James Murphy, mastermind of LCD Soundsystem and co-founder of DFA Records, made several appearances in journalist Lizzy Goodman’s new book, “Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011.” In her book, Goodman details New York’s explosive musical transformation in a post-9/11 world. The story is told through a patchwork of interviews with significant figures of the time; she spoke with hundreds of publicists, musicians, promoters, and other journalists. Some of the bigger names she spoke to include Jack White, Julian Casablancas, Rob Sheffield, and James Murphy. Not only did she create a great piece of history, she also just ended up with some damn good quotes.
One piece of info that may or may not surprise you if you’re familiar with LCD Soundsystem, or just dance music in general, is that Ecstasy was a big factor in Murphy’s discovery of dance music. Murphy details his epiphany of dance in this quote, “I was like, ‘Sure, I’ll try one.’ I was just going to try it to try it, but then it was the greatest thing ever! It was fucking awesome, and I was dancing and I was happy and I had a revelation: this is actually me. I was fully me. I was dancing and I was fully conscious. I wasn’t sloppy. I wasn’t drunk. I was alert and I was aware that I really enjoyed dancing.” He went on to make a more grand statement about the experience, “I was really connected to what I cared about. And after that moment, I danced to what I cared about. I was changed.” Fellow DJ David Holmes also commented on the moment, “I watched his life completely change in that moment and it was beautiful.”
It’s also revealed that another moment was crucial in the creation of LCD Soundsystem: The Rapture’s leaving DFA Records and signing with a major label. For some context, The Rapture was one of two artists with DFA when they first started pressing records. Though, once The Rapture’s first full album did exceptionally well, they left DFA Records and signed to a major label. Murphy considered this a betrayal. DFA Records co-founder Tim Goldsworthy commented on the situation, “James is a very aggressive person and he turned The Rapture betrayal into a kind of anger… James’ parents had died around this time, and a combination of that, him inheriting a lot of money, David Holmes, all of that had a huge effect on him. It became: ‘I’ve got the plan.’ He was going to fuck The Rapture over. He was going to be bigger than them and he was going to get a bigger advance and he was going to destroy them.” Murphy spoke on the spark of motivation to attain commercial success, as well, “When The Rapture left, I was so angry and so hurt. We took a meeting with Britney Spears to do a song.”
If you enjoyed these anecdotes, there are many more to be found in Goodman’s complete book which can be found on Amazon. Also, in case you missed it, LCD Soundsystem announced new album two days ago. If this makes you happy, thank ecstasy and betrayal?
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