Artists Respond to 9/11: Michael Stipe, Björk, Jodie Foster

Over the last several months, Kurt Andersen has been asking guests about their memories of September 11, 2001. Where were they that day, and did the events change their lives? What changes have they seen in American culture? How did it all affect their work?

For most, a creative response took time to develop — often years.

Michael Stipe, Bjrk, Jodie Foster, and others share how they made sense of 9/11.

Michael Stipe

R.E.M.‘s lead singer remembers being in Lower Manhattan on 9/11. He says the aftermath of the terrorist attacks gave him a deeper respect for his father, a career Army helicopter pilot who served in Korea and Vietnam. “I realized what happens when one is confronted with something so much bigger and so much more horrific than even the imagination can take you to,” he remembers, “and then the fall-out from that.”
(Michael Stipe on Studio 360 – May 20, 2011)

Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster spent several years of her childhood in Europe, and has spent a lot of time there since then. She says she’s surprised when people there claim that she’s not “a real American.” “They say, ‘You speak other languages, you travel, you are sophisticated about books’ and I say, ‘And that somehow makes me less of an American?'”
(Jodie Foster on Studio 360 – May 13, 2011)

Bjrk

The Icelandic musician was living in Brooklyn in 2001. “On 9/11, in the space of a half an hour, this became the most patriotic place on earth,” she recalls. “I remember describing to my friends on my phone that [if] I turned 180 degrees anywhere I was in New York. I would count at least 37 American flags. So it was kind of scary for a foreigner to be here.” She addresses her concerns directly in the final lyrics of her song “Mouth’s Cradle” from the album Medulla (2004).
(Bjrk’s full interview will air in an upcoming episode of Studio 360.)

Suzanne Vega

Longtime New Yorker Suzanne Vega went to a hospital in Lower Manhattan on the day of the attacks. “It was chaotic,” she remembers. But she tried to provide as sense of calm for her young daughter: “I remember taking her out of school, all the parents huddling together, going to the park, trying to make it as much of a normal day as we could.” She’s written several songs about 9/11, including “Anniversary” from the album Beauty and Crime (2007).
(Suzanne Vega on Studio 360 – May 13, 2011)

Robert Lopez

The Tony Award-winning composer of The Book of Mormon remembers being in the middle of writing the musical Avenue Qat the time of the attacks. “It was a wonderful feeling of ‘Ok, we’ve broken through the B.S. we’re all in all the time.’ But I feel like the B.S. came in stronger, way stronger, a few years later.” Although 9/11 ultimately did not lead to the so-called ‘death of irony,’ Lopez says it reminded him to use it wisely.
(Bobby Lopez on Studio 360 – June 10, 2011)

Miranda July

Although the filmmaker, writer, and performance artist was in California at the time of the attacks, the coverage she saw on television haunted her. “One of the most heartbreaking images for me was people jumping off of the building and that some of them held hands.” She remembers thinking “how right before you die, it might not matter that it’s a stranger, you just want love in any form.” She reveals a scene from her movie You and Me and Everyone We Know (2005) that was directly inspired by the image — watch the clip below.
(Miranda July on Studio 360 – July 29, 2011)

Video: a clip from You and Me and Everyone We Know