The First Ambient Music Album

Brian Eno christened the genre, but its roots run deeper

Which was the first ambient music album? That question can be answered in a number of ways.

Brian Eno’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports christened the genre in 1978. Its liner notes gave a vague definition, the famous line about the music having to be “as ignorable as interesting” and creating “a space to think”.

Many will argue that Eno’s Discreet Music, a…