Moby Let’s Go
Featured Album
While Virgo is often considered to be the one sign driven by an almost insane desire for perfection and purity, a fair number of the artists that fall under its arc – from August 23rd to September 22nd – can hardly be called Puritanical. A quick check finds Charlie Parker, the archetypal bebop mainliner, shooting junk while deconstructing the songbook of his day in blistering triple-times. Then there’s Gene Simmons. While Simmons has eschewed alcohol and drugs, the former Chaim Witz, has feasted on the flesh and venerates money. And let’s not leave out Amy Winehouse, whose appetite for self-destruction is only matched by her detail-perfect, postmodern diva act.
The inherent paradox in these Virgoan musicians is plainly and painfully obvious – they’re driven, almost obsessively, by the pursuit of perfection. Simmons might seem like a lecherous old rock god still on the prowl for your little sis, but he is as exacting and systematic in his approach for financial dominance as any good control-obsessed Virgo would be.
And then there’s Michael – poor Michael. Driven by some horror from his dark and wounded past, Michael Jackson sought perfection in form, reshaping the face he couldn’t bear to look at, a face doctors disfigured to the point of deformity.
But while all of these Virgo musicians have a fatal flaw that seeps into the crevices of their psyche, we’re not here to judge, nor mourn their humanity. Instead, we are here to look at a Virgo who seems to have made peace with the infernal, internal, eternal critic that drives those who share his sign to the edge of obsession – even mania. We’re talking about Richard Melville Hall, aka Moby, born September 11th, 1965.
On the surface, Moby makes his case for being an archetypal Virgo almost solely on the basis of his devout, radically Christian belief system, vegetarianism and tea totaling. These are all quite honorable Virgoan activities, yet as we dig beneath the surface we begin to see some of the same contradictions inherent in the other Virgo artists. While on tour with Lollapalooza and later, Moby would go one better than the Chili Peppers by stripping down to the bone, with only his guitar dangling in front of him, while he and his band would flail away on a grunge version of “Sweet Home Alabama.”
While Play made him a star, it’s the follow up, 18, that we’ll look at as we rip through the salient points of his chart. On the cover, we see Moby on Earth in his space suit, helmet off. Here is a Virgo coming to grips with his humanity, his inherent paradoxes, germs and tainted atmosphere. In the liner notes of 18 he alludes to his rigid past of idealism, how it shaped his music. How does Moby get there, into the open spaces of self-acceptance and faith? The answer might be found in 18‘s only hit, “We Are All Made Of Stars.”
Wiith its shuffling beat, it’s an undulating electro affirmation that sounds just a tad “Fripped out.” Here we see Moby extend beyond himself into the collective, the veritable family of man. Venus is the planet of relating and Jupiter is the planet of expansion, possibility and hope. Moby has these two celestial forces working in harmony. Here we see expansion of possibility, and Moby’s take on the destiny of the collective, comprised by the make-up of elemental forces that binds the universe together – ie: “we are all made of stars.”
While it could be said that the financial success Moby acquired from Play‘s massive sales and licensing afforded him the emotional and spiritual luxury to make such grand proclamations, Moby would have always attempted some fusion of “hope” and “affirmation” regardless of the state of his bank account. Venus favorably positioned in regard to Jupiter raises one’s ability to relate to others to congregational heights. In fact, the gospel stylings of “In My Heart” also reflect the soulful grace he celebrated on Play but without the drama of hopelessness and despair.
Fame was almost unavoidable for Moby. Cast into a mythic moment that would set the stage for the rest of his career, he sang for Flipper, a band h idolized while growing up in Darien, Connecticut. Will Shatter was tucked away behind bars, so young Moby stepped up and sang every song. It was a prescient and emblematic moment in his life. With Pluto and Uranus, two heavyweights of the zodiac conjuncting his natal Sun in Virgo, Moby was destined for greatness. Pluto adds the drive for power, the endurance to overcome obstacles and a desire to excel, especially in perfection-driven Virgo. Uranus, also conjunct his natal Mercury adds a touch of genius and originality, not to mention the ability to innovate and have easy access to technology.
There are, however, a number of contradictions in his chart – his Virgo Sun (differentiation) opposing his Pisces Moon (merging) is chief among them – but Moby manages to put it all together on 18. Interestingly enough, with the exclusion of Moby’s own, the voices on 18 are almost exclusively female – among them those of Angie Stone and Sinead O’Connor. The album represents a state of balance between male and female – perhaps a momentary reconciliation between the obsessive and the manic. It’s a brief interlude of cosmic harmony that ends with the final track, “I’m Not Worried At All,” transcending one of Virgo’s most onerous, yet endearing traits: the fear that chaos will strip it all away.
