Laurie Anderson: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Laurie Anderson built a language out of violin, vocoder and deadpan storytelling, moving from SoHo lofts and The Kitchen to a freak UK hit with "O Superman." This mix traces the downtown New York performance ecology that formed her, the literary and Buddhist currents running under the songs, and the artists who inherited her way of speaking into a microphone.

The Kynda mix for Laurie Anderson

• Key Influence · The Nova Trilogy by William S. Burroughs (1961–1964). Burroughs' cut-up method — tape splicing, language treated as a virus and a material to be cut — underlies Anderson's whole approach to text as sound. Their relationship became literal: Burroughs appears in her stage and recorded work, notably speaking on "Sharkey's Night" from Mister Heartbreak, and the two toured together in the 1980s on multi-artist spoken-word bills. His flat, insinuating delivery is audible in her own narrator voice.
• Influencia Obscura · Le Cid: "Ô Souverain, ô juge, ô père" by Jules Massenet (1885). The hidden seed of "O Superman." Anderson has recounted hearing the African American tenor Charles Holland sing Massenet's prayer aria from Le Cid at a New York recital and being overwhelmed; she lifted its opening invocation into her looped vocoder lament. A 19th-century French opera prayer, filtered through a Harmonizer and an "ha-ha-ha" tape loop, became a number two UK hit in 1981.
• Local Roots · World of Echo by Arthur Russell (1986). Russell's solo cello-and-voice record comes from the same downtown Manhattan ecology — The Kitchen, where he was music director, loft concerts, the overlap between minimalism and pop ambition. Like Anderson he was a classically trained string player who sang softly into effects and refused the line between art music and the charts. The two circulated in the same small New York network of composers and performance spaces in the 1970s and 80s.
• Beyond the Medium · Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (1851). Anderson spent years inside Melville, producing the multimedia stage work Songs and Stories from Moby Dick in 1999 and the related album Life on a String. What drew her was less the whale hunt than the novel's digressive catalogues, its obsessive narrator and its view of a nation chasing an abstraction — themes she had already worked in United States. Melville gave her a frame for American obsession at book length.
• Peer · Dolmen Music by Meredith Monk (1981). Monk is Anderson's closest contemporary: a New York composer-performer who built a vocabulary from extended vocal technique, movement and staged image rather than conventional song, releasing on ECM the same year "O Superman" charted. Both came out of the downtown performance circuit and both insisted that a woman alone onstage with a voice and minimal apparatus could sustain an evening-length work.
• From the Canon · Big Science by Laurie Anderson (1982). The album extracted from her eight-hour stage epic United States, containing "O Superman," "From the Air" and the title track. It is the record where vocoder, Farfisa, marimba and deadpan monologue cohere into a portable form — a performance artist's magnum opus compressed onto a pop LP. Everything in Anderson's later catalogue, from the tech anxiety to the airline-announcement cadence, is already present here in finished shape.
• Key Collaborator · New York by Lou Reed (1989). Reed was Anderson's partner from the early 1990s and her husband from 2008 until his death in 2013. They performed together, played on each other's records, and he produced Homeland. New York is his own plain-spoken, guitar-and-reportage masterwork — the clearest showcase of the voice she lived and worked beside, and of the shared conviction that a song can simply be someone talking about a city.
• Legacy · I Am a Bird Now by Antony and the Johnsons (2005). Anohni emerged from the same New York downtown performance world — Blacklips at the Pyramid Club — and has repeatedly named Anderson among the artists who showed that a performance practice could become a recording career without losing its strangeness. The connection became direct collaboration: Anohni has appeared with Anderson in live settings, and the torch-song-as-art-installation approach is a clear inheritance.

What influenced Laurie Anderson

• Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. Anderson is described as a student of Mingyur Rinpoche. “Well, I think my first attraction to Mingyur Rinpoche was his happiness. He’s someone who’s absolutely full of joy.” (Train a Happy Mind)
• John Cage. Anderson names Cage foremost among artists she loved while discussing an idea important to her music. (also via Sonatas and Interludes) “The teaching of impermanence, that everything is constantly changing, was also a central tenet for many of the artists I loved—John Cage being the main one.” (Train a Happy Mind)
• Merce Cunningham (1919). Anderson's collaborative performance work is linked to the Cunningham/Cage/Rauschenberg model. “opera by people like Robert Wilson, or even a kind of what I think of as a one person collaboration, Laurie Anderson, and other grand collaborations, which owe something to Diagle of, something to the Cunningham Cage, Roushianburg collab…” (Forum (public broadcasting))
• The Nova Trilogy by William S. Burroughs (1961). The Nova Trilogy (William S. Burroughs) — titan for Laurie Anderson “In the 1980s he collaborated with performers ranging from Bill Laswell's Material and Laurie Anderson to Throbbing Gristle.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass (1976). Einstein on the Beach (Philip Glass) — titan for Laurie Anderson “Burroughs, Philip Glass, Frank Zappa, Timothy Leary, Malcolm Goldstein, John Cage, and Allen Ginsberg.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Sonatas and Interludes by John Cage (1948). Sonatas and Interludes (John Cage) — titan for Laurie Anderson “Burroughs, Philip Glass, Frank Zappa, Timothy Leary, Malcolm Goldstein, John Cage, and Allen Ginsberg.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Body Artist by Don DeLillo. Anderson recorded an audiobook adaptation of DeLillo’s novella. “In 2001, she recorded the audiobook version of Don DeLillo 's novella The Body Artist .” (Wikipedia)
• I Am Sitting in a Room by Alvin Lucier (1969). I Am Sitting in a Room (Alvin Lucier) — ghost for Laurie Anderson (musicbrainz.org)
• TV Cello by Nam June Paik (1971). TV Cello (Nam June Paik) — ghost for Laurie Anderson “Orwell", a TV special produced by Nam June Paik broadcast on New Year's Day 1984.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (1851). Moby-Dick (Herman Melville) — culture for Laurie Anderson (wikidata.org)
• Sans Soleil by Chris Marker (1983). Sans Soleil (Chris Marker) — culture for Laurie Anderson (themoviedb.org)
• Le Cid: "Ô Souverain, ô juge, ô père" by Jules Massenet (1885). Le Cid: "Ô Souverain, ô juge, ô père" (Jules Massenet) — ghost for Laurie Anderson
• The Tibetan Book of the Dead by Padmasambhava (trans. Walter Evans-Wentz) (8). The Tibetan Book of the Dead (Padmasambhava (trans. Walter Evans-Wentz)) — culture for Laurie Anderson

Peers and kindred spirits

• Brian Eno. Eno produced and composed for Anderson’s Bright Red. (also via Ambient 1: Music for Airports) “Eno produced performance artist Laurie Anderson 's Bright Red album, and also composed for it.” (Wikipedia)
• Lou Reed. Anderson and Reed collaborated on recordings. (also via New York) “Starting in the 1990s, Anderson and Lou Reed , whom she had met in 1992, collaborated on recordings together.” (Wikipedia)
• Bob Bielecki. Anderson says she designed the instrument with Bielecki. “Laurie has collaborated with Bob Bielecki and others to create We Fall Like Light , a site-specific fountain and pond with water manipulated by sound to appear to flow backwards.” (Laurie Anderson)
• Nona Hendryx. The discography credits Anderson alongside Hendryx on the song. “and virtual performances with Hendryx and some of her most electrifying collaborators, George Clinton , Laurie Anderson , Vernon Reid , and Skin .” (Lincoln Center Press Room)
• Colin Stetson. Anderson guested on several tracks of Stetson’s album. “She enlisted the help of saxophonist Colin Stetson and cellist Rebecca Foon , both of whom inserted a vigorous sonic palette that provided depth to Anderson's ambient tones.” (Exclaim!)
• Philip Glass (1937). Anderson contributed lyrics to a Glass album. (also via Einstein on the Beach) “She also contributed lyrics to the Philip Glass album Songs from Liquid Days , and contributed a spoken-word piece to a tribute album in honor of John Cage .” (Wikipedia)
• Tenzin Choegyal. The discography credits Choegyal on Anderson’s collaborative album. “And you released an album called Songs of the Bardo with Tenzin Choegyal and Jesse Paris Smith.” (Train a Happy Mind)
• Jesse Paris Smith. The discography credits Smith on Anderson’s collaborative album. “And you released an album called Songs of the Bardo with Tenzin Choegyal and Jesse Paris Smith.” (Train a Happy Mind)
• Rheostatics. The discography lists a work with Rheostatics. “Recorded over two spontaneous sessions in Toronto, the album features an impressive roster of talented and award-winning collaborators: Inuk throat singer, songwriter, and novelist Tanya Tagaq; musician and filmmaker Laurie Anderson;” (Rheostatics)
• Nam June Paik. Anderson appeared in a television special produced by Paik. (also via TV Cello) “She also appeared in " Good Morning, Mr. Orwell ", a TV special produced by Nam June Paik broadcast on New Year's Day 1984.” (Wikipedia)
• Bill and Laurie: About Five Rounds. Jones collaborated with musician/performance artist Laurie Anderson. “Bill and Laurie: About Five Rounds (1996) [Collaboration with Laurie Anderson ]” (Wikipedia)
• Next Wave Festival by Brooklyn Academy of Music. Anderson's six-hour performance piece cited as a Next Wave Festival production. “The results have ranged from a six -hour performance piece by Laurie Anderson to Lee Brewer's version of an ancient Greek tragedy with a gospel music score.” (Luxembourg (public broadcasting))
• Dolmen Music by Meredith Monk (1981). Dolmen Music (Meredith Monk) — peer for Laurie Anderson “1993 — The Sensual Nature of Sound: 4 Composers – Laurie Anderson, Tania León, Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveros.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Remain in Light by Talking Heads (1980). Remain in Light (Talking Heads) — peer for Laurie Anderson “Burroughs and John Giorno (1981 – Giorno Poetry Systems) "This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds)" with Peter Gabriel (1986, So – Geffen / Charisma) "Design for Living", with Nona Hendryx (1983), Nona, also with Gina Schock of the Go-Go's,…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Ambient 1: Music for Airports by Brian Eno (1978). Ambient 1: Music for Airports (Brian Eno) — peer for Laurie Anderson “In 1994, she created a CD-ROM titled Puppet Motel, which was followed by Bright Red, co-produced by Brian Eno, and another spoken-word album, The Ugly One with the Jewels (1995).” (en.wikipedia.org)
• New York by Lou Reed (1989). New York (Lou Reed) — collaborator for Laurie Anderson “Starting in the 1990s, Anderson and Lou Reed, whom she had met in 1992, collaborated on recordings together.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• So by Peter Gabriel (1986). So (Peter Gabriel) — collaborator for Laurie Anderson “In that year, she also appeared on Peter Gabriel's fifth studio album So, co-writing and performing on the song "Excellent Birds".” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Black Angels by Kronos Quartet (1990). Black Angels (Kronos Quartet) — collaborator for Laurie Anderson “On February 10, 2019, at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, Anderson and the Kronos Quartet's Landfall won the Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Andy Kaufman. Anderson worked with Kaufman. “She also worked with comedian Andy Kaufman in the late 1970s.” (Wikipedia)
• Swimming to Cambodia by Spalding Gray. Anderson composed the soundtrack for the Spalding Gray film. “Anderson next starred in and directed the 1986 concert film Home of the Brave and also composed the soundtracks for the Spalding Gray films Swimming to Cambodia (1987) and Monster in a Box (1992).” (Wikipedia)
• Monster in a Box by Spalding Gray. Anderson composed the soundtrack for the Spalding Gray film. “Anderson next starred in and directed the 1986 concert film Home of the Brave and also composed the soundtracks for the Spalding Gray films Swimming to Cambodia (1987) and Monster in a Box (1992).” (Wikipedia)
• Robert Wilson (1941). Anderson contributed music to Wilson’s production. “During this time, she also contributed music to Robert Wilson 's Alcestis at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts .” (Wikipedia)
• Diego Frenkel. Anderson performed with Frenkel on the benefit album. “In 1996, Anderson performed with Diego Frenkel (La Portuária) and Aterciopelados for the AIDS benefit album Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin produced by the Red Hot Organization .” (Wikipedia)
• Aterciopelados. Anderson performed with Aterciopelados on the benefit album. “In 1996, Anderson performed with Diego Frenkel (La Portuária) and Aterciopelados for the AIDS benefit album Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin produced by the Red Hot Organization .” (Wikipedia)
• La Jarry. Anderson produced an album with and performed with La Jarry. “In 2003, Anderson produced albums with French musicians La Jarry and Hector Zazou and also performed with them.” (Wikipedia)
• Hector Zazou. Anderson produced an album with and performed with Zazou. “In 2003, Anderson produced albums with French musicians La Jarry and Hector Zazou and also performed with them.” (Wikipedia)
• Harvard University. Anderson held a professorship and delivered lectures at Harvard. “Anderson was appointed the 2021 Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University and presented a series of six lectures titled Spending the War Without You: Virtual Backgrounds over two semesters.” (Wikipedia)
• Sexmob. Anderson toured and performed with Sexmob. “Sexmob and Anderson toured Europe where they performed multiple versions of her songs, but adding a twist to them all.” (Wikipedia)
• Interval Research. Anderson collaborated with Interval Research on the talking stick. “In the late 1990s, she collaborated with Interval Research to develop an instrument she called a "talking stick", a six-foot-long (1.8 m) baton -like MIDI controller that can access and replicate sounds.” (Wikipedia)
• Royal Swedish Academy of Music. Anderson is a foreign member of the academy. “She is a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music .” (Wikipedia)
• Marisa Monte. The discography credits Anderson alongside Monte on the song. “"Enquanto Isso" with Marisa Monte (1994, Verde, anil, amarelo, cor de rosa e carvão – EMI-Odeon )” (Wikipedia)
• John Zorn (1953). The discography lists Anderson’s collaboration with Zorn. “The Stone: Issue Three with John Zorn and Lou Reed (2008 – Tzadik )” (Wikipedia)
• Rebecca Foon. A contemporaneous concert review describes Foon performing with Anderson. “She enlisted the help of saxophonist Colin Stetson and cellist Rebecca Foon , both of whom inserted a vigorous sonic palette that provided depth to Anderson's ambient tones.” (Exclaim!)
• David Bowie (1947). Performed live 54 times (1997) per setlist.fm (via O Superman) (YouTube)
• World of Echo by Arthur Russell (1986). World of Echo (Arthur Russell) — geography for Laurie Anderson (musicbrainz.org)
• Guitar Trio by Rhys Chatham (1977). Guitar Trio (Rhys Chatham) — geography for Laurie Anderson
• Splitting by Gordon Matta-Clark (1974). Splitting (Gordon Matta-Clark) — geography for Laurie Anderson

Who Laurie Anderson influenced

• PROTO by Holly Herndon (2019). PROTO (Holly Herndon) — legacy for Laurie Anderson (musicbrainz.org)
• I Am a Bird Now by Antony and the Johnsons (2005). I Am a Bird Now (Antony and the Johnsons) — legacy for Laurie Anderson