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Biography
Oblique Strategies (subtitled Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas ) is a deck of 7x9 cm printed cards in a black container box, http://productionadvice.co.uk/oblique-strategies/ created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt (artist)|Peter Schmidt and first published in 1975. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-nireland/A635528 Each card offers an aphorism intended to help artists (particularly musicians) break Writer's block|creative blocks .
Origin and history
In 1970 Peter Schmidt created "The Thoughts Behind the Thoughts", http://peterschmidtweb.blogspot.com/2010/03/thoughts-behind-thoughts.html a wooden box of 55 cards, in a signed and numbered edition of 100. http://www.peterschmidtweb.com/publications.html Eno, who had known Schmidt since the early 1960s, was intrigued by the "Thoughts" and worked with Schmidt to expand them and offer them for general sale. After Schmidt died suddenly in early 1980, Eno stopped production and the card decks became rather rare and expensive. Sixteen years later software pioneer Peter Norton convinced Eno to let him create a fourth edition as Christmas gifts for his friends (not for sale, although they occasionally come up at auction). Eno's decision to revisit the cards and his collaboration with Norton in revising them is described in detail in his 1996 book, A Year with Swollen Appendices . With public interest in the cards undiminished, in 2010 Eno once again produced a new set of Oblique Strategies cards. The number and content of the cards vary somewhat from edition to edition.
The entire story of Oblique Strategies, with the content of all the cards, exhaustive history and commentary, is documented in a website widely acknowledged as the authoritative source, put together by musician and educator Gregory Alan Taylor. http://www.rtqe.net/ObliqueStrategies/OSintro.html
Editions and variations
Edition
Year
No. Cards
Edition of
Notes
Original
Second
Third
French
Japanese
Fourth
Fifth
Hypertext version
Mac OS Widget
iPhone app
Android app
online editions
Acute Strategies
Cards inspired by Oblique Strategies
Design and use
Each card contains a phrase or cryptic remark which can be used to break a deadlock or dilemma situation. Some are specific to music composition; others are more general. Examples include:
Use an old idea.
State the problem in words as clearly as possible.
Only one element of each kind.
What would your closest friend do?
What to increase? What to reduce?
Are there sections? Consider transitions.
Try faking it!
Honour thy error as a hidden intention.
Ask your body.
Work at a different speed.
From the introduction to the 2001 edition:
These cards evolved from separate observations of the principles underlying what we were doing. Sometimes they were recognised in retrospect (intellect catching up with intuition), sometimes they were identified as they were happening, sometimes they were formulated.
They can be used as a pack, or by drawing a single card from the shuffled pack when a dilemma occurs in a working situation. In this case the card is trusted even if its appropriateness is quite unclear...
Cultural impact
Many references to Oblique Strategies exist in popular culture, most notably in the film Slacker (film)|Slacker , http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1058-slacker-s-oblique-strategy in which a character offers passers-by cards from a deck. Strategies mentioned include "Honor thy error as a hidden intention", "Look closely at the most embarrassing details and amplify", "Not building a wall; making a brick", "Repetition is a form of change", and one which came to be seen as a summary of the film's ethos (though it was not part of the official set of Oblique Strategies), "Withdrawing in disgust is not the same thing as apathy." This line was quoted in the 1994 song " What's the Frequency, Kenneth? " by R.E.M. , who also mentioned Oblique Strategies in their 1998 song "Diminished" off the album Up (R.E.M. album)|Up . The Oblique Strategies are also referenced in comic 1018, "Oblique Angles", of popular web comic Questionable Content .
Other musicians reportedly inspired by Oblique Strategies include the British band Coldplay , said to have used the cards when recording their 2008 Brian Eno -produced album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends , and French band Phoenix (band)|Phoenix , who claimed to have used the cards when recording their 2009 album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix . http://earfarm.com/band-of-the-week/3020 EAR FARM » Phoenix (interview with Thomas Mars) German musician/composer Blixa Bargeld has a similar navigation system, called Dave. In response to their song "Brian Eno", off their album Congratulations (album)|Congratulations , MGMT has said they had a deck of Oblique Strategies in the studio, but they "don't know if they used them correctly."
They were most famously used by Eno during the recording of David Bowie|David Bowie's Berlin triptych of albums (Low, "Heroes", Lodger). Stories suggest they were used during the recording of instrumentals on "Heroes" such as Sense of Doubt and were utilized more extensively on Lodger (Fantastic Voyage, Boys Keep Swinging, Red Money).
See also
Lateral thinking
I Ching - an ancient consultation book based on random draws
Aleatoric music
Water Yam (artist's book)
References
reflist|2
External links
http://www.rtqe.net/ObliqueStrategies/ The Oblique Strategies
http://www.PeterSchmidtWeb.com/ PeterSchmidtWeb The Peter Schmidt web site.
http://www.joshharrison.net/oblique-strategies/ Random Oblique Strategies Gives you a random Oblique Strategy selected from editions 1–5.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jarviscocker/2010/11/jarvis-talks-to-brian-eno-abou.shtml Brian Eno with Jarvis Cocker - Eno explains Oblique Strategies on Jarvis Cocker 's BBC6 Radio show, Nov. 08, 2010.
http://oblicard.com/ Random Oblique Strategies site with modern design.
