Moby, who usually writes all his own music, occasionally with collaborators, Animal Rights included a cover version, Clint Conley's "That's When I Reach for My Revolver".

In 1997, he released I Like to Score, a collection of his music that had been used in movies. Among those tracks was an updated version of the "James Bond Theme" used for the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. However, both Animal Rights and I Like to Score were commercially unsuccessful, and Elektra declined distribution of future Moby releases.

[edit] 1999-2004

After a decade's worth of music, Moby's breakthrough album was 1999's Play. Mainstream reviewers raved about his talents on the album (released on Mute Records and distributed in the US by V2 Records) though some early fans were let down. The album has 18 tracks and was the first album in history to have all of its tracks commercially licensed (see 'Moby's songs used in other media' below). The album's tracks eventually were accepted in various radio formats, but because of Play's extensive licensing, the album could have been financially successful even without radio play. In addition to fame garnered through its licensing, Play is also notable for its extensive sampling of old blues recordings collected by Alan Lomax. In a 2005 posting on his web site, Moby theorized that his eagerness to license his music is a result of "growing up in poverty".^[4]

In 2001, Moby founded the Area:One Festival. It was a popular touring rock festival that featured an eclectic range of musical genres. A second tour was organized for the following year.

In 2001, Moby also earned the ire of Eminem after calling his music misogynist and homophobic; Eminem later satirized Moby (among others) in "Without Me", calling him a "36-year-old baldheaded fag" and questioning his relevance, and declaring "Nobody listens to techno!" Moby replied that he hadn't played techno since 1992. The two were in a confrontation at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, though Moby expresses respect for Eminem as an artist.

In 2002, Moby released 18, an album that had 18 tracks. The most popular song on the album was "We Are All Made of Stars". Moby says he wrote "Sunday (The Day Before My Birthday)" in response to the 2001 terrorist attacks, which happened on his birthday.

Moby briefly had a television show on MTV in 2002, Señor Moby's House of Music, which focused mostly on more obscure electronic music. Moby also appeared on Ride with Funkmaster Flex.

[edit] 2005 to date

In 2005 Moby released his album Hotel. Instead of his usual usage of samples, all of the vocals and instruments on Hotel were performed live in the studio by Moby and vocalist Laura Dawn, who is the Cultural Director of MoveOn.org.

The 2005 multi-award winning documentary Earthlings, narrated by Hollywood actor and animal rights activist Joaquin Phoenix, features an original score by Moby.

Moby scored the soundtrack for Richard Kelly's 2006 movie Southland Tales; he was a huge fan of Kelly's previous film, Donnie Darko, and could not resist the offer the director gave him^{[citation needed]}.

On November 6, 2006, a compilation album of his greatest hits, entitled Go: The Very Best of Moby was released, which includes a new track, "New York, New York" for which Debbie Harry provided vocals. Different versions of this album have his single "Slipping Away" in different languages and with different co-singers.

Moby has reunited Richard Barone's legendary 80s pop group The Bongos to produce and play on a new version of their song "The Bulrushes." The song will be included as a bonus track on the upcoming special edition release of the band's debut album, Drums Along The Hudson, on Cooking Vinyl Records, due out in March 2007.

On the 24th February, 2007 Moby announced on his online journal that he was currently in the process of whittling down 400 songs to about 20 for a new album due out around September.

[edit] Innovation

Moby has used some unusual innovations in his career. His 1995 single "Everytime You Touch Me" (CDMUTE176) featured a remix by the winner of a competition, Jude Sebastian. For certain dates on Moby's 2005 European tour, Live Here Now provided concert-goers with compact disc recordings of the show 10 minutes after it ended. His 2005 single "Lift Me Up" featured, in addition to numerous remixes, UK company Digimpro's software, which allows users to remix the song, using any or all of the samples included, and save it as an MP3 file. Digimpro had previously seen exposure with group Erasure's singles "Breathe", "Here I Go Impossible Again", and "Don't Say You Love Me".

[edit] Essays

Many Moby albums include essays that he has written himself in the inlay card. Everything Is Wrong had essays on over-consumption ("We use toxic chlorine bleach to keep our underpants white") and US religious leaders ("Why doesn't the Christian right go out and spread mercy, compassion and selflessness?"), and The End of Everything discussed being a vegetarian ("Could you look an animal in the eyes and say to it, 'My appetite is more important than your suffering'?")

[edit] Besides music

The name Moby comes from the Herman Melville classic Moby-Dick. His great-great grand uncle wrote it, and so chose the name Moby in tribute. He is a vegan, non-denominational Christian and self-proclaimed "simpleton" (for his often sincere and idealistic political assessments). He has expressed pro-choice views. Moby lives in New York City's Little Italy, where he's lived for a decade in a small apartment in a five-story building across the street from David Bowie. Until recently he co-owned a small restaurant and coffee shop called TeaNY, where he occasionally waited tables. He also organized the Little Idiot Collective, a group of artists that also includes cartoonist and musician James Kochalka.

Moby has signed up to pay $207,000 to become the first pop star to travel into space on the space tourism company Virgin Galactic's VSS Enterprise spaceship in 2010.^[5]

[edit] Activism

Moby is a well known advocate for a variety of progressive causes, working with MoveOn and PETA, among others. He created MoveOn Voter Fund's "Bush in 30 Seconds" contest along with singer/MoveOn Cultural Director Laura Dawn and MoveOn Executive Director Eli Pariser.

He also actively engages in nonpartisan activism. He has performed benefit concerts for the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function [1], promoting music therapy. Moby also serves on the Board of Directors of Amend.org [2], a nonprofit that implements injury prevention programs in Africa.

He is an advocate of network neutrality and he testified before the US House committee debating the issue in 2006^[6][7].

[edit] Faith

In a 2003 BBC interview, Moby speaks about his encounter with the gospels, "In about 1985 I read the teachings of Christ and was instantly struck by the idea that Christ was somehow divine. When I say I love Christ and love the teachings of Christ I mean that in the most simple and naïve way. I'm not saying I'm right." ^[8]

In a September 20, 2006, audio interview with Sojourners magazine's John Potter, (a magazine considered to be a voice in the evangelical left), he says, "I read the New Testament, specifically the gospels and I was struck at their divinity, feeling that humans could not have figured this out on their own. We're just not bright enough."^[9]

He also discusses his faith on his own weblog. On January 19, 2007, in his reaction to seeing Alexandra Pelosi's Friend of God, a film about evangelicalism in the United States, Moby writes, "The movie reminded me just how utterly disconnected the agenda of the evangelical Christian right is from the teachings of Christ." ^[10]

[edit] Political quotes

• "It will be interesting to see what the long term fruits of our national apathy will be, 'cause so far they've been pretty foul."^{[citation needed]}

• "[It] seems painfully clear that the Bush administration have no intention of finding a peaceful resolution to the situation in Iraq. Which is a shame. [Because] at the end of the day peace is better than war, right? Or have things changed? According to the Bush administration and the American media it would seem that most Americans prefer war to peace. I'm guessing that's because most Americans have never actually experienced war... it's a sign of dark and troubled times when a powerful nations leaders do their best to keep people away from the high road."^[11].

• (On convincing people not to vote for George W. Bush in 2004) "For example, you can go on all the pro-life chat rooms and say you're an outraged right-wing voter and that you know that George Bush drove an ex-girlfriend to an abortion clinic and paid for her to get an abortion. Then you go to an anti-immigration website chat room and ask, 'What's all this about George Bush proposing amnesty for illegal aliens?' "^[12].

[edit] Moby's songs used in other media

"Ah-Ah" and "Next Is the E" were featured in:

• The 1992 motion picture Cool World

"First Cool Hive" was featured in:

• The movie Scream.
• Opening credits of Finnish IT news program verkoss@ (produced by Media-Active Oy, aired on MTV3 circa 1996—1998).

"Inside" was featured in:

• The WB's hit show Popular.
• The big wave surfing documentary, "Riding Giants".

"Find my Baby" was featured in:

• The WB's hit show Charmed, Season two.
• Oliver Stone's football film Any Given Sunday.

"In My Heart" was featured in:

• One of the trailers for the 2006 movie The Pursuit of Happyness
• Commercials for the Nokia Nseries phones

"God Moving Over the Face of the Waters," was featured in:

• The 1995 motion picture Heat.
• The 1996 Rover 400 car commercial.
• The 1999 documentary One Day in September.
• The trailer for the 2005 movie Syriana.
• The 2006 Apple commercial for the Intel-based line of iMac PCs.

"I'm Not Worried At All" was featured in:

• TV-series CSI: NY episode "Oedipus Hex", Season Three Episode Five.

"Flower" was featured in:

• The 2000 movie Gone in Sixty Seconds.

"Natural Blues" was featured in:

• The movie Freddy Got Fingered.
• Television promos for the BBC News, 2000.
• The movie Basic.
• The TV Show Cold Case

"Rafters" was featured in:

• The 2003 Australian Swimming Championship, Broadcast on the Seven Network.

"Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" was featured in:

• The climax of the documentary film Peaceable Kingdom
• The trailer for the 2001 movie Black Hawk Down.

"Extreme Ways" was featured in:

• The end of the 2002 movie Phone Booth
• The end of the 2002 movie The Bourne Identity and its sequel, The Bourne Supremacy.
• Trailes and promos for various PBS Shows

"Honey" was featured in:

• The 2003 movie Holes

"When It's Cold I'd Like to Die" was featured in:

• The final scene and end credits of episode 67 of the HBO original series The Sopranos ("Join the Club")

"Porcelain" was featured in:

• The 1998 film Playing by Heart
• The 1999 film The Beach and its trailer.
• Commercial bumpers for Spanish TV channel TVE
• The 2001 film Dancing at the Blue Iguana
• The 2001 film Is Harry on the Boat
• The May 30, 2000 series finale of TV drama "Party of Five"
• A 2000 Canadian Baileys Irish Cream Television Advertisement

"Everloving" was featured in:

• The movie Seabiscuit
• The movie version of He Died with a Felafel in His Hand
• A trailer for the 2000 film Requiem for a Dream
• A series of TV adverts for BP South Africa during 2005
• Oliver Stone's football film Any Given Sunday

"My Weakness" was featured in:

• The season 7 episode of The X-Files, "Closure"
• The movie Any Given Sunday
• The 2001 film Behind Enemy Lines^[13]
• The 2002 film The Salton Sea^[13]

"The Sky Is Broken" was featured in:

• Episode "All Things" of season 7 of The X-Files

"One of These Mornings" was featured in:

• Multiple episodes of Without a Trace
• The 2006 theatrical version of Miami Vice

"Lift Me Up" was featured in:

• The 2005 released racing game Asphalt Urban GT 2 for cell phones. The game was developed and published by Gameloft. The Nokia N-Gage version featured the song, while other versions(Java & Symbian OS) featured the tune.
• The 2006 Bemani game beatmania (North America)
• The opening theme of Formula 1 coverage on ITV
• During 2006 on Channel Nine Australia's coverage of Rugby League
• The 2007 commercial advertising Discovery's show called Expedition Borneo

"Oil 1" was featured in:

• The movie The Saint

"Bodyrock" was featured in:

• The video game FIFA 2001
• The opening credits sequence for later episodes of Veronica's Closet
• Joss Whedon's series Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• The trailer for the 2001 film Ali
• The opening credits sequence for Hype

"Memory Gospel" was featured in:

• The 2000 film Get Carter (2000 film)
• The 2001 film Ali
• The 2002 film 40 Days and 40 Nights

"New Dawn Fades", originally by Joy Division, was featured in:

• The 1995 film Heat

"Anthem" was featured in:

• The 2006 film Miami Vice

"Go" was featured in:

• The 2002 film 24 Hour Party People, although it does not appear on the soundtrack.

"Slipping Away" was featured in:

• Movistar commercials in Spain in October 2006

Hip Hop group Three Six Mafia also remixed "Flower" named "Bring Sally Up" with a hip hop touch.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Moby albums (studio)

Moby (Instinct 1992)	Ambient (Instinct 1993)	Everything Is Wrong (Mute 1995)	Animal Rights (Mute 1996)
Play (Mute 1999)	Play: The B Sides (Mute 2000)	18 (Mute 2002)	18 B Sides + DVD (Mute 2003)
Hotel (Mute 2005)

[edit] Limited edition bonus discs

• Underwater (free with limited edition Everything Is Wrong)
• Little Idiot (free with limited edition Animal Rights)
• hotel.ambient (free with limited edition Hotel)

[edit] Albums released under pseudonyms

• Instinct Dance (Instinct 1991) (as Moby/Barracuda/Brainstorm/Voodoo Child)
• The End of Everything (Mute 1996 (UK)/Elektra 1996 (US)) (as Voodoo Child)
• Baby Monkey (V2 2003) (as Voodoo Child)

[edit] Moby compilations

• Early Underground (Instinct 1993)
• Rare: The Collected B-Sides 1989-1993 (Instinct 1996)
• Everything Is Wrong – DJ Mix Album (Mute 1996)
• I Like to Score (Mute 1997)
• Songs 1993-1998 (Elektra 2000)
• Go – The Very Best of Moby (Mute 2006)
• Go – The Very Best of Moby: Remixed (Mute 2007)

[edit] Virtual Albums

• iTunes Originals - Moby

[edit] Singles

[edit] Moby

• 1990 "Mobility"
• 1991 "Go" #10 UK
• 1992 "Drop a Beat"
• 1992 "Next is the E"
• 1993 "I Feel It / Thousand" #38 UK
• 1993 "Move" #21 UK
• 1993 "All That I Need Is To Be Loved"
• 1994 "Hymn" #31 UK
• 1994 "Feeling So Real" #30 UK
• 1995 "Everytime You Touch Me" #28 UK
• 1995 "Into the Blue" #34 UK
• 1995 "Bring Back My Happiness"
• 1996 "That's When I Reach For My Revolver" (26 August 1996) #50 UK
• 1996 "Come On Baby" (4 November 1996)
• 1997 "James Bond Theme (Moby's Re-Version)" #8 UK
• 1998 "Honey" #33 UK
• 1999 "Run On" #33 UK
• 1999 "Bodyrock" #38 UK
• 1999 "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad" #16 UK
• 2000 "Natural Blues" #11 UK
• 2000 "Porcelain" #5 UK
• 2001 "South Side" (featuring Gwen Stefani) #14 U.S.
• 2000 "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad / Honey (Remix feat. Kelis)" #17 UK
• 2002 "We Are All Made of Stars" (UK) #11 UK
• 2002 "Extreme Ways" (UK) #39 UK
• 2002 "In This World" (UK) #35 UK
• 2003 "In My Heart" #76 France
• 2003 "Sunday (The Day Before My Birthday)" (UK)
• 2003 "Jam For The Ladies" (UK)
• 2004 "MKLVFKWR" (with Public Enemy)
• 2005 "Lift Me Up" (UK, 28 February 2005) #18 UK
• 2005 "Raining Again" (Europe, 23 May 2005; Australia, 6 June 2005) #52 Australia
• 2005 "Spiders" (UK, 30 May 2005) #50 UK
• 2005 "Beautiful" (Europe, 12 September 2005)
• 2005 "Dream About Me" (UK, 8 August 2005)
• 2006 "Slipping Away" (UK, 23 January 2006) #53 UK
• 2006 "New York New York" (Featuring Debbie Harry) #40 Australia, #43 UK
• 2006 "Slipping Away (Crier La Vie)" (Featuring Mylène Farmer) (France, 25 September 2006) #1 France
• 2006 "Escapar (Slipping Away)" (Featuring Amaral) #3 Spain

[edit] Voodoo Child

• 1991 "Voodoo Child"
• 1994 "Demons / Horses"
• 1995 "Higher"
• 1996 "Dog Heaven"
• 2003 "Light Is In Your Eyes / Electronics"
• 2003 "Take It Home / Strings"

[edit] Other aliases

• 1983 "Hit Squad For God EP" (as Vatican Commandos)
• 1983 "Just a Frisbee" (as Vatican Commandos)
• 1989 "Time's Up" (as The Brotherhood)
• 1990 "Rock The House" (as Brainstorm and Mindstorm)
• 1991 "Drug Fits The Face" (as Barracuda)
• 1991 "U.H.F." (as U.H.F.)
• 1995 "Why Can't It Stop?" (as Lopez)
• 1996 "Emptiness" (as Lopez)
• 1996 "Sugar Baby" (as DJ Cake)
• 1998 "4 Lights" (as The Pork Guys)
• 1999 "Split" (as Schaumgummi)

[edit] Videos

• Play: The DVD (2001)
• 18 DVD + B Sides (2003)
• Moby Presents: Alien Sex Party (2003)
• The Hotel Tour 2005 (2006)
• Go: The Very Best of Moby (2006)

[edit] Biographies

• Moby: Replay, 2001 Olmstead Press Paperback ISBN 1-58754-011-8

[edit] References

1. ^ Jerry Armor, Moby didn't feel pressure to follow up 'Play', Yahoo! Music, viewed 23 February 2007.
2. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Moby > Biography". All Music Guide. Retrieved January 23, 2007.
3. ^ ^{a b} http://www.moby.com/biography Moby biography, accessed 2 January 2006
4. ^ "http://www.moby.com/node/5461". 
5. ^ "http://www.nme.com/news/moby/21800". 
6. ^ "http://www.savetheinternet.com/moby". 
7. ^ "http://www.freepress.net/news/15579". 
8. ^ "Moby tells BBC World Service that his understanding of Christianity helped him achieve a new balance in life". bbc.co.uk 29.04.03
9. ^ "Moby: Everything is complicated". John Potter's Sojourners magazine audio interview with Moby, September 20, 2006.
10. ^ "Moby's blog". Moby.com, Journal entry January 19, 2007.
11. ^ "http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30345". 
12. ^ "http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/162659p-142554c.html". 
13. ^ ^{a b} http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005240/ The Internet Movie Database

[edit] External links

• Official site / journal
• Moby page at Mute Records web site
• Listings of all Moby songs

v • d • e Moby

Studio albums Instinct Dance • Moby • Ambient • Everything Is Wrong • The End of Everything • Animal Rights • Play • Play: The B Sides • 18 • 18 B Sides + DVD • Baby Monkey • Hotel Compilation and digital albums Early Underground • Everything Is Wrong – DJ Mix Album • Rare: The Collected B-Sides 1989-1993 • I Like to Score • Songs 1993-1998 • iTunes Originals • Go – The Very Best of Moby • Go – The Very Best of Moby: Remixed