David Bowie used to call fellow artist and producer Brian Eno “Captain Hook” because of Eno’s ability to pick up on what would be the catchiest, most commercially successful part of a song. The pair collaborated on a string of albums known as the Berlin Trilogy, marking several high points in Bowie’s career, even if that critical praise ran on a small delay. Their kindred British sense of humor and devotion to the sheer act of creation made for an enduring musical legacy and an even more meaningful friendship.
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Nevertheless, Eno doesn’t want to talk about Bowie these days. In fact, his team often warns journalists ahead of interviews not to bring up nostalgic questions of yesteryear, which, of course, is easier said than done when your “yesteryears” were some of the most influential in musical history.
Despite the coolness Eno’s conversational preferences might suggest, his prickly explanation is actually rather inspiring if you look at it the right way.
Why Brian Eno Hates Talking About David Bowie
When The Guardian visited Brian Eno at his Notting Hill studio for a January 2025 interview, the artist only wanted to talk about creative pursuits chronologically relevant to January 2025. Journalist David Shariatmadari received a warning from Eno’s assistant. “Avoid talking about his musical history.” But of course, Shariatmadari did what many of us would want to do in his shoes: he tried to ask Eno about his history anyway. (To the journalist’s credit, he was merely peeking into a can of worms Eno had already opened.)
Regardless of who first pushed the conversation in the direction of his former musical partner, Eno wasn’t happy. He explained that his disdain for this kind of discussion comes from “doing interviews where people say, ‘So, what was it really like being in the studio with David Bowie?’ And you just think, ‘f***ing hell, man, it was great, but, you know, I’m somewhere else now.” According to Eno in a 2022 Financial Times interview, he has an “anti-nostalgia” gene.
Of course, for fans of Eno’s work from years, even decades, ago, his refusal to acknowledge that part of his life can almost seem dismissive. But if you get past the initial prickliness of Eno’s “anti-nostalgia” attitude, the artist offers an invaluable piece of advice that we’d all be better for following.
The Important Lesson All Creatives Can Glean From This Attitude
At face value, an impassioned fan could assume Brian Eno’s unwillingness to talk about his past is an egotistical decision not to acknowledge how he got to where he is today. But really, that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, Eno’s refusal to accept invitations down memory lane is because he wants art lovers (and, more importantly, potential art creators) to remove him from the equation entirely. “I don’t like being admired. I don’t like being revered,” Eno told The Guardian. “That makes me feel very uncomfortable.”
“What I really feel uncomfortable about is the thing that people do, which, I think is a way of excusing themselves from being creative, where they go, ‘You’re so creative!’ And in that, they’re saying, ‘I’m just a guy with a humdrum job who never thinks of anything new.’ And I want to say, ‘Just f***ing get up off your knees and be proud of yourself! Don’t put it on me to be your agent in the world to do brilliant things.”
Indeed, instead of fantasizing about what it must have been like to be collaborating in the studio with David Bowie and Brian Eno in the late 1970s, perhaps the nobler—and more exciting—endeavor is to find a way to recreate that kind of magic yourself. It’s certainly not how we typically interact with pop culture. But who better to blaze a trail somewhere new and better than Eno?
Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images
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