Peter Gabriel and futurist Ray Hammond debated the impact of the synthesizer back in 1983. What's most fascinating about it is that it sounds like they're debating the rise of ai music today.. Which I guess a synthesizer is ai after all..
Hammond said:
“A lot of people today are talking about synthesizer bands,” he says. “In fact it's a bit of a misnomer. These things are computers in the fullest sense of the word and they're capable of reproducing music from almost any source.”
and Peter Gabriel replied:
“For me it’s something of a dream machine,” he says. “I always fantasised about something [with] which you could take any real world sound and manipulate it and put it in your music. I mean, one’s always had the possibility of doing that with tape, but it’s tremendously long-winded.”
...Hammond, though, fears that the synth could put musicians who are working on more formulaic music out of a job... Hammond uses the example of drum machines: “What happens to the poor drummer?” he asks... ...perhaps the “clock-watcher” session musicians who are playing “repititious and uninspired” stuff deserve to lose their jobs,..
OH, Fogotvto post the link https://www.musicradar.com/artists/its-cheating-if-you-like-for-somebody-who-cant-play-an-instrument-to-press-a-button-and-then-the-instrument-plays-watch-peter-gabriel-and-futurist-ray-hammond-debate-the-impact-of-the-synthesizer-back-in-1983
Don't care about Peter Gabriel or any music that is not real musicians playing real instruments. That includes all the pop you hear on most FM radio stations. Future? Won't include me.
Don't care about Peter Gabriel or any music that is not real musicians playing real instruments. That includes all the pop you hear on most FM radio stations. Future? Won't include me.
It has nothing to do with Peter Gabriel really, and it was 1983, and the future they were talking about arrived a long time ago.
The point is it was the same argument in 1983 over synthesizers as now in 2025 over ai.