Make Your Music In the Kitchen

Brian Eno is a pioneering British musician and producer.

He helped define the sound of some of the ‘80s and '90s biggest bands.

Eno began working with U2 in 1984. 

He helped take them from a scrappy post-punk band, to one of the biggest groups of their time. 

The Joshua Tree became the band’s most widely-admired record.

But after critical acclaim and a wildly successful global tour, U2 found themselves back in the studio struggling to record their next album.

They had a nice plush set up. Ample time. Structure to their sessions. 

And after such a previous success, they expected the next record would just flow out. 

But it wasn’t coming. 

They thought back to their previous album. How easy the song writing had been. 

There was that afternoon where “Where the Streets Have No Name” just seemed to appear from nowhere. 

In contrast, this new record was becoming a real struggle. 

After a particularly futile studio session, Eno told the band to put down their instruments.

“We’re going to dinner”. 

He took them to a three-star Michelin restaurant. 

The place was sublime. The epitome of calm. 

Peaceful, pristine, immaculate. 

Soft music played as elegant guests enjoyed beautiful food served by attentive staff.

The whole experience was perfection personified.

Then Eno walked the band past the dining room and into the kitchen.

They were hit by a wall of swearing. Screaming. Shouting. 

Cooks bumping into each other. Staff running around like crazy. 

Burns. Spills. Stains. Smashed plates. 

Absolute chaos. 

Eno turned to the band.

“THIS is where you make your music! Stop trying to make your music in the restaurant. You make your music in the kitchen!” 

Eno knew that great output often requires a messy process.

Whether it’s music. Art. Writing. Advertising. The same principle applies.

Structure, calm and discipline is great. But it’s not a breeding ground for creativity. 

Sometimes you need noise. Passion. Energy. Friction. Swearing. Fighting. 

Something to rut up against. 

Creativity is born from chaos. 

To borrow a quote from Dave Trott, that he borrowed from Orson Welles. 

“In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.” 

Where are you working, in the restaurant or the kitchen?

1. Fred again.. 'And the Writer Is' podcast

2. Dave Trott, One Plus One Equals Three: A Masterclass in Creative Thinking