“My attitude towards my time as a musician, is that I really wanted to completely reinvent myself and not be one of these people who, twenty, thirty years later, is trying to recreate something that happened. I'm glad that Neil Young still makes records, but I don't know that everybody needs to be frozen in time forever. I think it's good that pop music is ephemeral.” PeopleThinkingKnowsNeedsTryingYearsStillsWantedYoungAttitudeForeverRecordsHappenedMusicianMusic IsTwentiesPopsGladThirtyMy TimeFrozenPop MusicThirty YearsMy AttitudeEphemeralFrozen In Time Author:Kurt Ralske
“I think for me, the only depressing music is music that doesn't give credence to those kinds of feelings, music that's just written for money or commercial reasons. Sad music can be the most uplifting thing in the world.” ThinkingWorldGivingKindReasonFeelingsWrittenMusic IsUpliftingDepressingCredenceSad Music Author:Conor O'Brien
“I wanna get into modeling a little bit, even acting. Just expanding myself as an artist because the music thing ain't forever, and I don't think that's all God got in store for me. He wants me to try new things. Hopefully this music is just an avenue for getting to those things.” ThinkingWantTryingLittlesArtistBitsActingForeverLittle BitMusic IsStoresHopefullyWant MeNew ThingsExpandingModelingAvenuesHe Wants Me Author:Kevin McCall
“Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, and many other great jazz musicians objected to their music being called jazz. While the outside world may want to put a label on it, those who create it think of it just as music, and tend not to classify it.” ThinkingWorldArtMusicianMusic IsJazzJazz MusicJazz Musician Author:Dave Brubeck
“I think the church should strive to give parishioners good music. Music is as necessary for worship as a building with a beautiful altar, artwork, and stained-glass windows. Together they create an environment conducive to worship and contemplation. We are not in church for entertainment, but to worship.” ThinkingGivingTogetherBeautifulChurchEnvironmentBuildingWorshipMusic IsWindowStriveContemplation Author:Dave Brubeck
“The thing about physicists is that they tend to think that everything is physics. I don't. That's not what music is to me. You can explain aspects of it in physical terms, including the physics of anatomy: how our bodies move, the torsional moment of inertia, the way you move your body to a beat, the inherent periodicities of the heartbeat, the gait. That's physics, too, I guess - maybe they'd call it biophysics.” ThinkingHeartMomentsMovingTermMusic IsPhysicsPhysicistHeartbeatAnatomyInertia Author:Vijay Iyer
“We think of music as this substance that flows - you turn on the tap, and there it is, streaming off your computer - but that's not how we evolved as a species. We evolved to listen to each other, and the reason we're able to listen to music in the terms is talking about is because we're really good at listening to each other. But this kind of technology has allowed us to forget that music is the sound of each other.” ThinkingKindReasonTermForgetTechnologyListeningComputerMusic IsListening To MusicStreaming Author:Vijay Iyer
“Medicine is often conservative and slow to incorporate something that wasn't there before and that we're afraid people are going to laugh at us for. But, the beauty of music is - well, a couple things. There are no side effects that are harmful. Music doesn't do that. It doesn't have any negative effects whatsoever. So I do think it's going to come, but I think it's a new idea for people.” PeopleThinkingLaughingCoupleMusic IsNegativeConservative Author:Neal Barnard
“Music is a universal language. You don't have to worry about what is being conveyed. You don't have to try to figure out what could be lost in translation. It goes directly to the pit of your soul. I think that's what music was intended to do.” ThinkingTryingSoulLanguageWorryMusic IsYour SoulTranslations Author:Avery Sunshine
“I think that music is still a mystery to most people. It kind of goes through most people without a specific thought. They feel the music, which is what's supposed to happen. They're not supposed to be curious about who wrote the music; they're supposed to feel what the show is trying to get them to feel. So if I help get that feeling across, that's good enough for me.” PeopleThinkingTryingKindEnoughHelpingFeelingsMysteryMusic IsCuriousGood Enough Author:Gabriel Mann
“You don't need any specialized education and you don't need to know anything about the world in which I work. I think my music should be able to speak to you even if you've never been to a concert of classical music before.” ThinkingWorldSpeakMusic IsClassical Music Author:Jennifer Higdon
“I know that my music is heard a lot in commercial circles. In academia, I think my music is taken in differently but I'm not sure why that is. Some kind of sixth sense tells me that people in that world are thinking differently about it. I don't know if it has to do with the structure of my music, which is probably more apparent to those in the academic world than it is in the commercial world, where people tend not to think of that aspect of music so much. They just listen for pure enjoyment.” PeopleThinkingWorldKindTakenMusic IsNot SureEnjoymentAcademicJust ListenSixth Sense Author:Jennifer Higdon
“It'd be negligent to say that I don't want to be at the top of the charts. Of course I do, it's proof that your song is being heard. But I think it's more about the work for me and being proud of what I'm doing in music than what people think about my music. I want to like my music before you like it. I don't want to sell anything that I don't really like. I don't want to sell myself short just to get to the top of the charts. It doesn't feel that great. Feeling proud of your work feels greater than being at the top of the charts.” PeopleThinkingFeelingsSongProudMusic IsBe ProudYou Like ItProud Of You Author:Brandy Norwood
“I think that the revolution in music is over, and what's left is a mop-up action. It's a matter of the news getting out to everybody else. I think that the important changes have already happened, changes in consciousness. It's mostly a matter of everything else catching up to that. Everything is traditionally slow - much faster than it ever has been on earth but still far, far too slow.” ThinkingImportantActionEarthConsciousnessRevolutionMusic Is Author:Jerry Garcia
“You listen to a politician making a speech, and it is like hearing nothing. Whereas, music is unmistakably music. The thing about music is that nobody listens to it unless it's real. I don't think that you can fool anybody for too long in music. And you certainly can't fool everybody.” ThinkingLongRealFoolPoliticianMusic Is Author:Jerry Garcia
“Music goes way back before language does. And music is like the key to a whole spiritual existence which this society doesn't even talk about. We know it's there. The Grateful Dead plays at religious services essentially. We play at the religious services of the new age. Everybody gets high, and that's what it's all about really. Getting high is a lot more real than listening to a politician. You can think that getting high actually did happen - that you danced, and got sweaty, and carried on. It really did happen. I know when it happens. I know it when it happens every time.” ThinkingRealAgeSpiritualLanguageReligiousExistenceListeningPoliticianMusic IsGratefulNew AgeGetting High Author:Jerry Garcia
“I'm not one for sitting around listening to my own music, because I tend to cringe and think that I could have done better. I also suffer from red light syndrome quite a lot. I tend to narrow my thinking when the red light goes on to record. Instead of just relaxing and playing and emoting, I think of time being wasted so I won't take a chance on something. Consequently, when I hear it back, I think, "Why the hell did I play it so safe on that piece of music when I could have really opened up?" Well, it's because of not wanting to make a mistake.” ThinkingDoneSufferingChanceMistakeHellListeningMusic IsTake A Chance Author:Ritchie Blackmore
“Regarding gay and music, I don't actually think my music is particularly gay at all, because my music doesn't have sex with men. My music does not have a gender, I don't see it as being gay.” ThinkingMenGayMusic IsGenderBeing Gay Author:Owen Pallett
“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
“I think that if you listen to the same exact genre of music that you play, it is so easy to be influenced by it. There will be times where we are writing a song, and then realize that it songs like something we just heard on the radio. There was a while when we were writing, that I didn't listen to music because I didn't want to be influenced.” ThinkingWritingSongEasyRealizingMusic IsListening To Music Author:Taylor Jardine
“I think for us, we don't feel like the future of music is in the act of being a record company. We feel like the future of the music business is in empowering artists to have better and better tools to communicate with their fans. We want to be people who are saying to artists, "Look, you don't need that company over there to release your album. You can do it this way." Almost more of a band partnership than a label-artist relationship. Not about ownership of content, but about empowerment.” PeopleThinkingArtistMusic IsEmpowermentCommunicateEmpoweringPartnershipOwnershipYou Can Do ItMusic Business Author:Zac Hanson
“I think my music is a reflection of what I think life is. Which is beautiful and sad, you know. I'm a bit of a sad-sack, in a way. I try not to be a mope. But life is hard, you know, and life is weird. Not to get too depressing. But it's also beautiful and gorgeous, and I'm glad I'm here.” ThinkingTryingBeautifulMusic IsReflectionGladDepressingGorgeousLife Is Hard Author:Gary Louris
“I don't make music to make money. I make music because that's what I like to do. You would think, "Yeah, of course, that's what an artist does," but there ain't too many artists around anymore. I see a lot of people who, if they thought they wouldn't profit, would find an easier hustle. It's a racket now, like everything else, but we're in a capitalistic country - everything's a racket. Take what you can. I think the difference between that line of thinking and me is obvious.” PeopleThinkingCountryArtistMusic IsObviousMaking MoneyHustle Author:Del tha Funkee Homosapien
“Being from a classical environment, I've always been provoked by classical musicians thinking that classical music is so much greater art than pop. I've always been annoyed by that.” ThinkingArtEnvironmentMusicianMusic IsClassical MusicAnnoyed Author:Matias Tellez
“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
“I am not really thinking, I am just, working with the music. And people have asked me, why don't you say more, or why do you not have singers, or why don't you sing? I think it's because, if I would have words for what I am doing, I I could write. But I really don't. It's a whole different thing. And I think it's one of the beauty of instrumental music is that it can be background. It can be what people call "easy listening." But it's really one of those things where it's as much as you are willing to give it.” PeopleThinkingGivingWritingDifferentEasyListeningMusic Is Author:Ottmar Liebert
“What we're doing now, is to try to eradicate the limited notion of how people are interacting with each other through hyper-racialized ideas. A lot of it deal with, as an example, genre. If I ask you to visualize a trap musician or a hip-hop musician, you'll see one thing. If I say visualize a western classical musician, you'll see a very different thing. A lot of how music is disseminated to us is hyper-racialized. It's not something that we think about all the time, but if you take a minute to look back, it's why you get this argument when there's a white rapper.” PeopleThinkingTryingDifferentMusicianMusic IsArgumentWesternRapperClassical MusicRap Music Author:Christian Scott
“The fun part, I will admit this much, there is a period when listening to my music is fun, and that's when I'm making it. There's a tiny little window before something gets old, but after it's come to fruition. There's a little window there where I can listen to a song probably about five times, and I'll really think it's awesome. That's kind of the period that lets me know when I - 99 percent of the time, that period is right about whether a song is going to be a keeper for an album or just a throwaway track that never gets - in that little window.” ThinkingKindSongFunListeningMusic IsWindowLet MeTrack Author:RJD2
“I find that the quest to be perfect and make perfect music is like a black whole. I realize that you can come with the intention to capture a vibe and use a formula, but you have to accept that most of the time its not going to be what you envisioned and you might manifest something better. I think that's been the hardest thing to wrap my head around that most ideas we go for ends up sounding different. I think art in general should be about enjoying the process and the experience. All that matters is if you feel the music and it captures the element your going for.” ThinkingArtDifferentEnjoyBlackRealizingPerfectAcceptingMusic IsIntentionManifest Author:Jillian Hervey
“I think there are basically two kinds of musicians: some are extroverted and some are introverted. I think extroverted musicians are more in the entertainer kind of camp, which is just as valid, but you're going to be more apt to make music that is of the moment - whereas if you're coming from a more introverted place, the music is going to end up being more about the past or more personal. It's not going to be about the people in the room, per se.” PeopleThinkingKindMomentsPastMusicianMusic IsIntroverted Author:Memory Tapes
“It's hard to start and think about having balance. Music is a tough industry, and you have to work your way to that luxury.” ThinkingBalanceMusic IsTough Author:Yukimi Nagano
“I thought Everything Ecstatic was the happiest of them all - hence the "ecstatic" name. The whole concept behind that was total out-and-out euphoric mania. I think tracks like "Smile Around The Face" are the jolliest things I've ever done, really. But one of the things I like about my music is the fact that it's instrumental, so there are no lyrics to guide people.” PeopleThinkingDoneMusic IsTrackEcstaticManiaEuphoric Author:Kieran Hebden
“You put music in categories because you need to define a sound, but when you don't play it on your so-called radio stations that claim to be R&B or jazz or whatever... All music is dance music. But when people think of dance music, they think of techno or just house. Anything you can dance to is dance music. I don't care if it's classical, funk, salsa, reggae, calypso; it's all dance music.” PeopleThinkingCareHouseMusic IsJazzReggaeFunk Author:Afrika Bambaataa
“I don't think music is my job - I don't think about it that way, because I don't really get paid. There's not paycheck at the end; it's more of a "whatever is left over" kind of situation. Also, it keeps me from thinking about my creativity as a business, which it is not. It should remain pure; that's one of the reasons I made music in the first place.” ThinkingKindReasonSituationCreativityMusic Is Author:Cass McCombs
“Cornelius Cardew very famous in Britain, because he was the darling of the avant-garde, and he played in a band called AMM, which was an improvising band in the '60s. Paul McCartney used to come watch them. Later on in life, he became disenchanted with avant-garde music, because he felt it couldn't reach the public. It didn't have a wide enough appeal. So he'd take these tunes of old English folk songs and write Stalinist lyrics over the top of them. I do think that when he changed to folk songs, he actually lost the tiny audience he already had, which is quite interesting.” ThinkingWritingEnoughSongInterestingAudienceChangedMusic IsVery Famous Author:Alasdair MacLean
“I think whatever we've done as a band at The Clientele, we've done because it's so natural. Our "old" sound isn't really like any actual bands from old times. We take elements of past music styles and past sounds as a way to... this is going to sound very pretentious and perhaps overly thought-out, but as a way to strike chords of vague nostalgia, and strike chords of, "I've heard this before somewhere." That's what a lot of our music is about in terms of the words and ideas behind it, so we really use old sounds as a way to serve that agenda.” ThinkingDonePastTermNaturalStyleMusic IsNostalgiaPretentiousOld Time Author:Alasdair MacLean
“I don't like talking about myself; I like to let the music be the spokesperson for me. So doing a memoir and all that chronological 'and then this happened and then blah blah' doesn't appeal to me that much. I think there's more mystique in what you don't know about.” ThinkingMusic IsMemoir Author:Russell Mael
“I love music. I think music is a big inspiration; I listen to it a lot when I'm writing. I really love cinematic music. A lot of the time, I make playlists for my characters when I act. I also make playlists for the scripts that I write.” ThinkingWritingCharacterInspirationMusic IsI Love Music Author:Quinn Shephard
“I'm very concerned with the healing process of a song and music in general. I think that's why I make music - it heals me and I'm extremely sensitive to people who tell me that this or that song made them feel better or helped them go through a difficult time in their life. I think that music is almost medicine. I don't know if that's my philosophy, but that's my thought process.” PeopleThinkingPhilosophySongDifficultHealingMusic IsConcernedHealSensitiveFeel BetterMy ThoughtsDifficult Times Author:Olivia Merilahti
“I just remember music always being a part of my life. I was never like, "I'm gonna be a rock star," or "I'm gonna be in a band." It was more "I just play piano, and I'm always going to play piano. That's who I am and that's cool." I think music became so ingrained in me that it was not even my choice.” ThinkingRememberChoicesMusic IsRock Star Author:Patrick Watson
“I think it all comes back to the individual. My instrument's just a pile of metal and wood! If you listen to the way I speak I have a lot of rhythm, use a lot of accents. When I'm playing my instrument that concept comes through very clearly. In fact some people who've seen me play have noticed that I'm singing - but it's more that I'm actually speaking. So it's not really about the instrument. But for me, in my thinking, the music is all about the melody. When I compose, 99 percent of the time I start with the melody.” PeopleThinkingIndividualSpeakMusic IsSingingRhythmMelodyMetals Author:Stefon Harris
“The one good thing about a movie and music and stuff like that: Sometimes it's a counterpoint between the movie and the music itself, the difference and the tension they build together. I think that could be something that helped with me, because when I write songs now, I write lyrics a bit like that. I try to make the music be an interesting twist on the lyrics and help tell the story in a - I don't tell crazy stories, you know? So a lot of times, the twist is in the subtleties. The twist is in the way the story's told.” ThinkingWritingTryingSometimesHelpingTogetherSongInterestingCrazyMusic IsGood ThingsTensionSubtlety Author:Patrick Watson
“I think my music being referred to as "cinematic" has a lot to do with people just not being used to listening to instrumental music without watching a film. I'm still pretty convinced of that. You'll play Chopin in place of something average and like, "Wow, that'd be great in a film." People say it every time, swear to God. I don't think people have a good relationship with instruments and music anymore. But it's definitely visual; I started writing with this band because of the pictures. I can't really deny it either, you know?” PeopleThinkingWritingFilmListeningMusic IsSwearGood Relationship Author:Patrick Watson
“I think my philosophy on music is sort of like the difference between religion and spirituality or religion and faith. There's a lot of bullshit in the music industry. It's really tough to get a leg up and navigate around your gender and stereotypes. You feel hopeless, [but] all of that disappears the minute that I start writing a song. Then I record something and have that magical feeling. You have to have the negative and the positive. Trying to own that and go to that place in yourself creatively is the most important thing.” ThinkingWritingTryingImportantPhilosophyFeelingsSongSpiritualityMusic IsToughNegativeGenderDisappearHopelessBullshitStereotypeMusic Industry Author:Haley Bonar
“I understand that in people's eyes, classical music is kind of a lost and dying art, but in my eyes, it's like, "Oh, the musical language, which has been, in the past, only available to a scarce few at the top of the tower, is now wide open." Now people's ears are becoming more amenable to fake strings - I think this is great!” ThinkingKindArtEyePastLanguageDyingMusic IsMusicalFakeClassical Music Author:Owen Pallett
“I like to make people dream and think and imagine and learn and study. Nowadays, music is so literal - it's telling you, "This is how it is," and my music's the opposite. I come from an era where lyrics were full of imagery and metaphor, and that's all I know.” PeopleThinkingDreamStudyImagineMusic IsMetaphorImagery Author:Dawn Angelique
“I think the best way to listen to my music is through recording. I would love to be one of those artists where you can go into a coffee shop and watch people pass by and then my music is in their ears. Not necessarily a sensory deprivation thing, but that's cool too. Unfortunately in order to focus on nobody else, you would probably have to go into a dark room and just sit there and listen to it.” PeopleThinkingArtistDarkFocusMusic IsCoffeeCoffee Shop Author:Willis Earl Beal
“I think that live music is really pretentious - all of it. I hate festivals and live shows, because as soon as I get on stage, I start performing for people and it becomes about sex, banter, and skill. They're looking at me and not thinking about themselves. I'm thinking about how cool I look. It's just stupid - all live music is really stupid. I wouldn't encourage going to see anybody live, ever. Not even me.” PeopleThinkingHateStupidMusic IsI HatePerformingPretentiousReally Stupid Author:Willis Earl Beal
“I think music is better listened to with other people. Music is better shared. It depends what situation you're in - if it's a song by Tom Waits, it can be nice to be on your own, but if it's something slightly more upbeat, it's amazing to be around people.” PeopleThinkingSongWaitingSituationNiceMusic IsBeing NiceUpbeat Author:Tom Odell
“I believe that the greatest music is storytelling anyway, in a heightened medium. So I write a lot of music, and I play a lot with my guitar, I still sing a lot, but now I'm more personal about it than public, in a way. I think there will be a time where I'd like to bring the singing back into some of my performances. It all depends if the material's right, if the story's right, if it's my kind of taste in music, as well. It means so much to me. We all know how affective music can be, I just want to make sure when I do it, I'm doing it because I actually feel it and I care about it.” ThinkingWritingBelieveKindMeanCareI BelieveMusic IsSingingStorytellingI Care Author:Aneurin Barnard