Moby

Moby was one of the most controversial figures in techno music, alternately praised for bringing a face to the notoriously anonymous electronic genre and 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 famous 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.

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, Connecticut, 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. In 1991, he set the theme from David Lynch's television series Twin Peaks to an insistent house-derived rhythm and titled the result "Go." The single became a surprise British hit single, climbing into the Top Ten. Following its success, Moby was invited to remix a number of mainstream and underground acts, including Michael Jackson, Pet Shop Boys, Brian Eno, Depeche Mode, Erasure, the B-52s, and Orbital.

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-sided 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 1,000 beats a minute. That same year, Moby signed a record contract with Mute and his first release was Ambient, which compiled unissued material recorded between 1988 and 1991. Later that year, The Story So Far, a collection of singles released on Instinct, appeared. In 1994, the single "Hymn" — one of the first fusions of gospel, techno, and ambient music — was released.

In 1994, Moby signed a major-label contract with Elektra in the U.S. Everything Is Wrong, his first album released under the deal, appeared in the spring of 1995 to uniformly positive reviews, especially in the American press, which had previously ignored him. Despite the promotional push behind the album and his popular sets at the 1995 Lollapalooza festival, the album wasn't a commercial success. "Bring Back My Happiness," however, was a Top Ten hit on Billboard's club chart. The following year, Moby incorporated heavy guitar rock for 1996's Animal Rights, which featured a cover of Mission of Burma's "That's When I Reach for My Revolver" and received mixed reviews. One year later, Elektra collected his soundtrack highlights for I Like to Score, a compilation that included his remix of "The James Bond Theme" for Tomorrow Never Dies, as well as contributions to Cool World, Heat, and Scream.

Moby's fifth studio album, Play, appeared in 1999. Surpassing everyone's expectations, the album — featuring numerous samples of Alan Lomax field recordings — went double platinum in the U.S. and reached number one in the U.K. Aside from its hit singles, Play's success was assured when its tracks were licensed by dozens of advertisers and compilers. Always a restless producer, Moby followed Play with 18 (2002), a relatively reflective and restrained set dotted with an eclectic list of guest vocalists (including MC Lyte, Angie Stone, and Sinéad O'Connor). It debuted at number four on the U.S. Billboard 200 but didn't come close to catching Play in terms of sales.

The downward trend in mainstream appeal continued with Hotel (2005), a mixture of basic contemporary rock and downbeat electronica; early copies were bundled with an ambient disc worthy of separate release. On Last Night, seemingly unaware of contemporary trends in dance music, Moby made a return to club hedonism with some of his most creative — if unapologetically nostalgic — material. The austere and morose Wait for Me (2009), featuring a show-stealing appearance from soul singer Leela James, was just the opposite in tone. Destroyed (2011), recorded during late-night sessions in hotel rooms, offered a natural extension of Wait for Me's alienated feel. The companion piece Destroyed Remixed (2012) followed shortly thereafter; a limited double-disc compilation, it featured exclusive remixes by David Lynch, Holy Ghost!, and System Divine, as well as a previously unreleased 30-minute ambient piece by Moby himself.

After several appearances in early 2013, including DJ sets at the Coachella festival, Moby released a special 7" for Record Store Day, entitled "The Lonely Night," which featured vocals from Mark Lanegan. The song was included on Innocents, an album mixed by Mark "Spike" Stent, released that October. Other guest vocalists included Damien Jurado, the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne, and Skylar Grey. Three shows were performed in support of the album, all of which took place at Los Angeles' Fonda Theatre. A two-CD/two-DVD documentation, Almost Home, was released in March 2014. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Andy Kellman, Rovi