“DJ-ing itself is not just about playing songs. The art of DJ-ing is presenting new songs to the crowd that they haven't heard before and creating a party vibe that's different than just listening to anybody's playlist. It's the only way to truly be big and respected in your craft.” WayArtDifferentBigsSongPartyHeardHavensListeningCreatingCrowdsCraftsPresentingJust ListenDjsNew SongsPlaylists Author:TyDi
“I was starting to play the ukulele at the same time I was having all these conversations with [the late Ramones guitarist] Johnny Ramone, these intense tutorials staying up late and listening to the music he grew up on, and picking up what's a great song and what makes a great song. He was all about lists and dissecting songs, like what's a better song by Cheap Trick: "No Surrender" or "Dream Police"? Sometimes you'd be surprised by the answer. It was an interesting dichotomy between hanging out with the godfather of punk rock and starting to play the ukulele. They came together.” SometimesPlayDreamTogetherSongAnswersInterestingRocksListeningGrewConversationLateGrew UpPoliceStartingListsSurrenderTricksIntenseStayingHanging OutPunkGuitaristPunk RockDichotomyUkuleleRamonesDissectingTutorial Author:Eddie Vedder
“Most pop albums I was looking at as examples to point out production elements had a song that made you want to dance. I've been listening to electronic music forever and I just wanted to have something dancey.” WantMadeWantedSongForeverExampleListeningElementsAlbumsProductionsPopsElectronic Music Author:Michelle Chamuel
“There are two things that really move me: music and acting. And I'm not talking about my music or watching myself as an actor, but listening to other people's music and watching other actors. There are so many different songs that have moved me. It all depends upon the mood that I'm in at that moment.” PeopleTwoDifferentMomentsMovingSongActorsActingTalkingListeningDependsMovedMoodTwo ThingsThat MomentNot TalkingListening To Others Author:Janet Jackson
“When I'm doing a drawing, I get lots of ideas I use them in my songs, even. I do a lot of drawings because that's where I get most of my spending cash and I just always have to have new records, to get something to satisfy my listening pleasure.” IdeasUseSongPleasureRecordsListeningSpendingDrawingCash Author:Daniel Johnston
“When I was a teenager, working towards dropping out of high school to starting to tour with bands, I'd drive around in my VW Bug every morning before school, very stoned listening over and over to Zeppelin. This song got to me because it just seemed mystical. There is something about those Celtic tunings that almost sounds Eastern. Somehow it would sweep me up into my own little trance-like state, like Sting with those shamans in the Amazon. But all I had was a bong and a Led Zeppelin cassette.” LittlesStatesSchoolSongSoundMy OwnMorningListeningBandHigh SchoolStartingTeenagerEvery MorningMysticalEasternBugsDroppingAmazonTranceCelticZeppelinsTuningCassettesDropping OutBongs Author:Dave Grohl
“I love Florida Georgia Line. I love 'Round Here.' So if a fan wants to listen to that, and if a fan that wasn't listening to country music before is listening to 'Cruise' on Pandora, and after that a song by George Jones comes on, they may have never heard George Jones before. I think it's a good thing for the genre.” IfsThinkingWantMayCountrySongLinesHeardFansListeningMusic IsGood ThingsRoundsGenreFloridaGeorgiaCruisePandoraGeorge Jones Author:Scotty McCreery
“I grew up listening to all kinds of music, everything from country to rock, pop, R&B and even rap, so for me, music is music and a great song is a great song.” KindCountrySongRocksListeningGrewGrew UpMusic IsPopsRapAll Kinds Author:Jason Aldean
“When you're walking down the street or in the car just listening to the radio, and you're, like , 'Oh, that's my song.' You want to say, 'Hey Mom!' That never changes.” WantSongStreetsCarListeningMomWalkingRadioHeyNever ChangeJust Listen Author:Afrojack
“I think I'm a lot happier than people might think from listening to my songs.” PeopleThinkingMightSongListening Author:Thalia Zedek
“When I performed the songs in front of an audience at the end of each project and I knew the storytellers were in the crowd listening, that was hard.” EndsHardSongAudienceFrontsListeningProjectsCrowdsStoryteller Author:Jens Lekman
“I'm doing more deep listening, which is part of the role or job of the songwriter. I think with a lot of songwriting, songs sing themselves to you tonally and also lyrically. And it's not necessarily your own visual memories that are writing the song. It's like there are words that you can catch out there and you have to be able to see and hear them.” ThinkingWritingAbleJobsSongMemoriesRolesListeningVisualsSongwritingSongwritersDeep Listening Author:Mirah
“Anything that provokes a visceral or spiritual response and ignites my senses. Whether it's listening to the ocean, dancing to a song I adore, feeling the wind across my face, sampling a fantastic new dish, or witnessing a phenomenal show, if I experience it before I can even think about it, it makes me come alive.” IfsThinkingI CanShowsFeelingsFacesSpiritualSongAliveWindListeningOceanDancingResponseSensesFantasticDishesProvokingAdorePhenomenalIgniteVisceralSampling Author:Grace Gealey
“Music for me is this thing that's sort of saved my life over the course of my whole life, whether it be writing songs or listening to other people's stuff.” PeopleWritingWholeSongCoursesStuffListeningSavedWhole LifeWriting SongsListening To Others Author:Matt Nathanson
“I was thinking a little bit about this very thing - poetry and music - the other day when I was listening to Lucinda Williams. The way she sings is very emotive, and there is a kind of drag to her articulation: she sings behind the beat, sort of like she's being pulled along by the song a little, or is in resistance to it.” ThinkingWayKindLittlesSongBitsBehindsListeningLittle BitBeatsResistanceDragArticulationPoetry And Music Author:Matthew Zapruder
“From a very early age, I started to get really interested in how songs were put to tape. Not just listening to the songs, but the way the songs were recorded.” WayAgeSongListeningTapeGet RealJust Listen Author:M. Ward
“I guess it's kind of the obvious thing for me to do 'cuz it's what I grew up listening to. The songs growing up and everything kind of seem like old music to them, but to me, it's just... good music. And of course I did grow up in England in the 21st Century and that does come into it as well.” WellsKindDoeSeemsSongCoursesGrowsGrowing UpGrowingCenturyListeningGrewGrew UpEnglandObvious21st CenturyCuzObvious ThingsOld Music Author:George Ezra
“I just want my songs to be memorable, and for people to hear my songs in ten year's time and remember the great times they had while listening to 'em.” PeopleWantYearsRememberSongListeningTenMemorableEmsGreat Times Author:Cher Lloyd
“I suppose ever since I was about 14, I remember listening to "Sgt. Pepper's," and I remember thinking, "how do you possibly write songs like that?" I remember starting to try and write songs around that age, but just sitting around with an acoustic guitar, and try to come up with ideas for songs, and that's just what I've done ever since. I just never really stopped doing that, I suppose.” ThinkingWritingTryingIdeasDoneAgeRememberSongListeningSittingGuitarStartingCome UpAcousticsSitting AroundPeppersAcoustic GuitarSgt Pepper Author:Colin Hay
“I used to listen to music from the frosting down. As a word nerd, lyrics are really important to me, and then the melody. Playing in the Rock*A*Teens was the first time I ever heard music from the bottom up. I was hearing songs I'd heard a million times on oldies radio, and I'd be like, "Wow, listen to what the bass is doing!" When I was first singing in bands, I'd just get out there with my machete, wildly whacking away at the foliage. But you learn how to listen. When I feel I'm doing it right, it's 90% listening and 10% output. It's not "look what I can do!"” FeelsFirstsLooksI CanImportantUsedSongCan DoMillionsHeardRocksListeningBandSingingFirst TimeBottomRadioHearingMelodyWowTeensNerdListening To MusicBassOutputFoliageMachetesOldies Author:Kelly Hogan
“I think my favourite song on the album [Second Hand Rapture'] is 'Head Is Not My Home', I love the vocal melody and it's such a power hit of a track. Every time it pops on I like listening to it, I'm really drawn to it.” ThinkingHomeHandsSongListeningTrackAlbumsPopsMelodyFavouriteVocalRaptureSecond HandFavourite Songs Author:Lizzy Plapinger
“An important meeting point for me was realizing the similarity between a DJ set and a Grateful Dead set: I grew up listening to how the Dead would take a song and just jam on it, and then transition into another song.” ImportantSongRealizingListeningGrewGrew UpGratefulMeetingsTransitionJamSimilarityDjs Author:Avey Tare
“The older I get, the more I think it's this listening. You listen for it, and you have a bit of patience. And it'll come until it sounds - to me, the best songs I've written, I think, are ones that I can't hear anything - any of myself in it. It sounds like a cover song, like somebody else's song - really something you've stolen wholesale off a radio that you've listened to in someone else's flat.” ThinkingI CanSongBitsSoundWrittenListeningRadioFlatsStolenWholesaleCover Songs Author:Nick Lowe
“If I found out some gal was trying to steal my guy, I'd want to give her a black eye! Instead, I wrote this song. At the time I was writing each song [on this album], you could figure out the frame of mind I was in by listening closely. With every song I've ever recorded, I'm in it. I wouldn't write about it if I wasn't in it.” IfsWantGivingWritingTryingMindEyeGuySongFoundBlackFiguresListeningAlbumsStealingFrame Of MindGalsBlack Eyes Author:Loretta Lynn
“In the morning I'd write these essays, anything that I'd feel like writing, and in the afternoon, I'd spend time with my guitar. I had decided after listening to my last four or five albums that my biggest weakness musically was melody. the reason I had been singing in a monotone over the chord patterns in my songs was that I never practiced doing melodies.” FeelsWritingReasonLastsSongMorningFiveFourListeningSingingWeaknessDecidedGuitarPatternsAlbumsMelodyAfternoonSay AnythingEnd TimesEssaysChordsSpend TimeDoing Me Author:Iggy Pop
“You wind up listening to one song that you really like 30 times on YouTube and then you're done with it. That's the way it is.” WayDoneSongWindListeningYoutube Author:Kevin Shields
“I feel that people spend as much time skipping songs as they do listening to them in their library.” PeopleFeelsSongListeningLibrary Author:Jacob Bannon
“A lot of people listening to music now don't listen to the songs or lyrics at all. They just go, "Good tones..." and that's it.” PeopleSongListeningToneListening To Music Author:Alex Scally
“I'm somebody who grew up listening to a lot of musical theater, so getting to finally write musical theater songs and songs that sound that way - the emphasis being on the storytelling, but the arrangements and the orchestrations can be really varied - I found that to be, actually, a really joyful discovery.” WayWritingSongFoundSoundListeningGrewGrew UpDiscoveryTheaterMusicalStorytellingJoyfulArrangementsEmphasisMusical TheaterOrchestration Author:Sara Bareilles
“I probably couldn't have the same experience listening to that song because I'm self-conscious about some of my singing parts.” SelfSongListeningSingingConsciousSelf Conscious Author:Babatunde Adebimpe
“One of my favorite things is when I'm listening to a song and I find my own meaning in it that I can relate to and I can create my own relationship and bond with the song.” I CanSongMy OwnListeningMy FavoriteRelateFavorites Things Author:Ed Droste
“I'd have to think about it, but I was listening to this Johnny Cash song today that Tom Waits wrote for him - I think that's the story. For some reason it's a thing that sticks in my brain. He's describing this scene where he sees all these almost biblical images happening kind of in this burrow where this biblical train runs through this yard.” ThinkingKindReasonStoriesRunningTodaySongWaitingBrainListeningSceneHappeningsTrainSticksCashTomsBiblicalYardsDescribing Author:Justin Vernon
“I won't forget those kind of things, but I just want to write them down and look at them. It's almost like when things like music come out and you're listening to a song and you have experiences with art or phenomena that supersede your simple relationship with them as just a piece of art. They're more than that. That's just what those quote are for me. They're big, they're important.” WantWritingLooksKindArtImportantBigsSongSimpleForgetPiecesListeningDown And Author:Justin Vernon
“I think anything you listen to is going to be different. You're going to listen to a song differently if you're just sitting around somewhere listening on your phone as opposed to sitting in a dark room listening to a vinyl album. It's going to be a totally different experience.” IfsThinkingDifferentSongDarkRoomsListeningSittingPhonesAlbumsSitting AroundVinylDark RoomDifferent Experiences Author:Brendon Urie
“I'm listening to so much. I looooove Alicia Keys' song, "Unthinkable." I'm blasting that all over the place, but I'm also listening to Sade, and I always have my Heavy Metal, Mastodon.” SongKeysListeningHeavyMetalsUnthinkableHeavy Metal Author:Jada Pinkett Smith
“When I first started, I wrote some songs with Linda Perry. She's so instrumental in a lot of artist's lives, listening to you and then helping you write songs that are you, that bring the most of what you are out, whereas a lot of producers might put their stamp on you. I gained confidence because I'm less of a straight-up, traditional vocalist.” WritingFirstsHelpingMightArtistSongListeningTraditionalProducersStampsStraight UpVocalist Author:Juliette Lewis
“The thing I've been talking about with daughter is the idea of - and I'm talking about essentially in America - the possibility of, a lost generation. I've been listening to a lot of music - as a fan, as a critic, as somebody who likes to dance - but I hear, you know, within these songs and half the people I hear, these philosophies encoded and embedded in these songs.” PeopleKnowsIdeasPhilosophyAmericaSongLostHalfTalkingGenerationsFansPossibilityListeningDaughterCriticsLikesEmbeddedLost Generation Author:Saul Williams
“I grew up listening and looking up at these people and laughing at Carol Burnett and singing James Taylor songs. And same with Smokey Robinson. So they were such a huge influence as a child that to actually sit alongside them and perform on the same bill was an amazing experience for me.” PeopleChildrenSongLaughingInfluenceHugeListeningGrewGrew UpSingingBillsCarolsAmazing Experiences Author:MC Lyte
“Somebody's going to hear a song that will key in a nerve or something in their experience that represents their own vision. And the next person is going to see it completely different. So even what it means to me is probably irrelevant. It's totally irrelevant. What matters is what it means to each person listening to it.” MeanPersonsDifferentMatterSongNextVisionKeysListeningNervesWhat MattersIrrelevant Author:Van Morrison
“As cheesy as it sounds, I feel like I do write a lot, not necessarily for a message to be taken away. I feel like it is a little bit egotistical to be like, "I hope they are a better person after listening to my song."” FeelsWritingLittlesPersonsSongBitsSoundTakenListeningLittle BitMessagesBetter PersonCheesyEgotistical Author:Thomston
“When you're given a song, it's my job to record the lyrics, story and emotion, and make everyone who is listening to the song believe that it was my words and experience.” BelieveStoriesJobsSongGivenEmotionRecordsListening Author:Kreesha Turner
“When I was young, I was interested more in (singing the songs). ... I can't say I'm enjoying it more now than I did before, because I loved it when I first sang in Wales, in a pub or a club. I loved it then, getting up and singing. Or as a kid in school, I've always loved to sing. But I think when you've been around a long time, it's even more satisfying to think that people are listening to me now, and I've been in the business for a long time.” PeopleThinkingFirstsLongI CanKidsSchoolYoungSongEnjoyListeningLong TimeSingingClubsSatisfyingPubsWales Author:Tom Jones
“Our dad played us a lot of old country songs by The Carter Family and he would sing along to it. I loved listening to him sing.” CountrySongListeningDadCarter Author:Petra Haden
“I wasn't popular in school, I was Mexican, I was all these inappropriate things. I started playing the ukulele and taking it to school, and I realized people liked listening to it. I would play it to comfort myself at home, and I'd play rhythm and blues songs that had four chords. That's how it started.” PeoplePlayHomeSchoolSongFourListeningComfortI RealizedRhythmChordsMexicanInappropriateUkuleleRhythm And Blues Author:Joan Baez
“The idea of listening to a record that's in one generic style, it becomes quite boring after the third or fourth song, in my opinion. It just becomes a bit... when you've got the same arrangement on a song, your ears get tired. I come from a DJ background and it's about trying to put songs together that don't fit necessarily but you can get away with putting them next to each other. I think of myself as a punter and ask myself: what would I like to hear?” ThinkingTryingIdeasTogetherSongNextAsksBitsOpinionRecordsStyleListeningFitEarsThirdsTiredBoringBackgroundsGet AwayFourthArrangementsDjsGenericPunters Author:Dom Thomas
“Hearing your voice and your instrument kind of breathe in the room, it affects the way you perform the songs. For instance, if you have that reverb, you can give the songs a little more space. You can play them a little slower or you can play less of the guitar part and just let it open up, which I really love. It's so nice to play a listening room, because the audience feels a certain way too.” IfsWayGivingFeelsKindLittlesPlayCertainSongVoiceSpaceRoomsAudienceNiceListeningInstrumentsGuitarHearingBreatheInstanceHearing Your Voice Author:Denison Witmer
“Listening closely to songs these days, there's a lot of lazy songwriting where people get away with it. I don't want to be too critical about it. But I also feel like I wanted to say something a bit different from just being a musician and singing about yourself. Ultimately, that's not really interesting to me. Even when I was a kid, I was interested in observing people and maybe making my own stories. That kind of reflects in my music.” PeopleKindDifferentKidsSongInterestingListeningMusicianSingingLazyGet AwaySongwritingAbout YourselfObservingReally Interesting Author:Steve Gunn
“I enjoy incorporating different elements of music that I enjoy listening into my songs. I want to give what feels good to me while never compromising my message, which is Jesus is my Lord and Savior.” GivingDifferentSongJesusEnjoyLordListeningFeel GoodCompromiseSaviorIncorporating Author:Kierra Kiki Sheard
“I always go into listening to a new record by Gord Downie solo or The Tragically Hip and think, "Well, I know what this is going to be, lyrically." Every song starts and then I think, "Oh, I have no idea where that comes from." He has this entirely original voice, both literal and metaphorical.” ThinkingSongListeningMetaphorical Author:John K. Samson
“I kept saying I got sick of listening to people's productions, like people who had no ideas, no songs, nothing to say but could still con people's ears into thinking those songs were there by the application of production. I kind of wanted my record a little more honest than that: "Well, this is us. We put a microphone on it. Here it is."” PeopleThinkingKindSongHonestListeningSickApplication Author:Jason Pierce