“Bodyrock” -  Moby
(Words/music: Moby, available on Play, V2 1999)

“Electronica” (or whatever you want to call it) seemed poised to become a major cultural force in the United States in the late 1990s.  While this takeover didn’t happen the way many thought it would, it wasn’t a fruitless endeavor.  Sure, the Chemical Brothers and the Crystal Method (among others) had a fair amount of success, but electronic dance music needed to evolve before its moment in the spotlight.  Two of the biggest successes in America – Fatboy Slim and Moby – bridged a gap between club music and rock music, incorporating surf guitar riffs or icy pianos with big beats and samples.  While Fatboy Slim dabbled as a rock star, he still preferred to stay behind the turntables and out of the spotlight.  Moby, however, embraced the spotlight entirely by the time Play came out.  He even fronted his own band of musicians when performing live.  In 2009, we might just call Moby a “performer” or a “rock star,” but looking back at how popular music has changed in the states over the last decade, he plays a more interesting role.

Listening to something like “Bodyrock” now doesn’t seem that extraordinary, but back in 1999 I’m not sure I had heard something like this.  Sure, Moby wasn’t the first to marry rock music and club rhythms (My Bloody Valentine’s “Soon” does this trick ten times better than “Bodyrock,” and Primal Scream squeezed out an entire album built around this blurred line), but Moby took it further by putting a face on it.  “Bodyrock” feels like a riff heavy rock song, but relies on that persistent beat and tons of repetition (both in the music and the vocal incantation).  Somehow, he’s drawn on his roots as both an electronic musician and hardcore punk nerd and found a middle ground.  It’s maybe not the ideal track for either audience, but “Bodyrock” (and much of Play) was music that many people could like.  For me, it’s this seamless blending of genres that seems significant now.  We take it for granted when a band like Animal Collective put samplers and guitars on the same stage, but it was a long road before these paths converged.  Moby wasn’t the first, and while he did it well, he probably didn’t do it the best (and to be fair, I’m not knowledgeable enough to make that argument either way), but he brought it to the most people.  I’m not sure we’d have our current musical world (for better or worse) – one where recording guitar tracks in Garageband makes sense – without Play.

More on Moby: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm