How LCD SOUNDSYSTEM Started Making Music

8:56 · 1,643 words of transcript · watch on YouTube

1. The founding observation is a complaint: New York's early 2000s revival bands were nostalgic for the city's own past, and Murphy wanted a New York where new styles started instead.
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2. He was approaching 30, could not really sing, did not look like a frontman, had dropped out of college and had turned down a writing job on Seinfeld to chase music he was not making.
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3. Fear of making something bad had him making nothing at all, and it took a therapist to get him to start.
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4. He began as a sound engineer, then met Tim Goldsworthy, who came to New York to make a dance record, at a point when Murphy did not care about dance music.
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5. DJing their own parties is where the sound came from, mixing rock with dance records, which also built the audience before there was a band.
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6. Losing My Edge came directly out of fear: hearing other DJs play his mixes and worrying that younger ones would make him obsolete.
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7. He was approached to produce for Janet Jackson and Britney Spears and neither came off, which is a useful reminder of how close the career came to a different shape.
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8. He thought the debut sounded too woody because it was recorded in a barn, so for the second album he covered the same room in silver fabric and tinfoil.
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9. That album is dedicated to the therapist who had helped him years earlier, who died during the recording and is the subject of one of its songs.
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10. The reunion came from Bowie's advice. Murphy was uneasy about restarting the band, mentioned it to him, and was told to go toward whatever made him uncomfortable.
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