How Arthur Russell inspired LCD Soundsystem’s ‘All My Friends’
A song that is likely to spark nostalgia in the hearts of all those who spent the 2000s dancing the night away at indie discos bedecked in trilbys and shemagh scarves, ‘All My Friends’ is one of LCD Soundsystem’s defining moments. An epic eight-minute track awash with nostalgia and euphoria, James Murphy has revealed that the inspiration for the track came from Arthur Russell and Joy Division.
Starting his musical endeavours with LCD Soundsystem at the age of 32, Murphy deals with ideas of ageing and yearning for the joy of youth on ‘All My Friends’. Taken from their second studio album, Sound of Silver, the track was perhaps the greatest release of 2007, though it only managed to reach 41 in the UK singles chart.
One of the aspects of the track that make it so infectious and beloved is its driving quality, with ‘All My Friends’ rising in intensity as it goes on. Built around an optimistic and repetitive piano melody, the song seems to increase in volume as it progresses, becoming an overwhelming menagerie of sound by the end. This was all by design, of course, with Murphy explaining that he was inspired by the building quality of Joy Division’s classic post-punk anthem ‘Transmission’.
“I was purposefully trying to chase a feeling I got from Joy Division’s ‘Transmission,’ which starts off so gentle, and becomes so fucking overwhelming,” Murphy explained to Mojo in 2008, “By the time he’s going, ‘Dance, dance, dance to the radio!’ your head’s exploding.”
Although ‘All My Friends’ is distinctly happier than the brooding moodiness of Manchester’s favourite sons, you can certainly see the parallels between the two when it comes to their building atmosphere.
Another object of inspiration for ‘All My Friends’ came from Iowa-born avant-garde composer Arthur Russell, specifically his work on the Dinosaur L track ‘Go Bang’. “I don’t know who did the vocal but it’s just like, ‘I just wanna see all my friends at once, I’d do anything to get the chance to go back,’” the songwriter shared, “It’s the simplest thing I could imagine, and it’s fucking beautiful. It’s always been a really important theme for me, and it’s nice to write a song that comes from it.”
Dinosaur L was a group composed and directed by Russell, who later used the name as an alias. ‘Go Bang’ is a funk and soul-influenced disco track with a similar sense of youthful nostalgia to ‘All My Friends’. Russell was a key figure in the avant-garde and disco scene of 1970s New York, so it should come as no surprise that he is a favourite of LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, who has consistently found inspiration within underground music scenes.
