(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "VIRGINIA PLAIN")
ROXY MUSIC: (Singing) I hope and pray he don't blow it 'cause we've been around a long time just trying to, trying to, trying to make make the big time.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Brian Eno made a name playing synthesizer with Roxy Music in the 1970s. He then went on to produce music with David Bowie...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEROES")
DAVID BOWIE: (Singing) We could be heroes just for one day.
SIMON: ...U2...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PRIDE (IN THE NAME OF LOVE)")
U2: (Singing) In the name of love, what more in the name of love?
SIMON: ...And Talking Heads.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ONCE IN A LIFETIME")
TALKING HEADS: (Singing) Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down.
SIMON: A new documentary celebrates Brian Eno, who's also famous for pioneering ambient music and, at the age of 76, still works with keyboards and mixers to create.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "ENO")
BRIAN ENO: What else do I want in this world? Some creatures, something that sounds like life.
SIMON: "Eno," the film, reflects the subject's spirit of experimentation. Every time the film plays, a software program changes the version that's played. There are reportedly 52 quintillion possible versions. The film's director, Gary Hustwit, joins us now from Nashville. Thanks so much for being with us.
GARY HUSTWIT: Thanks for having me.
SIMON: I've never had to say quintillion before. What is it?
HUSTWIT: (Laughter) Basically unlimited amount of versions. The film is different every time it screens.
SIMON: You've made documentaries about Mavis Staples, about Wilco, about a font - Helvetica. Why Brian Eno?
HUSTWIT: Brian Eno is someone who I've been a fan of for decades - yes, for the music, but also for his approach to creativity.
SIMON: In the version of the film I saw, he was part of what I'll call the art-rock movement. What did those performers - like Talking Heads, Devo, David Bowie - what did they bring into rock?
HUSTWIT: I think they were, you know, pushing the boundaries of songwriting, of instrumentation, of using electronics, you know, of using technology in general in their music making. And, yeah, I think that Brian was kind of from a generation of people who went to art school - you know, he was trained as a painter; he was looking to be a fine artist - but then got sucked into music because it was such a huge part of popular culture, like, in England in the, you know, late '60s, early '70s. You know, I think that's where the excitement was. That's where the social changes and issues of the day were really being discussed. It was in music, it wasn't in painting or sculpture.
I don't think he ever wanted to be in a band, which maybe makes him really interesting because he was just somebody who was kind of interested in tape recorders and then, you know, happened to bump into a friend who had just been part of this band, Roxy Music, had just started and wondered if he could come over and tape some of their songs. And, you know, the rest is history.
SIMON: Yeah. It's quite a moment where David Bowie talks about what - and tries to describe what he thinks Brian Eno helped him accomplish. Finally resorts to the phrase philosophic content. Help us understand that.
HUSTWIT: Yeah. Yeah. There's a scene in the film where David Bowie is like, I just don't really know what Brian does. But it's the way he inserts himself into a creative situation and kind of changes the parameters of it by maybe thinking up different approaches to the song, or, you know, it's not so much about, oh, that drum sound is a little too loud or whatever. It's more maybe questioning if there should even be drums, you know, in the song or songwriting, structural ideas and, you know, just bringing these different creative takes into a session, disrupting a little bit of what an artist's normal process is.
SIMON: He still hasn't quite figured out to his own satisfaction what it is that music kindles in us, has he?
HUSTWIT: Yeah. I think it's something that he's been thinking about for over 50 years, this idea of, like, why do we like music? You know, we don't need it to live, you know? We don't eat it or drink it or whatever, but there is something about the synchronization that music allows. And when you go to a, you know, huge concert, it's not just about the music. It's about being part of this wave of people, about being part of something bigger than yourself.
SIMON: And Brian Eno believes that singing together is - I mean, is this blunt, and if I may, maybe even naive or wise - he says it's the key to world peace.
HUSTWIT: (Laughter) Yeah. I believe that, too. There is something about when you're singing with a group of people that somehow brings down the barriers between us, but it can make a change. I think it can make people feel more empathy towards each other when they are singing together in a situation. So we just need to get everybody to sing all at once all over the world.
SIMON: Oh.
HUSTWIT: (Laughter).
SIMON: Let's get started this afternoon, maybe. As a filmmaker, what do you achieve by mixing up the contents of the film each time it's shown?
HUSTWIT: Yeah. Well, you know, five years ago, when I started the project, I was just questioning this idea of, you know, why does a film have to be the same every time we watch it? That's kind of a technical constraint that goes back to when film was a physical thing. It had to be linear. It had to be fixed. So I just wanted to try something different.
My background was in music before I got into film. And even if you're a band playing your hit song every single night, it's different every single night. You can change it if you want to. You can bring up a guest onstage to, you know, join in, or you can extend things. And film doesn't have that. And we started working on the software platform that basically creates a film dynamically in software, pulling from hours and hours of different footage and music and raw material, but yet it still has a narrative arc every time.
SIMON: So you didn't just press a button and say, there it is. There were some human determination involved?
HUSTWIT: Well, now I can press a button, and it generates a 85- or 90-minute film that is different every single time.
SIMON: Of all of the music of which Brian Eno has been a part, and you must know a lot of that by now, any favorite that you'd suggest we go out on?
HUSTWIT: Of the 40 albums that he's released and the, I don't know, dozens more that he's produced. There are some of the ambient records like "Music For Airports" that I think are still - just blow my mind, or what it does to you while you're listening to it, I think, is amazing. All the Bowie stuff. I mean, "Heroes" - you know, Brian co-wrote "Heroes" with Bowie and produced it. It just still stands out. It's just, like, one of, I think, the greatest songs of all time.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEROES")
BOWIE: (Singing) We can be heroes forever and ever. What d'you say?
SIMON: Gary Hustwit's new documentary "Eno." And if you see it, who knows what one of 52 quintillion versions you might see? Thank you so much for being with us.
HUSTWIT: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEROES")
BOWIE: (Singing) I, I wish you could swim. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
