Laurie Anderson - 1980s

1980s

Anderson became widely known outside the art world in 1981 with the single "O Superman", originally released in a limited quantity by B. George's One Ten Records. The song reached number two on the national pop charts in Britain after the sudden influx of orders from the UK (prompted by British radio station BBC Radio 1 playlisting the record) and led to Anderson's signing a 7-album deal with Warner Bros. Records, which re-released the single.

"O Superman" was part of a larger stage work titled United States and was included on the album Big Science. Prior to the release of Big Science, Anderson returned to Giorno Poetry Systems to record the album You're the Guy I Want to Share My Money With; Anderson recorded one side of the 2-LP set, with William S. Burroughs and John Giorno recording a side each, and the fourth side featured a separate groove for each artist. This was followed by the back-to-back releases of her albums Mister Heartbreak and United States Live, the latter of which was a five-LP (and, later, 4-CD) recording of her 2-evening stage show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. She also appeared in a television special produced by Nam June Paik broadcast on New Years Day 1984, entitled Good Morning Mr. Orwell (the title being inspired by Orwell's novel 1984).

She next starred in and directed the 1986 concert film Home of the Brave and also composed the soundtracks for the Spalding Gray films Swimming to Cambodia and Monster in a Box. During this time she also contributed music to Robert Wilson's "Alcestis" at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She also hosted the PBS series Alive from Off-Center during this time, for which she produced the short film What You Mean We? Release of Anderson's first post-Home of the Brave album, 1989's Strange Angels, was delayed for more than a year in order for Anderson to take singing lessons. This was due to the album being more musically inclined (in terms of singing) than her previous works.