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Moby Says Ke$ha and Britney Spears Songs Shouldn't Be Called 'Music'

Moby, Ke$haGetty Images (2)

Moby may have become a bona fide pop star when his landmark album 'Play' sold over 10 million copies back in 2000, but when it comes to the music of current chart-toppers like Ke$ha, Rihanna, Britney Spears and the Black Eyed Peas, he just can't relate. In fact, he thinks "music" is the wrong word for what they're putting out.

"It's fun, but I don't think of it as music," he says. "It's manufactured. I appreciate it as pop culture phenomenon and some of the songs I like if I hear them in a shopping mall or something, but it doesn't function as music for me."

Long before 'Play' became an international blockbuster, Moby cut his teeth making progressive house and techno-flavoured dance music in the '90s, with club hits like 'Go' and 'Everytime You Touch Me.' Yet he doesn't feel that the current crop of dancey Billboard bangers contain the emotional resonance of real music.

"Music is something that communicates emotion and integrity in a really interesting, direct way," he says. "And when I listen to the pop music you're describing, it's hyper-produced corporate product. That isn't really even a criticism, but I just think calling it music is a misnomer.

"It's advertising for ringtones."

Watch Moby's Video for 'Sevastopol'

Moby's latest album, 'Destroyed,' is a moody, melancholy and deeply personal document of his life as a touring musician, composed during bouts of insomnia in hotel rooms around the world. A good deal of Moby's time on the road was spent as a DJ performing gigs in clubbing capitals from Sao Paulo to Miami to Ibiza. Though he considers himself an electronic musician rather than a DJ, he admits that DJing can be quite lucrative.

"For example, if I go on tour with my band, there's seven of us on stage, and I have to pay the crew and hotels and travel and equipment rental," he says. "If I DJ, sometimes the fee is just as much, except that I show up with a box of records."

He's got some advice for young bands in a cash-strapped music industry.

"If I were a business advisor to musicians, my first recommendation would be to learn how to DJ."

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no way

'Nobody listens to Eminem' - techno

June 04 2011 at 3:07 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
WhiteRabbbit05

Moby = a one-hit wonder. Wonder how it ever became a hit. And he is one hideous bastard.

Britney can't sing to save her life, just a horrible voice.

Kesha has a good voice, and her songs are quite infectious. I don't mind her at all.

June 01 2011 at 8:58 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Marco

You Kesha and Britney fans need to hear this:
http://youtu.be/Q3jUC38qpsg

June 01 2011 at 4:14 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Sha Razeek

Well, I suppose all the people who commented below are huge fans of Britney, Rihanna, Ke$ha etc. I like (or rather used to like) their music too, but I think Moby has a very good point here. You know I bought both Rihanna's and Britney's latest albums and I found it very difficult to find a single decent song in them. They have good melodies, but the lyrics are just aweful. These singers might as well be porn stars at the rate they are going. Big record companies will do every damn thing to get you hooked and get your money. They will destroy their singers with no hesitation. I feel sad for some of these artists who are being exploited. All of them have so many issues. As a mother what Britney needs is help, not a single that talks about a threesome. I think her fans need to be more responsible and caring.

June 01 2011 at 2:40 AM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
dollfacehoney01

Moby you could get stomped by obie, you 36 year old baldheaded skabed, you dont know then your to old let go its over nobody listen to technoooooo !!!

June 01 2011 at 12:32 AM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
sandstorm0021

moby sounds like pure crap compared to regular pop or alternative rock stars..

May 31 2011 at 11:48 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
Rb26guitar

Interesting....a guy that specialized in house music DJ crap telling a bunch of pop stars their music isn't music. Interesting.

May 31 2011 at 10:17 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
joeyus maximus

i am not supporting moby based on any talent of his own, but there is a big difference between an actual musician, and a fresh-faced 20 year old kid who can kind of hold a tune. real musicians pride themselves on writing intelligent pieces of art and understanding the reason keys and octaves exist. people like kesha annoy me to no end though. most modern pop/rap stars have a complete and utter lack of talent, and only convey inapproapriate and negative messages and behavior to their strategically selected demographics. i say "convey" because when you look on their album, most of them took no part in writing their own lyrics, instrumental pieces, producing, or mastering. this to me means that someone is writing all of this "music" and just finding some pretty face to puke it into a mic so they can get started on auto-tuning it and making it palletable to the shamefully ignorant american ears, and whosoever willingly subjects themselves to such indecent "artists". what ever happened to great music? or even good music???

May 31 2011 at 10:16 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
monsterdrumma

Jaun you are wrong about one thing, if there was great music being made or great new artists out there the radios would shut it down if it wasn't this kind of generic bubblegum music on the other hand I don't hate all of these artists music and I never liked Moby's music at all but yet I do agree with what he is saying!

May 31 2011 at 10:14 PM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
toroha7

Totally agree...lately the Peas performances and their songs are so redundant and stupid and unoriginal ...as for Spears and Kesha songs...nothing need be said except it's CRAP!!!!

May 31 2011 at 10:05 PM Report abuse +3 rate up rate down Reply