Musicians who have (or may have?) Asperger's Syndrome.
Tom Waits. He keeps a diary with him and collects random strings of information in it and has for years.
He said when he was little, he thought he was ret*d or possessed because the sound of paper sliding would make him wince, and the sound of his mother tucking him in would make him curl up as if in pain. He'd deal with it by making up a word and repeating it musically over and over. The sounds would haunt him at night.
I've seen interviews with him at the first half of his career, and he mumbles and doesn't make eye contact, and has an odd manner of speaking where he either speaks too loud or too soft. He also would rock back and forth insessantly to the point where the interviewer would make fun of him by copying him.
He obsessively collects instruments, and has stated he's obsessed with every day sounds.
Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth definitely sounds like she might be an aspie. here is a profile The New Yorker did on her http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/06/03/next-stage
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The fact that that her social awkwardness was problematic enough to seek help of a therapist is interesting.
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DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
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Dan Bull
He has said himself
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DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
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Possible traits mentioned
Touring causing anxiety had quit at the time
Did not like "Life Begins at The Hop" a socializing song
Attraction to Water desire to walk into it.(Autistic kids wander into water)
Stomach Problems
Issues Psychologists could not figure out, needed quiet to deal with it.
Of course they wrote a song called "Senses Working Overtime"
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
I didn't check thoroughly to see if someone had already mentioned him, but Bill Bruford of Yes and King Crimson may be a mild aspie (kind of like me). He just seems so awkward and goofy when he drums - he strikes me as a bombastic sort of aspie with a big personality, but still kind of awkward:
And during this 1984 interview, he seemed to dart around a lot with his gaze, make jokes that only he laughed at sometimes (although I laughed a bit too), and what really struck me was his resentment of the "surfer rock" scene in the U.S. in the late 60s, something that almost any non-autistic person would have been into at the time because it was "cool" and "popular":
I also think Bob Fripp might be, but more of the reserved and introverted type like me.
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"Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art."
-- Claude Debussy
Keyboard player/Drummer Damon Edge, Founder of the band Chrome. Was quite reclusive and hated playing live, even though the band had a very large european fan base in the late 70's and early 80's. Monotonous voice, also during his later French incarnation of Chrome, instructed the hired musicians to play as passionlessly, and as robotically as possible. Found dead of suicide in 1995.
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And during this 1984 interview, he seemed to dart around a lot with his gaze, make jokes that only he laughed at sometimes (although I laughed a bit too), and what really struck me was his resentment of the "surfer rock" scene in the U.S. in the late 60s, something that almost any non-autistic person would have been into at the time because it was "cool" and "popular":
I also think Bob Fripp might be, but more of the reserved and introverted type like me.
It would not surprise me if a lot of progressive rock musicians are on the spectrum. Escortic topics most often not about sex/relationships, exacting detailed sound.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
And during this 1984 interview, he seemed to dart around a lot with his gaze, make jokes that only he laughed at sometimes (although I laughed a bit too), and what really struck me was his resentment of the "surfer rock" scene in the U.S. in the late 60s, something that almost any non-autistic person would have been into at the time because it was "cool" and "popular":
I also think Bob Fripp might be, but more of the reserved and introverted type like me.
It would not surprise me if a lot of progressive rock musicians are on the spectrum. Escortic topics most often not about sex/relationships, exacting detailed sound.
Yeah, but some of the immensely successful ones (like Rush's Neil Peart) strike me as being so mildly autistic that they're practically outside the criteria for formal diagnosis, so they're just seen as "oddballs" really.
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"Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art."
-- Claude Debussy
I'm extremely musical, and I see the world as patterns and wavelengths and energy streams. I play the piano [quite well] and the ocarina [badly], and love singing and dancing. Is anyone else like me?
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That depends - do you have absolute pitch, and do you nickname certain keys based on how they make you feel? (e.g., I've nicknamed B-flat major "God's key signature" because of its warmth and benevolence - B-flat major represents His unrequited love for us, and the parallel g minor represents the pain and sadness He must experience constantly because of all of our suffering and depravity; for me, g minor is evidence that God cries too)
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"Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art."
-- Claude Debussy
^No, but listening to music and musical instruments paints pictures in my head, and certain instruments remind me of certain things [for example, string instruments remind me of birds, Eastern instruments remind me of dragons, flutes remind me of faeries and mysterious creatures in forests, and so forth].
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