Born in Suffolk, Eno studied painting and experimental music at the art school of Ipswich Civic College in the mid 1960s, and then at Winchester School of Art. He joined glam rock group Roxy Music as synthesiser player in 1971. After recording two albums with Roxy Music, he departed in 1973 to record a number of solo albums, coining the term "ambient music" to describe his work on releases such as Another Green World (1975), Discreet Music (1975), and Music for Airports (1978). He also collaborated with artists such as Robert Fripp, Cluster, Harold Budd, David Bowie on his "Berlin Trilogy", and David Byrne, and produced albums by artists including John Cale, Jon Hassell, Laraaji, Talking Heads and Devo, and the no wave compilation No New York (1978).
Eno has continued to record solo albums and work with artists including U2, Laurie Anderson, Grace Jones, Slowdive, Coldplay, James Blake, and Damon Albarn. Dating back to his time as a student, he has also worked in media including sound installations and his mid-70s co-development of Oblique Strategies, a deck of cards featuring cryptic aphorisms intended to spur creative thinking. From the 1970s onwards, Eno's installations have included the sails of the Sydney Opera House in 2009 and the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank in 2016. An advocate of a range of humanitarian causes, Eno writes on a variety of subjects and is a founding member of the Long Now Foundation. In 2019, Eno was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Roxy Music.
Eno is frequently referred to as one of popular music's most influential artists. Producer and film composer Jon Brion has said: "I think he's the most influential artist since the Beatles." Critic Jason Ankeny at AllMusic argues that Eno "forever altered the ways in which music is approached, composed, performed, and perceived, and everything from punk to techno to new age bears his unmistakable influence." Eno has spread his techniques and theories primarily through his production; his distinctive style informed a number of projects in which he has been involved, including Bowie's "Berlin Trilogy" (helping to popularize minimalism) and the albums he produced for Talking Heads (incorporating, on Eno's advice, African music and polyrhythms), Devo, and other groups. Eno's first collaboration with David Byrne, 1981's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, pioneered sampling techniques that would prove to be influential in hip-hop, and broke ground by incorporating world music into popular Western music forms. Eno and Peter Schmidt's Oblique Strategies have been used by many bands, and Eno's production style has proven influential in several general respects: "his recording techniques have helped change the way that modern musicians;– particularly electronic musicians;– view the studio. No longer is it just a passive medium through which they communicate their ideas but itself a new instrument with seemingly endless possibilities."
Whilst inspired by the ideas of minimalist composers including John Cage, Terry Riley and Erik Satie, Eno coined the term ambient music to describe his own work and defined the term. The Ambient Music Guide states that he has brought from "relative obscurity into the popular consciousness" fundamental ideas about ambient music, including "the idea of modern music as subtle atmosphere, as chill-out, as impressionistic, as something that creates space for quiet reflection or relaxation." His groundbreaking work in electronic music has been said to have brought widespread attention to and innovations in the role of electronic technology in recording. Pink Floyd keyboardist Rick Wright said he "often eulogised" Eno's abilities.
Eno's "unconventional studio predilections", in common with those of Peter Gabriel, were an influence on the recording of "In the Air Tonight", the single which launched the solo career of Eno's former drummer Phil Collins. Collins said he "learned a lot" from working with Eno. Both Half Man Half Biscuit (in the song "Eno Collaboration" on the EP of the same name) and MGMT have written songs about Eno. LCD Soundsystem has frequently cited Eno as a key influence. The Icelandic singer Björk also credited Eno as a major influence.
Mora sti Fotia (Babies on Fire), one of the most influential Greek rock bands, was named after Eno's song "Baby's on Fire".
In 2011, Belgian academics from the Royal Museum for Central Africa named a species of Afrotropical spider Pseudocorinna brianeno in his honour.
No One Receiving
Brian Eno Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
As i guide it with my rudder
On its metaled ways
It will cut the night before it
As it leaves the day that saw it
On its metaled ways
Nobody passes us in the deep quiet of the dark sky
Nobody sees us alone out here among the stars
In these metal days.
Through a fault of our designing
We are lost among the windings
Of these metal ways
Back to silence back to minus
With the purple sky behind us
In these metal ways
Nobody hears us when we're alone in the blue future
No one receiving the radio's splintered waves
In these metal ways
In these metal days.
In Brian Eno’s song "No One Receiving," the singer talks about their journey through the "metal ways." The metal ways are a metaphor for life’s journey through unnamed obstacles, periods of possible doubt or confusion, and a call for a recognition of the transience of existence that we all possess. The use of the first-person point of view suggests a personal connection for the singer, who is perhaps the guide of the metaphorical ship steering into the great unknown.
The lyrics point to a sense of solitude and being lost, as their journey is taking them away from all external stimuli and the mental pathways they've known. Their situation is also one of uniqueness and distinction within the world's vastness, as "nobody passes us in the deep quiet of the dark sky" and "nobody sees us alone out here among the stars." Despite their isolation, however, they have a sense of drive, and their abstract journey inspires feelings of awe and wonder, as they move "on its metaled ways" and "cut the night before it."
Reading more into this, the exploratory voyage seems to be a metaphor for life's journey, with its winding paths and its final destination in the unknown. We're all lost in these "metal ways", and no one hears or sees us. The song ends by reminding listeners that we'll all return back to silence, back to the void that began from where we came.
Line by Line Meaning
It will shine and it will shudder
This thing I'm steering will emit bright light and also experience occasional shaking
As I guide it with my rudder
I'm steering and directing this thing with a tool called a rudder
On its metaled ways
This thing is moving along paths made of metal
It will cut the night before it
As it moves forward, this thing will create a dividing line in the darkness ahead of it
As it leaves the day that saw it
Leaving behind the light of the day that witnessed its launch
On its metaled ways
Moving along those metal paths mentioned before
Nobody passes us in the deep quiet of the dark sky
No one overtakes us in the vast and silent airspace
Nobody sees us alone out here among the stars
No one is able to catch a glimpse of us as we're isolated and floating through the vast and infinite space
In these metal ways
Within these paths made of metal
In these metal days.
Existing in these industrialized times
Through a fault of our designing
Due to an error in our creation process
We are lost among the windings
We have become disoriented and confused as we navigate through the twists and turns of this thing's journey
Of these metal ways
Through these metallic paths
Back to silence back to minus
Returning to a state of quiet and darkness
With the purple sky behind us
As we depart with the purple-tinted sky as our backdrop
In these metal ways
Through these pathways composed of metal
Nobody hears us when we're alone in the blue future
As we travel further into the future, we are completely unheard and isolated from anyone else
No one receiving the radio's splintered waves
There is no one picking up the fragmented and chaotic signals that we're emitting
In these metal ways
Within these metallic structures
In these metal days.
During this era characterized by industrialization and machinery
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: BRIAN ENO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind