Music Quotes
"It's very easy in this business to find people who are willing to put their arm around you and tell you how great you are. Unfortunately their other hand is in your pocket."--Paul Stanley of KISS
I would advise you to keep your overhead down; avoid a major drug habit; play everyday, and take it in front of other people. They need to hear it, and you need them to hear it.
--James Taylor
"I've made hundreds of legendary records that people talk about that didn't sell."
--Jerry Wexler
"Without freedom of expression, good taste means nothing."
--Neil Young
"Without music, the greatest marketing plans in the whole world don't mean shit."
--Eddie Rosenblatt, Geffen Records
"Without marketing plans, the greatest music in the whole world don't mean shit."
--Christopher Knab, FourFront Media and Marketing
"Who could have dreamed in 1965 that the alternative society would eventually multiply to such extraordinary proportions that it becomes our mainstream."
--Bill Graham
"So many record companies turned me down, they said I sounded like a Chipmunk."
--Brandy
"We hit everyone in town - All the labels were in L.A. - and got rejected by everyone. Capital, RCA, Liberty, Dunhill, Decca, Reprise. They all said no."
--Ray Manzarek of The Doors (from Manzarek's book, Light My Fire)
"When my record company rejected Full Moon Fever, I was hurt so bad... And then I waited awhile, until the top regime at the record company changed. And I came back and I played them the same record, and they were overjoyed. It turned out to be a huge hit."
--Tom Petty (Esquire interview by Mike Sager)
"The only way artists can do things is to do it for themselves. Trying to second guess what the public wants or likes is kind of a fool's game."
-- David Gilmour of Pink Floyd
"For their [Blue Oyster Cult] next performance (at The Electric Circus in New York City), [Eric] Bloom had a guitar, however it was not plugged in at the time. Elektra executives were at the performance, and later remarked that they felt that Bloom's rhythm guitar added greatly to the band's sound."
-- Albert Bouchard (from Blue Oyster Cult's FAQ)
"I once read an interview with Keith Richards in which he said the Rolling Stones were always just imitating Muddy Waters as best they could, but they weren’t good enough at it so it came out sounding different, i.e. as themselves. If they had been really good musicians they might have ended up playing in Holiday Inn lounges. Ray Charles started out by imitating Nat King Cole. Elvis Presley wanted to be like Dean Martin. Paul McCartney does a great Little Richard. You might define a whole new genre by not being good enough to imitate your hero."
-- Michael Anderson (http://michaelanderson.com/)
"...and I believe with all of my heart that it is a contributing factor to our Juvenile delinquency of today. I ah hundred percent believe it. Why I believe that is because I know how it feels when you sing it. I know what it does to you. And I-I know the evil feeling that you feel when you sing it. I know the-the lost position you get into, and the beat... well ah, if you talk to the average teenager of today and you ask them what it is about Rock and Roll music that they like and the first thing they'll say is the beat, the beat, the beat."
-- Elvis Presley (Quote about Rock & Roll, from "The History of Rock and Roll" radio documentary)
"Servant and master am I: servant of those dead, and master of those living. Through my spirit immortals speak the message that makes the world weep and laugh, and wonder and love, and worship. I am Music."
-- Anonymous
"A painter paints pictures on canvas, but a musician paints pictures on silence."
-- Leopold Stokowski
"People are flowers. Music is water. Musicians are the hose."
-- Carlos Santana
"Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is THE BEST..."
-- Frank Zappa
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."
-- Hunter S. Thompson
"Who would want to break into it? It's like a bank that's already been robbed."
-- Randy Newman, backstage at the oscars, responding to a college reporter's question about breaking into the music business.
"...remember forever that it is only those who have given up on their own dreams who will try to discourage you from yours. Avoid these people like the plague."
-- Tina Weymouth
"You know, once you've had that guitar up so loud on the stage, where you can lean back and volume will stop you from falling backward, that's a hard drug to kick."
-- David Gilmour of Pink Floyd
--Victor Hugo