--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I wanted to get rid of the element that…" description: "\"I wanted to get rid of the element that had been considered essential in pop music: the voice.\" — Brian Eno" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f6/brian-eno-776_aquariums_i-wanted-to-get-rid-of-the-element-that_99133.jpg" --- # I wanted to get rid of the element that had been… ![“I wanted to get rid of the element that had been considered essential in pop music: the voice.” quote by Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f6/brian-eno-776_aquariums_i-wanted-to-get-rid-of-the-element-that_99133.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f6/brian-eno-776_aquariums_i-wanted-to-get-rid-of-the-element-that_99133.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f6/brian-eno-776_aquariums_i-wanted-to-get-rid-of-the-element-that_99133.jpg) > “I wanted to get rid of the element that had been considered essential in pop music: the voice.” [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Challenging pop conventions, he sought to remove the vocal element, questioning its essentiality in the genre. **In simple terms:** Questioned voice as essential in pop. Key Takeaway Pop can exist without traditional vocals. Themes music innovation pop culture experiment Mood curious provocative Type artistic manifesto experimental When to use this quote - studio production - experimental concerts Key Concepts deconstruction of norms Practical Applications - explore instrumental pop - use vocal processing as texture Questions to Reflect On - What makes a voice feel essential? - How can artists make instrumental pop compelling? A Different Perspective Listeners may resist non‑vocal pop due to entrenched expectations. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Aquariums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aquariums/) [Elements](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/elements/) [Essential Pop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/essential-pop-1206785/) [Essentials](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/essentials/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Music Voice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music-voice-878006/) [Pop music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pop-music/) [Pops](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pops/) [Rid Element](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rid-element-1206784/) [Song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/song/) [Voice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/voice/) [Wanted](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wanted/) [Wanted Rid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wanted-rid-1206783/) ## Related quotes > [I had been with a guy for seven years and I was done with that. 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I stopped them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ed-davey/the-tories-wanted-to-get-rid-of-fuel-poverty-targets-i-stopped-them/) [Ed Davey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ed-davey/) > [“Fear is really quite tedious. She wanted to be rid of it as soon as possible.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-butcher/fear-is-really-quite-tedious-she-wanted-to-be-rid-of-it-as-soon-as/) [Jim Butcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-butcher/) > [“There was absolutely no peace. I wanted freedom, breakthrough and most of all I wanted to be rid of the situation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-sabrena-alexander/there-was-absolutely-no-peace-i-wanted-freedom-breakthrough-and-most/) [Michelle Sabrena Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-sabrena-alexander/) > [I wanted to be rid of him," he says. He raises my chin with his thumb. 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I hope that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stefano-langone/i-hope-they-see-the-genuine-side-of-me-of-my-music-of-my-voice-i-hope/) [Stefano Langone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stefano-langone/) > [It was always my dream to do non-film music, where I'm the voice and face of my composition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amaal-mallik/it-was-always-my-dream-to-do-non-film-music-where-i-m-the-voice-and/) [Amaal Mallik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amaal-mallik/) > [Music is more than a voice. Music is an attitude.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benson-boone/music-is-more-than-a-voice-music-is-an-attitude/) [Benson Boone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benson-boone/) > [Music is the voice that tells us that the human race is greater than it knows.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/music-is-the-voice-that-tells-us-that-the-human-race-is-greater-than/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [Music is the voice of all humanity, of whatever time or place. In its presence, we are one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-gray/music-is-the-voice-of-all-humanity-of-whatever-time-or-place-in-its/) [Charlotte Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-gray/) > [Music to me is a voice, my voice, it's my way of expressing what colours can I bring in, what emotions, what feel. What…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-jerome/music-to-me-is-a-voice-my-voice-it-s-my-way-of-expressing-what/) [St. Jerome](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-jerome/) ## More by Brian Eno > [I have lived in countries that were coming out of conflict: Ireland, South Africa, the Czech republic. People there are overflowing with energy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-have-lived-in-countries-that-were-coming-out-of-conflict-ireland/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [The lyrics are constructed as empirically as the music. I don't set out to say anything very important.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/the-lyrics-are-constructed-as-empirically-as-the-music-i-don-t-set/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [Admirers can be a tremendous force for conservatism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/admirers-can-be-a-tremendous-force-for-conservatism/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [The whole history of pop music had rested on the first person singular, with occasional intrusions of the second person singular.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/the-whole-history-of-pop-music-had-rested-on-the-first-person/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [You can't really imagine music without technology.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/you-can-t-really-imagine-music-without-technology/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [Robert Fripp and I will be recording another LP very soon. 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When they hear something in the new songs that they recognize as being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-think-very-often-producers-are-really-trying-to-repeat-things-when/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [I think that's very significant that we're so attached to the idea now of - it was something I advocated for years, that you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-think-that-s-very-significant-that-we-re-so-attached-to-the-idea/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [If you watch any good player, they're using different parts of their body and working with instruments that respond to those movements. They're moving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/if-you-watch-any-good-player-they-re-using-different-parts-of-their/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [Songs that don't depend on composition depend instead on performance - so the fire has to be there in the playing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/songs-that-don-t-depend-on-composition-depend-instead-on-performance/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [I can see the use and value of religion, just as I can see the use of mud wrestling, yoga, astronomy and sadomasochism. but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-can-see-the-use-and-value-of-religion-just-as-i-can-see-the-use-of/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [At the beginning of the 20th century, the ambition of the great painters was to make paintings that were like music, which was then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/at-the-beginning-of-the-20th-century-the-ambition-of-the-great/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [I had an interesting day. I was in the studio with a group of musicians, who shall remain nameless, and I said to them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-had-an-interesting-day-i-was-in-the-studio-with-a-group-of/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [I got an amazing 10-CD set, it's the music that Alan Lomax recorded in Haiti in 1936. And what's incredible is how fantastic the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-got-an-amazing-10-cd-set-it-s-the-music-that-alan-lomax-recorded-in/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) [Explore all 373 Brian Eno quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) ## More Aquariums quotes > [This brings me back to the image of Kafka standing before a fish in the Berlin aquarium, a fish on which his gaze fell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-safran-foer/this-brings-me-back-to-the-image-of-kafka-standing-before-a-fish-in/) [Jonathan Safran Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-safran-foer/) > [And it is essential that in fighting terrorism, sacrifices should not be made on democracy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bulent-ecevit/and-it-is-essential-that-in-fighting-terrorism-sacrifices-should-not/) [Bulent Ecevit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bulent-ecevit/) > [I am like the fish in the aquarium, thinking in a different language, adapting to a life that’s not my natural habitat. I am…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/i-am-like-the-fish-in-the-aquarium-thinking-in-a-different-language/) [David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/) > [And when you come back to Japan next summer, let's have that date or whatever you want to call it. We can go to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/and-when-you-come-back-to-japan-next-summer-let-s-have-that-date-or/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [I had aquariums of bullfrogs and mudpuppies. My poor mom had to deal with me incubating chicken eggs in my bedroom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronan-farrow/i-had-aquariums-of-bullfrogs-and-mudpuppies-my-poor-mom-had-to-deal/) [Ronan Farrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronan-farrow/) > [There is something about a home aquarium which sets my teeth on edge the moment I see it. Why anyone would want to live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-j-perelman/there-is-something-about-a-home-aquarium-which-sets-my-teeth-on-edge/) [S. J. Perelman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-j-perelman/) > [“Octopuses in at least two aquariums have learned to turn off the lights”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-godfrey-smith/octopuses-in-at-least-two-aquariums-have-learned-to-turn-off-the/) [Peter Godfrey-Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-godfrey-smith/) > [So I have cultivated the vast garden of human experience which is history, without troubling myself overmuch about laws, essential first causes, or how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/so-i-have-cultivated-the-vast-garden-of-human-experience-which-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It is because the fight against the harshest aspects of unrestricted capitalism is therefore a political problem and not an intellectual one that community…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barney-frank/it-is-because-the-fight-against-the-harshest-aspects-of-unrestricted/) [Barney Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barney-frank/) > [“I am an American aquarium drinker”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-tweedy/i-am-an-american-aquarium-drinker/) [Jeff Tweedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-tweedy/) > [This is a great opportunity for gear heads to celebrate the holiday, show off their hot rods and visit the aquarium.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-miller/this-is-a-great-opportunity-for-gear-heads-to-celebrate-the-holiday/) [Dick Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-miller/) > [There are a lot of differing opinions on that. 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