Oblique Strategies. The cards that ruin your plan.
A pack of cards designed to ruin whatever you're about to do, because the only way out always looks like a bad idea.
THE GIST ON OBLIQUE STRATEGIES: "The cards that ruin your plan"
What are Oblique Strategies?
A pack of cards made in 1975 by record producer Brian Eno and painter Peter Schmidt. They have been in the room for some of the greatest records ever made, including David Bowie, Talking Heads, Coldplay and LCD Soundsystem.
Both men had noticed the same thing. Deep in a piece of work, you can't see the wood for the trees.
How do they work?
Every card gives you a constraint, something awkward you've got to do, and that breaks you out of the funk. You draw blind. You can't pick the card that tells you what you want to hear, and the rule is you have to attempt it, however maddening or stupid it might be.
It will change your perspective, and that's what matters. The better you are at something, the more it works on you.
What happened in the studio with Bowie?
Guitar legend Carlos Alomar was in the studio with David Bowie when a card said the guitarist and the drummer should swap. He can't play the drums. His response was, naturally, a few choice words.
But he hit them like a man who had never met a drum kit, which was exactly the sound they'd been chasing. The track was Boys Keep Swinging.
Why do we need them?
Whatever gets you out is, by definition, something you think is bad. It almost has to look stupid. And we've built modern life around not having to do stupid things: approvals, best practice, algorithms, autocorrect.
All of it steers you back to something already tried. The cards make you do the thing you'd never sign off, and it's the fastest way to what you want.
Would you take a random instruction to break a creative block?
Your take. One tap, then see how everyone else voted.
Quick answers
Who made Oblique Strategies?
Record producer Brian Eno and painter Peter Schmidt, in 1975.
How do the cards work?
You draw a card blind, it gives you an awkward constraint, and you have to attempt it however stupid it seems.
What happened with Bowie?
A card told the guitarist and drummer to swap. Carlos Alomar hit the drums like a man who'd never met a kit, which was the sound they wanted on Boys Keep Swinging.
See you on the next one.
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