Autistic Music

I'm not much of a rap fan, but I'll listen to anything once! While I was Googling around for tracks, I found this interview, where NF talks about how therapy for a mental breakdown led to him being diagnosed with OCD. So maybe not autism, but certainly a condition which can lead to a lot of the same feelings of isolation and being misunderstood as us autistic folks often experience.

Two artists who's songs  resonated a lot with me in my youth later turned out to be autistic; Gary Numan and David Byrne (though Byrne, while acknowledging that Tina Weymouth's "outing" of his Aspergers was factually correct, has claimed that his music making has cured his autism).

As well as the feelings of isolation etc., I always thought that they both captured my bewilderment at the social behaviour of the people around me...

"Are friends electric? Only mine broke down, and now I've no-one to love."
[Gary Numan (Tubeway Army) - Are Friends Electric?]

"You start a conversation you can't even finish it
You're talking a lot, but you're not saying anything
When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed
Say something once, why say it again?"
[David Byrne (Talking Heads) - Psycho Killer]

I'm not much of a rap fan, but I'll listen to anything once! While I was Googling around for tracks, I found this interview, where NF talks about how therapy for a mental breakdown led to him being diagnosed with OCD. So maybe not autism, but certainly a condition which can lead to a lot of the same feelings of isolation and being misunderstood as us autistic folks often experience.

Two artists who's songs  resonated a lot with me in my youth later turned out to be autistic; Gary Numan and David Byrne (though Byrne, while acknowledging that Tina Weymouth's "outing" of his Aspergers was factually correct, has claimed that his music making has cured his autism).

As well as the feelings of isolation etc., I always thought that they both captured my bewilderment at the social behaviour of the people around me...

"Are friends electric? Only mine broke down, and now I've no-one to love."
[Gary Numan (Tubeway Army) - Are Friends Electric?]

"You start a conversation you can't even finish it
You're talking a lot, but you're not saying anything
When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed
Say something once, why say it again?"
[David Byrne (Talking Heads) - Psycho Killer]