Robert Steven Moore (born January 18, 1952) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter who pioneered lo-fi (or "DIY") music. Often called the "godfather of

home recording Home recording is the practice of recording sound in a private home instead of a professional recording studio. A studio set up for home recording is called a home studio or project studio. Home recording is widely practiced by voice actors, narra ...

", he is one of the most recognized artists of the cassette underground, and his influence is particularly felt in the

bedroom A bedroom or bedchamber is a room situated within a residential or accommodation unit characterized by its usage for sleeping. A typical Western world, western bedroom contains as bedroom furniture one or two beds, a clothes closet, and bedsid ...

and

hypnagogic pop Hypnagogic pop (abbreviated as h-pop) is pop music, pop or psychedelic music that evokes cultural memory and 1980s nostalgia, nostalgia for the popular entertainment of the past (principally the 1980s). It emerged in the mid to late 2000s as Am ...

artists of the post-millennium. Since 1968, he has self-released approximately 400 albums, while about three dozen official albums (largely compilations) have been issued on various labels. Born the son of Nashville A-Team bassist

Bob Moore Bob Moore may refer to: * Bob Moore (musician) (1932–2021), American session musician * Bob Moore (executive) (1929–2024), co-founder of Bob's Red Mill * Bob Moore (American football) (born 1949), American football tight end * Bob Moore (Au ...

, Steven grew up in the 1960s listening to

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...

the Mothers of Invention The Mothers of Invention (also known as the Mothers) were an American rock music, rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Originally an ...

, and

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

. In his teens, he acquired access to a reel-to-reel stereo tape deck and began recording as a one-man band in his parents' home. The innovative manipulation of low

fidelity Fidelity is the quality of faithfulness or loyalty. Its original meaning regarded duty in a broader sense than the related concept of '' fealty''. Both derive from the Latin word , meaning "faithful or loyal". In the City of London financial m ...

recording processes in his early albums defined his general aesthetic. With help from his uncle, he made his official label debut with 1976's compilation '' Phonography'', which was well received in New York's

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and new wave circles. Although he is best known for "'60s-inspired

power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a subgenre of rock music and form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, ...

in the

XTC XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (vocals, guitars) and Colin Moulding (vocals, bass), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing ...

vein," his body of work incorporates a variety of music genres, both popular and experimental, and his records are typically styled after

freeform radio Free-form, or free-form radio, is a radio station Radio programming, programming Radio format, format in which the disc jockey is given wide or total control over what music to play, regardless of music genre or commercial interests. Freeform ra ...

. He describes his prolific output as "a diary of sound". From 1978 until 2010, Moore lived and recorded in his apartment studios in northern New Jersey. He was also a

WFMU WFMU (91.1 MHz) is a non-commercial educational station, non-commercial, listener-supported, independent radio, independent community radio station city of license, licensed to East Orange, New Jersey, with studios in Jersey City. It is owned by ...

staff member for a number of years. In 1982, he launched the R. Stevie Moore Cassette Club, his home-based mailing service. Throughout the 1980s, the French label New Rose released a series of Moore vinyl albums: ''

Everything Everything, every-thing, or every thing, is all that exists; it is an antithesis of ''nothing'', or its complement. It is the totality of things relevant to some subject matter. Without expressed or implied limits, it may refer to . The uni ...

'' (1984), '' Glad Music'' (1986), '' Teenage Spectacular'' (1987), and '' Warning'' (1988). After the 2000s, he became better known for his associations with

Ariel Pink Ariel Marcus Rosenberg ( ; born June 24, 1978), professionally known as Ariel Pink, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter whose work draws heavily from the popular music of the 1960s–1980s. His lo-fi aesthetic and home-recorded al ...

, who frequently praised Moore as his "mentor".

1952–1978: Madison/Nashville period

Early life and influences

Robert Steven Moore was born in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

on January 18, 1952. His father,

(1932 – 2021), was a

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

associated with

the Nashville A-Team The Nashville A-Team was a nickname given to a group of session musicians in Nashville, Tennessee, who earned wide acclaim in the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s, similar to their West Coast counterpart who became known (after the fact) as the Wre ...

conglomerate who worked as a recording bassist for

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American pianist, singer, and songwriter. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock 'n' roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis m ...

Patsy Cline Patsy Cline (born Virginia Patterson Hensley; September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963) was an American singer. One of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century, she was known as one of the first country music artists to successfully Cross ...

Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's most successful periods were ...

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American Country music, country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice an ...

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), also known as "Mister Guitar" and "the Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson (musician), Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nash ...

, and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

. Steven characterized his father as a "terrible" parent and said that "It was a very intense, dramatic, abusive childhood, with all this money coming in, because he's doing these amazing historical sessions. It's very, very sad. He was very disappointed in me because I was not a get-up-and-go type." At the age of seven, Steven made his commercial recording debut singing a duet with country recording artist

Jim Reeves James Travis Reeves (August 20, 1923July 31, 1964) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. One of the earliest pioneers and practitioners of the Nashville sound, he played a central role in the sonic development of country music in th ...

, "But You Love Me, Daddy". The novelty song was withheld from commercial release until 1969, when it became a hit single in the UK on the

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

label. Moore's mother Betty Palmer was from

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As a teenager, Moore became proficient on guitar, bass, piano, and drums. He was self-taught. In 1966, he and a few high-school friends formed a short-lived rock combo called the Marlborough. His recordings in this period were heavily influenced by

's albums ''

Freak Out! ''Freak Out!'' is the debut studio album by the American rock band the Mothers of Invention, released on June 27, 1966, by Verve Records. Often cited as one of rock music's first concept albums, it is a satirical expression of guitarist/bandle ...

'' (1966) and ''

We're Only in It for the Money ''We're Only in It for the Money'' is the third album by American rock music, rock band the Mothers of Invention, released on March 4, 1968, by Verve Records. As with the band's first two efforts, it is a concept album, and satirizes left-wing po ...

'' (1967). He found particular inspiration from albums that are "just all over the map … Zappa leaned into parody, and I'm all about that. I love humor." On his 16th birthday, he received a four-track

reel-to-reel Reel-to-reel audio tape recording, also called open-reel recording, is magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording tape is spooled between reels. To prepare for use, the ''supply reel'' (or ''feed reel'') containing the tape is plac ...

tape deck and began recording as a one-man band set up in his parents' basement in suburban Madison. The first album he completed and self-released was a mixture of

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

-inspired songs and

sound collage In music, montage (literally "putting together") or sound collage ("gluing together") is a technique where newly branded sound objects or Musical composition, compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as musique concrè ...

s titled ''On Graycroft'' (1968). Much of his output, he later said, was "uncontrollable—compelled without compulsion. I didn't seek out to do this. It just came out of me. I had this music inside of me and I wanted to be a pop star. It was like a disease that I had to record and write." Over the years he would describe himself as "a huge record collector and music historian" with interests ranging from

beatnik Beatniks were members of a social movement in the mid-20th century, who subscribed to an anti- materialistic lifestyle. They rejected the conformity and consumerism of mainstream American culture and expressed themselves through various forms ...

and

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

noise Noise is sound, chiefly unwanted, unintentional, or harmful sound considered unpleasant, loud, or disruptive to mental or hearing faculties. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrat ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

: "I love attempts at all genres and styles – even if I fail. It doesn't matter." Moore began working as a studio musician and assistant at his father's music publishing company, Mimosa Music. His father expected him to "follow in his footsteps, to become a wealthy country session picker. My personal interests couldn't have been more opposite than that." He briefly attended

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

, but dropped out in 1971 to pursue his passions for writing, recording and performing music. That same year, he moved out of his parents' house and rented an apartment at the

Music Row Music Row is a historic district located southwest of downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Widely considered the heart of Nashville's entertainment industry, Music Row has also become a metonymous nickname for the music industry as ...

area in Nashville. He formed a close friendship with next-door neighbor Victor Lovera, who he called "one of my best friends and ... very influential for my songwriting." Victor Lovera passed away in 1998. Throughout the early 1970s, Moore continued to play local shows with a group of high-school friends whose band name changed frequently. His music tastes—which mainly encompassed artists like

the Move The Move were a British Rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1965. They scored nine Top 40, top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any real success in the United States. For most of ...

, Frank Zappa, and

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the bands Nazz and Utopia. He is known for his sophistica ...

—were mostly out of step with the prevailing music culture in Nashville. In 1973, Moore, Lovera, and friends Roger Ferguson and Billy Anderson recorded original material at the local Audio Media recording studio under the band name "Ethos", which was left unreleased at the time. Engineer Paul Whitehead remembered of those sessions: "Moore

ould Ould is an English surname as well as an element of many Arabic names. In Arabic contexts it is a transliteration of the word wikt:ولد, ولد, meaning "son". Notable people with this surname include: English surname * Edward Ould (1852–190 ...

perform on ANY instrument with total control and an energy that I have never witnessed in a studio. I thought the world of Victor's unique vocal sound and thought the two of them would be wildly successful, but as I told them they would have to move to New York to even get noticed."

''Phonography''

In 1975, Moore was commissioned by his uncle Harry "H.P." Palmer (an executive of

Atco Records ATCO Records is an American record label founded in 1955. It is owned by Warner Music Group and operates as an imprint of Atlantic Records. After several decades of dormancy and infrequent activity under alternating Warner Music labels, the com ...

) to record an album of Beatles instrumentals, ''Stevie Does the Beatles'', but plans for an official release fell through. Palmer continued to encourage Moore to put his music out, and in 1976, '' Phonography'' was Moore's first album to be released on an outside label (Palmer's HP Music). Technically a compilation, the LP was assembled by Palmer using material from Moore's previous two years of home recording, with its contents split between pop songs and spoken-word interludes. Its initial pressing was limited to 100 copies. ''Phonography'' was reviewed in New York's ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who, Dave Schulps, and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

'' as "an outrageous collection of musical brain spewage" and "a true slash of genius". Moore credits the review's author, Ira Robbins, as "the one who helped turn people on to ''Phonography'' and those early independent records." The album soon attracted praise from within New York's

and new wave circles. HP Music followed up with the EP '' Stance'' (recorded 1976–77) and the LP '' Delicate Tension'' (recorded 1976–78), both released 1978. Dominique Leone of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' wrote that ''Phonography'' and other albums from this time ultimately "defined his aesthetic: a mixture of Anglo-powered pop, Zappa-esque instrumentals, lo-fi experimental sound design, and other music that defies categorization." ''Phonography'' later became the best-known album of his career and was listed among "the fifty most significant indie records" in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''s ''Alt-Rock-A-Rama'' (1996).

1978–2010: New Jersey period

In February 1978, Moore relocated to

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a commercial and cultural hub of North Jersey and a diverse ...

and got a job working at a

Sam Goody Sam Goody is a music and entertainment retailer in the United States and United Kingdom, operated by The Musicland Group, Inc. It was purchased by Best Buy in 2000, was sold to Sun Capital Partners in 2003, and filed for bankruptcy in 2006, ...

record store in Livingston, where he remained for many years. According to him, although he lived 13 miles away from the

Lincoln Tunnel The Lincoln Tunnel is an approximately tunnel under the Hudson River, connecting Weehawken, New Jersey, to the west with Midtown Manhattan in New York City to the east. It carries New Jersey Route 495 on the New Jersey side and the unsigned N ...

in the proceeding decades, he rarely ever traveled into New York City. He said he arrived in New Jersey "right when punk was hitting, and I was an instant celebrity. I bleached my hair and I spiked it out, and I was

Johnny Rotten John Joseph Lydon ( ; born 31 January 1956), also known by his former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a British-born singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. He was the lead vocalist of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols, which was ...

from hillbilly land. It was so innocent then, total lo-fi." Over the decade, he made sporadic appearances on the public access television variety show '' The Uncle Floyd Show''. He was also a staff member on the New Jersey–based independent radio station

, where he hosted a weekly "Bedroom Radio" show for about "four or five years" and claimed to be "one of the first that did radio shows that would play

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

, then

The Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...

, then hillbilly, then great

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

." Moore later reflected on this period: "I'm not a nightlife person. I should have really planted myself on the streets and plugged away, but I'm not a very good salesman so I never thought of going down and trying to convince people to sign me. It was a struggle. ... Through the 80s, my uncle was hoping I'd get a band together, but I had no idea how to do it." In late 1979, he used an eight-track Manhattan studio to record ''Clack!'' (1980), named for the studio's owner Tom Clack. It was Moore's first album recorded in a professional studio. At this point, he was heavily influenced by

Public Image Ltd Public Image Ltd (abbreviated and stylized as PiL) are an English post-punk band formed by lead vocalist John Lydon (previously, as Johnny Rotten, lead vocalist of the Sex Pistols), guitarist Keith Levene (a founding member of the Clash), bassi ...

: " heychanged my life! That whole

postpunk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

thing, minimalist dub, drums and bass. It almost sounds like fragments, not finished songs. I loved that music." The album also marked the beginning of Moore's "post-punk era", which lasted until 1983's ''Crises''. In the early 1980s, the tracks "Bloody Knuckles" and "

Chantilly Lace Chantilly lace is a handmade bobbin lace named after the city of Chantilly,"Chantilly" ''The Oxford English Dictionary''. 2nd ed. 1989. France, in a tradition dating from the 17th century. The famous silk laces were introduced in the 18th cent ...

" from ''Clack!'' saw some

college radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

airplay. WFMU's Irwin Chusid also performed with Moore as a drummer and compiled the '' What's The Point?!!'' (1984), the first record issued on the label

Cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

. In 1982, he launched the R. Stevie Moore Cassette Club, a mail-order service that issued his recordings on cassette. He acknowledged the number of albums he made available: "People tell me I'm shooting myself in the foot, releasing so much — I've heard that for years. But I can't help it. It's who I am." Music critic

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' The Daily P ...

, in an essay about the developing cassette culture, wrote that he subsequently became "one of the most famous" artists associated with the movement. Between 1984 and 1988, the French label New Rose issued four of his albums on vinyl, starting with '' Everything You Always Wanted to Know About R. Stevie Moore (But Were Afraid to Ask)''. The album, a double-disc retrospective, proved briefly popular in France, with a single "Chantilly Lace" from the album becoming a minor sleeper hit there, and prompting Moore to undertake a promotional visit to the country. The remaining albums—'' Glad Music'' (1986), '' Teenage Spectacular'' (1987), and '' Warning: R. Stevie Moore'' (1988)—were mostly recorded using professional studios. Moore continued to produce music and play gigs throughout the 1990s and 2000s. By 1999, the cassette club had become the R. Stevie Moore CD-R Club (CDRSMCLUB), and in 2005, he reported that there were about 100 dedicated fans who bought his music on a monthly basis; "They love getting product directly from the artist. Around 70 percent are in the States and about 30 percent in urope... Sometimes they'll disappear, and then come back five years later." In 2002, he recorded an album with

Half Japanese Half Japanese is an American art punk band formed by brothers Jad and David Fair in 1974, after their family's relocation to Uniontown, Maryland. Half Japanese' original instrumentation included a small drum set, which they took turns playin ...

frontman

Jad Fair Jadwin B. Fair (born June 9, 1954) is an American singer, guitarist, graphic artist, and founding member of lo-fi alternative rock group Half Japanese. Biography Fair was born in Coldwater, Michigan. In 1974, he and his brother David formed the ...

, titled ''FairMoore'', described as "a lovely, heartfelt effort that shows both in top form" by critic Dave Mandl, who wrote that it "brings together two fiercely original figures in the American music underground", the album consisting of Fair reciting his poetry over Moore's instrumental backing. The 2009 compilation ''Me Too'', issued on

Cherry Red Records Cherry Red Records is a British independent record label founded in Malvern, Worcestershire by Iain McNay in 1978. The label has released recordings by Dead Kennedys, Everything but the Girl, The Monochrome Set, and Felt, among others, as w ...

, was annotated by Dave Gregory of

2010s: Touring, ''Make It Be'', and semi-retirement

Moore relocated back to his native Nashville in December 2010. In 2011, he established a new band with guitarist J.R. Thomason and embarked on his first ever tours, including Europe. He said: "Things are just exploding left and right and I can't keep up with it all. I need management. It's a great problem to have, but I can't take advantage of it. I'm just one person. It's crazy." The world tour was made possible by a crowd-funded

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaign and lasted for the next two years. In November 2012, Moore traveled to Los Angeles and recorded material with

Jason Falkner Jason Falkner (born June 2, 1968) is an American songwriter, musician, and guitarist who was a member of the bands Jellyfish, the Three O'Clock, and the Grays. Since 1996, he has released six solo albums, starting with '' Presents Author Unknown ...

, formerly of

Jellyfish Jellyfish, also known as sea jellies or simply jellies, are the #Life cycle, medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, which is a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animal ...

. Their collaboration produced the 2015 album '' Make It Be''. In 2017, the album was given an official release through

Bar/None Records Bar/None Records is an independent record label based in Hoboken, New Jersey. Early history Tom Prendergast started Bar/None in early 1986 in Hoboken, New Jersey. Having previously worked in pirate radio, booking and promoting bands in his n ...

and was met with generally favorable reviews. That April, Moore and Falkner appeared together for a one-off performance at the

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

music festival. Moore reflected that he had to stop his worldwide touring due to "health issues that are worsening," adding that his career "started takin' off ... way too late in life" and that he had recently "given up making proper rock and pop, rock and roll music. I just kinda maintain my back catalog, I don't record much anymore." In 2019, Bar/None released ''Afterlife'', a compilation of Moore tracks that were recorded at professional studios between 2006 and 2013. The album also features contributions from Ariel Pink, Jason Falkner, and Lane Steinberg. Most of the selections are remakes of decades-plus old songs. Moore said that the "final album playlist was purposefully kept safe, clean and more hi-fi mainstreamy, without my usual quirky left turns and lo-fi inserts." On December 31, 2019, he issued a statement on his website purporting that he would offer "absolutely no further song writing, recording, performing, travelling, rinterviews."

Impact and recognition

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

's Stewart Mason summarized Moore's body of work as a "one of a kind" mixture of "classic pop influences, arty experimentalism, idiosyncratic lyrics, wild stylistic left turns, and homemade rough edges." However, "entire generations of lo-fi enthusiasts and indie trailblazers, from

Guided by Voices Guided by Voices is an American indie rock band formed in 1983 in Dayton, Ohio. It has made frequent personnel changes but always maintained the presence of principal songwriter Robert Pollard. The most well-known lineup of the band consisted o ...

the Apples in Stereo The Apples in Stereo are an American indie rock band associated with The Elephant 6 Recording Company, Elephant 6 Collective. The band is largely the project of lead vocalist/guitarist/producer Robert Schneider, who writes the majority of the ba ...

, owe much to ispioneering in the field." In the liner notes of ''Me Too'', XTC member Dave Gregory stated that Moore was "a seriously underrated maverick talent, the

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

of the real underground ... his lyrics are intelligent and/or downright funny, he knows how to string a sequence of chords together and he has a gift for melody that many a more 'successful' songwriter would envy." He worked with Moore on a remake of Moore's "Dates" in 1999. XTC founder

Andy Partridge Andrew John Partridge (born 11 November 1953) is an English guitarist, singer-songwriter and record producer best known for co-founding the band XTC. He and Colin Moulding each acted as a songwriter and frontman for XTC, with Partridge writing a ...

echoed of Moore's work: "What beauty, what invention." A wider recognition of Moore's music came in the late 2000s as a result of newer acts who cited him as an influence. In particular, there was

, who initiated a correspondence with Moore earlier in the decade and recorded some collaborations. Pink's own work shared much of the same musical approaches, although Moore denies that they sound similar. Moore's exposure grew alongside Pink's solo success as he was repeatedly championed by Pink in various press interviews. In 2005, Pink contributed a song to Moore's ''Conscientious Objector'' compilation. He told a journalist around this era that he was "trying to like, reverse time. I'm trying to get Todd Hyman to reissue him on Acute. Then it can get like, the David-Fricke-fuckin'-''

'' treatment. It's about time. It's criminal that he's not well known. Especially in light of the fact that I'm getting attention. ... ''Mojo'' has never even printed a word about him. ''Uncut'', never a word." In 2006, Pink curated the Moore retrospective '' Ariel Pink's Picks Vol. 1'', and in 2012, the duo released the collaborative album '' Ku Klux Glam''. When a 2006 ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' article referenced Moore as the progenitor of "

bedroom pop Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or music production, production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a delibe ...

", he responded that the notion was "hilarious to me. I guess because of my age, because of my bitter struggle to make a living and get some notoriety, I scoff at it. ... A lot of the music coming out of these bedrooms is not even interesting, not worthy of being heard. But some of it will be." Moore also hesitated to be associated with the "

outsider music Outsider music (from "outsider art") is music created by self-taught or naïve musicians. The term is usually applied to musicians who have little or no traditional musical experience, who exhibit childlike qualities in their music, or who have ...

" tag, explaining that while he "loves" artists like

Wesley Willis Wesley Lawrence Willis (May 31, 1963 – August 21, 2003) was an American musician and visual artist. Diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1989, Willis began a career as an underground singer-songwriter in the outsider music tradition. Will ...

and

Daniel Johnston Daniel Dale Johnston (January 22, 1961 – September 11, 2019) was an American singer, musician and artist regarded as a significant figure in Outsider music, outsider, Lo-fi music, lo-fi, and alternative rock, alternative music scenes. Most ...

, "they have no concept as to how to write or arrange a

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (June 20, 1942 – June 11, 2025) was an American musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often Brian Wilson is a genius, called a genius for his novel approaches to pop compositio ...

song." In 2012, ''

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''s Matthew Ingram argued that " s echoes can be heard in the music of artists like Pavement, Smog, Guided By Voices and Beck, and through his disciple Ariel Pink, he has unwittingly provided the template for the entire movement currently known as

Hypnagogic Pop Hypnagogic pop (abbreviated as h-pop) is pop music, pop or psychedelic music that evokes cultural memory and 1980s nostalgia, nostalgia for the popular entertainment of the past (principally the 1980s). It emerged in the mid to late 2000s as Am ...

." Tim Burrows of '' Dazed Digital'' similarly noted that "with a little help from James Ferraro and a few others, Moore and Pink can be credited with influencing hewhole enre ofhypnagogic pop."

Discography

Due to his prolific output, the majority of Moore's CD and vinyl releases have been career-spanning compilations. He noted having "sort of ... two discographies: my own that contains all of my self-released material and the official releases, which are what record labels decided to put out over the years." During a 1984 appearance on '' The Scott and Gary Show'', he stated that he had 109 releases in total. In 2012, his

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page listed over 200 releases. In a 2021 interview with a Los Angeles radio program,

said Moore has completed more than 300 records, though "not all in physical form." Although it is often reported that his complete discography exceeds 400 albums, Moore said that the estimate was not an "actual proven number" and that "400 might seem stretching it a bit, utwhen it comes down to every bit of home taping I've ever done, including producing friends, alternate dub versions, session discs, audio verite ephemera, etcetera, it suddenly becomes an unlimited guess." In response to this Wikipedia article about Moore, which formerly stated that the count was "at least 200", he requested fans on his website to tally a more accurate estimate. In February 2018, he received a count of 354 releases listed on his "tapelist" page (including video and live recordings), 391 on his "albums list" page, and 344 on Bandcamp. Official studio albums * '' Delicate Tension'' (1978) * '' Clack!'' (1980) * '' Glad Music'' (1986) * '' Teenage Spectacular'' (1987) * '' Warning'' (1988) * ''Objectivity'' (1997) (with Yukio Yung) * ''FairMoore'' (2002) (with

) * ''The Yung & Moore Show'' (2006) (with Yukio Yung) * ''Advanced'' (2011) * '' Ku Klux Glam'' (2012) (with

) * ''The Great American Songbook – Vol. 1'' (2014) (with Jad Fair) * '' Make It Be'' (2015) (with

) * ''The Embodiment of Progressive Ideals'' (2018) (with Alan Jenkins and the Kettering Vampires) * ''Fake News Trending'' (2019) (with Gary Wilson) Selected compilations * '' Phonography'' (1976) * '' Everything You Always Wanted To Know About R. Stevie Moore But Were Afraid To Ask'' (1984) * '' What's The Point?!!'' (1984) * ''

Verve Verve may refer to: Music * The Verve, an English rock band * '' The Verve E.P.'', a 1992 EP by The Verve * ''Verve'' (R. Stevie Moore album) * Verve Records, an American jazz record label Businesses * Verve Coffee Roasters, an American coffee h ...

'' (1985) * '' R. Stevie Moore (1952-19??)'' (1987) * '' Has-Beens and Never-Weres'' (1990) * '' Greatesttits'' (1990) * '' Contact Risk'' (1993) * ''Revolve'' (1995) * '' The Future Is Worse Than The Past'' (1999) * ''Hundreds of Hiding Places'' (2002) * ''Nevertheless Optimistic'' (2003) * ''Meet the R. Stevie Moore'' (2008) * ''Me Too'' (2009) * '' Ariel Pink's Picks Vol. 1'' (2011) * ''Hearing Aid'' (2012) * '' Lo Fi Hi Fives... A Kind Of Best Of'' (2012) * '' Personal Appeal'' (2013) * ''"Late Night Tales: Franz Ferdinand presents"'' (2014) * ''Afterlife'' (2019) * ''R. Stevie Moore On Earth'' (2021) * ''Freedom Vs. Fate'' (2021) * ''"Cool Daddio": Original Film Soundtrack'' (2022)

References

External links

* *
"R. Stevie Moore online video clips"
*
"Great Big Story: The One-Man Record Label"
– 2018 mini-documentary

– 2019 forthcoming documentary film Further reading * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, R. Stevie 1952 births Living people American male singers Songwriters from Tennessee American outsider musicians People from Bloomfield, New Jersey Musicians from Montclair, New Jersey Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee Singers from Nashville, Tennessee Vanderbilt University alumni American radio DJs American indie pop musicians Songwriters from New Jersey Lo-fi musicians DIY culture Cassette culture 1970s–1990s