The earliest influences of the innovative Brian Eno
It’s difficult to imagine a producer as singular as Brian Eno being subject to the influence of any other artist – after all, he pioneered and named an entire genre. Eno spent the late 1970s carving out space for a new, minimalistic, atmospheric form of music that he would soon come to dub “ambient”, employing his trusty synth to do so. Over four decades later, Eno’s name remains almost synonymous with this genre, but his achievements extend far beyond it.
Alongside his work in the realm of ambience and experimental electronica, Eno made a name for himself as a highly sought-after producer. He worked with huge names across a range of more radio-friendly genres, from glam-rocker David Bowie to new wave outfit Talking Heads to Ireland’s own U2. He’s still racking up production credits to this day, pushing talented artists to experiment even further with their sound.
Somewhere between ambient experimentations, production outings, and his contribution towards the Microsoft startup sound, Eno proved himself to be a true sonic innovator, and his influence on other artists is unparalleled. Aside from albums he directly produced, Eno’s approach to music-making has inspired the work of every ambient artist that followed him, alongside musicians working outside of the electronic realm.
Eno’s influence may be massive, but that hasn’t exempted him from the influence of others. To become a wildly successful producer and the biggest name in the ambient realm, he had to start somewhere. And that somewhere was the intersection between experimentalism and pop, an avenue that few others had explored or even taken interest in before Eno came along.
As the producer once explained during a conversation with The Guardian, Eno “came out of this funny place where [he] was interested in the experimental ideas of Cornelius, Cardew, John Cage and Gavin Bryars, but also in pop music.” He admired the work and processes of artists like the Velvet Underground and Donna Summer as much as he admired the work of electronic experimentalists.
Few others had taken an interest in both of these areas, or at least they failed to see how they could combine to create something even greater, but Eno decided to investigate this intersection between his interests. “Pop was all about the results and the feedback,” he explained. “The experimental side was interested in process more than the actual result.”
Eno wondered why other producers hadn’t taken notice of the advancements within pop recording and applied them to the world of experimentalism. It’s easy to see how these early ideas and influences would direct the producer as he took his own steps into the industry. His ambient music certainly didn’t have the catchiness or commercial appeal of pop, but Eno did retain more focus on the result as well as the process.
Meanwhile, he took his experimental approach into the studio with those working in the pop and rock realms, fusing his interests in this arena, too. Even when he was taking influence from the artists that preceded him, Eno was already innovating, concocting new ways to create music and to combine genres, bettering them both in the process.
Decades later, Eno still holds a fascination with both experimental and pop-friendly ways of producing music. He has pulled the two together beautifully, creating a catalogue of moving ambient work and shimmering pop in the process.
