“Popular music is like a big party, and it’s a thrill sneaking in rather than being invited. Every once in a while, a guy with his shirt on inside out, wearing lipstick and a pillbox hat gets a chance to speak.” BigsGuySpeakChancePartyMusic IsShirtsHatsThrillInvitedLipstickPopular Music Author:Tom Waits
“The history of popular music is littered with great partnerships. Rodgers had his Hammerstein, Lennon had his McCartney, and Lloyd Webber had... his photocopier.” Music IsPartnershipLennonPopular Music Author:Humphrey Lyttelton
“It just sort of happened. I wrote like what I'd always read and what was in the movies... I'm sure popular music is supposed to be like this.” HappenedMusic IsSupposed To BePopular Music Author:Warren Zevon
“Popular music is all about traveling at the speed of you and elevating the individual as the highest thing in the world.” WorldIndividualHighestMusic IsSpeedPopular MusicElevating Author:Conor Oberst
“The good and bad are all tangled up together. American popular music is loved around the world because of its African rhythm. But that wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for slavery.” IfsWorldTogetherHappenedMusic IsSlaveryRhythmAround The WorldGood And BadTangledPopular Music Author:Pete Seeger
“Popular music is popular because a lot of people like it.” PeopleMusic IsPopular Music Author:Irving Berlin
“Never sound pompous. You always sound noble, noble. Absolute character of music is nobility. Even popular music can be noble, you see. If it's not noble, then it's not very good... Music is an art of emotion, of nobility, of dignity, of greatness, of love, of tenderness. All that must be brought out in music but never a show of pompousness.” IfsArtCharacterShowsSoundEmotionGreatnessMusic IsDignityAbsolutesVery GoodNobleTendernessNobilityPompousPopular Music Author:Arthur Rubinstein
“The problem of expressing the contributions that Benny Carter has made to popular music is so tremendous it completely fazes me, so extraordinary a musician is he.” MadeProblemMusicianMusic IsExtraordinaryContributionCarterPopular Music Author:Duke Ellington
“....the popular music of Jamaica, the music of the people, is an essentially experiential music, not merely in the sense that the people experience the music, but also in the sense that the music is true to the historical experience, that the music reflects the historical experience. It is the spiritual expression of the historical experience of the Afro-Jamaican.” PeopleSpiritualExpressionMusic IsHistoricalJamaicaPopular MusicAfrosJamaicansJamaican Music Author:Linton Kwesi Johnson
“We are living in a time when American popular music is finally being recognized as one of our most successful exports. The demand is huge.” SuccessfulHugeDemandMusic IsPopular Music Author:Billy Joel
“Music documentaries are hard to tell, but I think they're an amazing vehicle to look at racism, our attitude to sex, the way we judge drugs. There's the ability to get a big audience because of these incredible, iconic, charismatic people. You can look at a number of issues - the challenge is to make sure you choose something that has all those issues. Popular music is like a mirror of culture, of who we are.” PeopleThinkingCultureChallengesAbilityAttitudeAudienceJudgingDrugMusic IsRacismIncrediblesYou ChooseVehicleIconicCharismaticPopular Music Author:Nick Broomfield
“Music is so clearly a commodity now. At one point, maybe 20 years ago, there were still some rumblings about keeping the really sacred American popular music out of the hands of corporate advertisers. And those walls have come down, but now I think the logical reaction to that is that you just start making your own music.” ThinkingWallMusic IsLogicalCommodityPopular Music Author:Eef Barzelay
“Popular music of the last 50 years has failed to keep in step with advances in musical theater, namely Stephen Sondheim. But the two have grown apart so that popular music is based more than ever on a rhythmic grid that is irrelevant in musical theater. In popular music, words matter less and less. Especially now that it's so international, the fewer words the better. While theater music becomes more and more confined to a few blocks in midtown.” Music IsMusicalBlockIrrelevantPopular MusicMusical Theater Author:Stephin Merritt