The first Peel session by the Diagram Brothers was broadcast March 27, 1980. Here’s that version of the fantastic “We Are All Animals.”
Sometime in the ocean of goop and fire and heat
Little one celled organisms learned a new way to eat
They started reproducing
They started doing their thing
And baby, it all led to you
David Cope’s software creates beautiful, original music. Why are people so angry about that?
Of all the depressing statistics about a lifetime of consumer existence, this may be the most distressing: each of us is destined to spend roughly 1.2 years on hold. Yes, you read that correctly. More than a year of your life will be spent on the phone listening to Muzak stations like Aura ("Taking the primarily instrumental musical form to experimental and inspirational places"), Moodscapes ("Airy and relaxing"), and Tropical Breezes ("Those carefree days of sun, fun, and frozen cocktails") while being serially apologized to by robotic voices better calibrated to taunt than sympathize.
The video is well worth watching. "To generalize, the music tailored to the Seven service is modern rock, with a modicum of wired aggressiveness. (In its sets before and after the pastors sermon, the band does play some adaptations of hymns, including a power-chord version of the doxology. It was arranged by the worship minister Matt Coulombe to approximate the droning, locomotive style of the secular New York rock band Secret Machines, one of his favorite groups.)"
