Big Think

Question: What role have teachers played in your life?

Moby: For better or worse, I’m sort of an autodidact.  You know?  I’ve never really had a mentor, and I never really had teachers.  I sort of had to learn everything myself.  And I, in some ways, wish that I had had, you know, a mentor … someone who could have given me advice.  And … hmm … I wish someone had told me that if you’re having a degree of success and people are being nice to you, it doesn’t mean they like you.  You know, because they’re being nice to the success.  They’re not being nice to the person.  I know …  Again, it’s a cliché.  And I wish that someone had told me to realize that making records is not a life or death situation.  You know, I tend to take my work a little too seriously, and I almost feel like I need some, like, old crazy Mediterranean grandmother to sort of like say, “Oh relax. Stop taking yourself so seriously.  Life’s supposed to be fun.”

Recorded on: 5/29/07