“Artist - musicians, painters, writers, poets, always seem to have had the most accurate perception of what is really going on around them, not the official version or the popular perception of contemporary life.” SeemsArtistSeaPoetPerceptionMusicianContemporaryVersionsPainterOfficialsAccurateContemporary Life Author:Billy Joel
“I think every musician is different, every artist is different, and in a perfect world people would be able to pursue their own path and have the inspiration and the drive to, and the energy and dedication to take their path to its fruition. I don't really believe in formulas.” PeopleThinkingWorldBelieveDifferentInspirationWould BeAbleArtistEnergyPerfectPathMusicianPursueFormulasDedicationA Perfect WorldFruition Author:Emily Haines
“I'm in a position I never imagined I'd be in as a musician. Bob Dylan built an audience through recording and live shows. The opportunities for an artist today are totally different.” DifferentShowsTodayArtistOpportunityAudiencePositionMusicianBuiltBobDylan Author:Ben Sollee
“So, I mean, there's still vast swaths of the city that are suffering from a lack of jobs and poor housing and poor public schools, but they are building momentum - you know, techies, foodies, artists, musicians, all coming to Detroit. So there is this vibrancy. You see it in the newspapers every day - some story about the new Detroit.” KnowsMeanStillsStoriesSchoolJobsArtistSufferingPoorCitiesBuildingMusicianNewspapersHousingPublic SchoolMomentumDetroitVibrancyTechie Author:David Maraniss
“A lot of my friends are musicians or artists, and their talent always pushes me to think creatively.” ThinkingArtistTalentMusicianMy Friends Author:Erin Willett
“I've got this thing where I always kind of diss the older stuff and favor the newer stuff. I mean, it's not just my thing; every artist or musician is like that, I guess.” KindMeanArtistStuffMusicianFavors Author:Bradford Cox
“Audiences tend to dig the earlier stuff by any given musician, and the artists themselves always tend to prefer the thing that they're doing now.” ArtistGivenStuffAudienceMusician Author:Bradford Cox
“Musicians and artists are not... it's not like politicians or something where you can't really affect them. There's not like this separate caste system where it's like, "I'm the musician, you're the audience. Never the two shall meet." It was a case where it was like, "Hey, you know what? I'm on your level, man."” KnowsMenTwoArtistLevelsCasesAudiencePoliticianMusicianHeyCastesHey YouCaste System Author:Bradford Cox
“More people than ever are spending money to support more artists and musicians and give them more leisure time to build cereal balls...and the art world is eating those balls up!” PeopleWorldGivingArtArtistSupportEatingMusicianBallsSpendingLeisureArt WorldCerealSpending MoneyLeisure Time Author:Brian Chippendale
“A lot of young artists and musicians that we work with, you think they're gonna want to come in and buy the rock star-looking leather jacket - whatever it is that you think they're gonna want. They all want a suit. They want a tuxedo jacket, they want a suit. They don't want to look like their dad in it, but they want a suit.” ThinkingWantLooksYoungArtistStarsRocksDadMusicianSuitsRock StarJacketsLeatherYoung ArtistsLeather JacketsTuxedos Author:Paul Weller
“I think a lot of actors, comedians, musicians, artists are drawn to this world, because you're allowed to excavate whatever it is that you're struggling with, and hopefully turn it into art.” ThinkingWorldArtArtistTurnsActorsStruggleThis WorldMusicianHopefullyComedian Author:Sandra Bullock
“If you truly have expertise - and expertise can be say a chess master who has really mastered something or an artist or a musician of some sort you know if you give a jazz musician.” IfsKnowsGivingArtistMastersMusicianJazzChessJazz MusicExpertiseJazz Musician Author:Sheena Iyengar
“I was at a time of my life of making choices, I suppose: am I a writer, am I a visual artist? And when I was a teenager. I thought I would be a film-maker. Am I a musician? If so, what kind of musician am I?” IfsKindWould BeFilmArtistChoicesMusicianTeenagerVisualsMakersVisual ArtMaking ChoicesTime Of My LifeVisual Artist Author:David Toop
“I think that artists and musicians can do as much harm as good for causes if they tie their names to lots of things, especially if they aren't really doing much to meaningfully push their causes forward.” IfsThinkingArtistNamesCausesCan DoMusicianHarmTies Author:Damian Kulash
“We wouldn't be artists, writers, painters, musicians, if we weren't sensitive.” IfsArtistMusicianPainterSensitive Author:Wayne Coyne
“Some people don't listen to my music because they say that I am an artist. And some don't want to go to my gallery shows, because they say I am a musician.” PeopleWantShowsArtistMusicianMusic IsGallery Author:Yoko Ono
“I'm going to be a better actor, or I'm going to try to be a better actor. I'm going to try to be a better musician. I'm going to be an artist instead of just this one thing.” TryingArtistActorsOne ThingMusician Author:Lola Kirke
“I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and am a product of a family that were jazz aficionados and also very interested in progressive politics. And so I had a lot of artists and musicians in my home. Lots of Latin music, folk, and jazz and blues, bluegrass-type of stuff. Painters and stuff like that.” HomeArtistStuffBornProductsTypeMusicianJazzFolksPainterLatinProgressivePhiladelphiaPennsylvaniaBluegrassJazz And BluesLatin Music Author:Jack Waters
“I had the opportunity, as a child, to grow up in a community center where I was exposed to theater, music, art, and computer science; things that I would have never had the opportunity to even meet had it not been for those people taking time out of their schedules, helping us as children to travel all over the world while sitting in a gymnasium. That's what I did before I was a musician, before I was a recording artist, I was a teacher and a community leader.” PeopleWorldChildrenArtHelpingArtistOpportunityGrowsCommunityLeaderGrowing UpTeacherComputerMusicianSittingTheaterExposedTake TimeSchedulesComputer ScienceGymnasiumsCommunity Centers Author:Erykah Badu
“I promised to finish school, so I'll figure it out I guess. Besides, I'm on a special school for musicians and artists, so I'm not the only one with this life style.” SchoolArtistSpecialStyleFiguresMusicianThis LifeLife Style Author:Martin Garrix
“You might have asked [about skill] of an artist or a musician or whatever... but with me it just happens.” MightHappensArtistSkillsMusician Author:Bernie Ecclestone
“For artists like me, I think the times that just say the 80's alone, you didn't have to worry about getting twenty-five thousand Facebook followers. You didn't have to worry about every club, every venue you play, where the venues say well you know can you put up this video, put up that Facebook, put up... Nowadays it's really like you just can't be a musician alone.” ThinkingKnowsWellsPlayArtistWorryFiveLike YouThousandMusicianTwentiesClubsVideoLike MeFollowersTwenty FiveVenuesReally Like You Author:Joe Louis Walker
“I was a guitar player on the streets of Asbury Park and already a member in good standing amongst those who lie in service of the truth - artists with a small A. But I held four clean aces. I had youth, almost a decade of hardcore bar band experience, a good group of homegrown musicians who were attuned to my performance style, and a story to tell.” StoriesLyingArtistFourPlayerGroupsStreetsStyleYouthBandMembersMusicianStandingPerformancesCleanGuitarDecadesBarsParksGuitar PlayerHardcoreAcesHomegrownThose Who Lie Author:Bruce Springsteen
“Patti [ Scialfa] was an artist and a musician and she was a songwriter. And she was a lot like me in that she was transient also. She worked busking on the streets in New York. She waitressed. She had - she just lived a life - she lived a musician's life. She lived an artist's life. So we were both people who were very uncomfortable in a domestic setting, getting together and trying to build one and seeing if our particularly strange jigsaw puzzle pieces were going to fit together in a way that was going to create something different for the two of us. And it did.” PeopleIfsWayTryingTwoDifferentTogetherArtistPiecesSeeingStreetsNew YorkStrangeFitMusicianSettingLike MeSettingsUncomfortableSongwritersPuzzlesTransientJust LiveTwo Of UsJigsawJigsaw PuzzlesPuzzle PieceBusking Author:Bruce Springsteen
“Doin' music, musicians and artists, we have the advantage of doin' something that is our passion. At the same time it's fun, and it's like a dream to other people, and live off it, feed yourself off of it. 'Cause it's hard, you know what I"m sayin'? You really gotta grind and you really gotta love and enjoy what you do, if you're gonna make it. 'Cause if you don't believe in yourself, if you don't got people believin' in you, people aren't gonna buy it.” PeopleIfsKnowsBelieveHardDreamArtistPassionFunCausesEnjoyMusicianAdvantageDon't BelieveBelieve In YourselfBelieve In YouGrind Author:Tyga
“As an artist, I never wanted to be fettered by gender nor recognized or defined as a female poet, musician or singer. They don't do that with men - nobody says Picasso, the male artist. Curators call me up and say, "We want your work to be in a show about women artists," and I'm like, why? For Christ's sake, do we have to attach a gender onto everything?” MenWantShowsWantedArtistChristPoetMusicianFemaleMalesSakeGenderSingersDefinedCall MeCuratorWoman Artist Author:Patti Smith
“I'm inspired by artists and musicians. There are so many wonderful and talented people in the world. I love discovering new music, new writers, or new art.” PeopleWorldArtArtistInspiringWonderfulMusicianInspiredDiscoveringNew MusicTalented Musicians Author:Alicia Keys
“There's something I have about being Canadian - there's a distance it gives you when you live in the States and operate in American culture. You approach familiar things a different way; you come at it from a different angle. It's a trait that runs through a lot Canadian artists' work and actors' work and musicians' - that kind of special remove.” WayGivingKindDifferentStatesRunningArtistCultureActorsSpecialApproachMusicianDistanceFamiliarDifferent WaysRemoveTraitsAngleAmerican CultureDifferent AnglesFamiliar Things Author:Michael J. Fox
“I feel very strongly that if you got rid of all of the autistic genetics you're not going to have any scientists. There'd be no computer people. You'd lose a lot of artists and musicians. There'd be a horrible price to pay.” PeopleIfsFeelsArtistLosesPayComputerMusicianScientistHorribleVery StrongGeneticsAutistic Author:Temple Grandin
“The idea that musicians/artists have a responsibility to be community leaders or "role models" is problematic to me because I really believe that some of the most exciting art is not community-minded at least in any obvious or direct way, which is not to say that it is not ethical or consciousness-changing.” BelieveArtArtistCommunityResponsibilityLeaderMusicianArt IsDirectExcitingObviousEthicalRole Models Author:Kathleen Hanna
“I feel like there are moments where musicians may be more interested - or culture in general - to show roots and where one comes from. And later there comes a time where that has lesser importance for artists, and instead they become more interested in affiliating themselves with global or international trends. Fortunately, we were in the right place at the right time, and that allowed us to experiment, play and enjoy.” MomentsArtistCultureEnjoyMusicianImportanceRight TimeThere Comes A Time Author:Ruben Isaac Albarran Ortega
“I identify first and foremost as a fine artist. Even the way that I put words together; this could be called painterly and the combinations don't always make sense. I think there are a lot of people who are fine artists and musicians also. I think it's a common thread, the way the brain words.” PeopleThinkingTogetherArtistCommonBrainMusicianMake SenseFine Arts Author:Marissa Nadler
“For instance, members of the elite will never allow their children to become musicians normally, because it's - not embarrassing - but it's not done. There's a very famous composer from the '70s from a well-known family that disowned him, and he's a man, so there's this historical precedence with their relationships with musicians - not so much music as it's this abstract thing - but externally with artists.” MenChildrenDoneArtistMusicianHistoricalAbstractComposerEmbarrassingVery Famous Author:Ayshay
“We've been fortunate enough to have a lot of people to ask us to be on their records - so many artists and musicians that we really respect and look up to. And it's been really special. But from our side, there's so much that we in the Little Dragon are still learning about ourselves writing-wise that I guess we haven't had that need.” PeopleEnoughArtistSpecialMusicianLook Up Author:Yukimi Nagano
“If you're just starting off as an artist, steal as much inspiration from everything you like, as much as you can. Take from books, from poets, from musicians. Just steal stuff from all over the place and then mix it up to make something of your own.” BookInspirationArtistPoetMusicianStealing Author:Yukimi Nagano
“I went to Havana, and I was like, "Wow, there's culture everywhere!" That was one thing that I did notice when I went to Cuba was that artists are paid to be artists, and poets are paid to be poets, and musicians are paid to be musicians by the government. The government - and I'm not saying that the Cuban government's perfect - but the government does place a value on culture.” ArtistValuesCulturePerfectPoetMusicianCuban Author:Aaron McGruder
“I think if you think of our lives as musicians, it's craftsmanship. We're not artists, we're more artisans. You know, I don't think we view ourselves as musical geniuses who can just make some sort of wonderfully beautiful record out of nothing. It's something that we work at. And if we keep working, hopefully we'll keep improving.” ThinkingBeautifulArtistGeniusMusicianMusicalHopefullyCraftsmanship Author:David Prowse
“As far as trying to make it terms of social hierarchy or status and all that in art and music - I've always felt that that stuff was bullshit. It's got very little to do with reality, and reality is where things live. You look at a painting and think, "Oh, it's beautiful. It inspires me," whatever. But it's never going to inspire you like reality. A lot of these artists and musicians who prioritize skill over experience, they sit around masturbating themselves over knowledge and intellect rather than just going to a place.” ThinkingTryingArtRealityBeautifulArtistTermInspirePaintingMusicianIntellectBullshitPrioritize Author:Willis Earl Beal
“I haven't figured out how to do anything yet besides recording music - I don't even entirely know how to do that. My favorite phrase is "It takes a lot of imagination to have no talent." So it's a struggle because I struggle between thinking about whether or not I'm actually a musician, am I actually an artist. Does it matter what I'm doing? Should I just go and jump off a bridge? Thinking about the social hierarchy and the fact that I'm American, and how I don't identify with being American, nor do I identify with any nationality or my race.” ThinkingArtistImaginationStruggleTalentMusicianMy Favorite Author:Willis Earl Beal
“I always want to be doing both to travel as a teacher and lecturer, and to be a musician. I think in this generation institutionalizing the art form and spreading it to the younger generation through education is really important for all artists to have some hand in. Right now in popular culture and the mainstream, it's not a big part at all. I think education by young artists talking to young people, not just older people talking to young people, it gives an experience never felt before. I think over the years it will do a lot for the music.” PeopleThinkingGivingArtImportantArtistCultureTeacherMusicianPopular CultureYounger GenerationPeople Talking Author:Jonathan Batiste
“I like that I stand for something like American Idol which helps musicians and artists get out there. It's important to have shows like Idol because it's so hard to get into the music industry nowadays - nearly impossible.” ImportantHelpingArtistImpossibleMusicianMusic Industry Author:Lee DeWyze
“You should form your own opinions, and I think that's why social media is good because it's an alternative source of information that can help you form your opinion, that might not be your parents, and might not be what the media is trying to force down your throat. So that's why it's important for artists and musicians to speak up, because for those people who have an inkling that their parents' views aren't right or that their parents don't have any views or whatever, that's an alternative source of information that can help them form their own opinion.” PeopleThinkingTryingImportantHelpingArtistSpeakParentOpinionMusicianSocial Media Author:Ellie Rowsell
“I think I'm better at producing than I am at being a songwriter, but it doesn't change the fact that I still have a desire to play and write songs. I've never wanted to be a career musician. But I still love to play and write. It's a big part of who I am. Songwriting is not particularly easy for me. I think it would be easy for me if I didn't have such high restrictions and feelings about what I want my music to be. I'm not precious at all when it comes to producing music and I can bring that to an artist and let them expand their horizons.” ThinkingWritingFeelingsDesireArtistSongEasyMusicianSongwriting Author:John Congleton
“I did not go to art school thinking that I was an artist; I went there mainly doing stage sets for bands. I considered my work more as an applied art for musicians, not as art in and for itself.” ThinkingArtSchoolArtistMusician Author:Pipilotti Rist
“Look at the great athletes, musician, artists, and writers. They all tap into a source. Some call that source God or soul or spirit or consciousness. The Seven Faces of Intention: creativity, kindness, love, beauty, expansion, abundance, and receptivity. And all seven are expressions of what I imagine that source to look like. The very fact that we exist is proof to me that the nature of that source is creative at its core. And there isn't a person reading this who does not have a gnawing sense inside that there's something they're here to do, something creative.” SoulSpiritArtistReadingLove IsConsciousnessCreativityKindnessCreativeImagineMusicianIntentionSevenAthleteAbundanceImagine ThatGreat AthleteReceptivity Author:Wayne Dyer
“I'm aware of what I am, but I focus so much on myself as a musician and as an artist that I don't even notice that I'm the only female on a festival bill. I'm just like "oh I'm playing this festival."I haven't been very deeply involved in this greater outreach because my approach to equality is integration. I'm not into separatism, or an all-female festival. It's good and empowering but it doesn't allow for the bigger picture to get accomplished. We all need to be at the same festival - that's always been my approach.” ArtistFocusMusicianFemaleEmpoweringAccomplishedIntegrationVery DeepBigger PictureOutreach Author:Jennifer Lee
“Artists have been used over and over again since the early 1980s as the legitimizers of a neighborhood in New York. And entrepreneurial artists, meaning people who themselves start out as painters, musicians, dancers, and who open a café, a bar, a restaurant, or even a co-op art gallery - they unintentionally develop the kinds of attractions that bring the middle class with some kind of cultural ambition.” PeopleKindArtArtistAmbitionMusicianAttractionPainterDancerMiddle ClassNeighborhoodEntrepreneurial Author:Sharon Zukin
“I'm definitely a frustrated musician, though it's more in terms of wishing I was a better guitar player and songwriter. But I've never regretted becoming an actor instead. I think it's been a more pure form of self-expression for me. I luckily found something that I could aspire to be good at, whereas I never... I think I'd never quite reach that level of artist that I enjoy in the music world.” ThinkingWorldArtistWishEnjoyTermPlayerMusicianBe GoodFrustratedNever QuitGuitar PlayerNever Regret Author:Cillian Murphy
“I think most people who decide to become a musician have to be prepared for some degree of struggle. It makes the art better if you go through some struggles. To be an artist, in any form, you have to develop some sense of compassion and empathy - it's an important quality for everyone to have, on a human level. But I think, as part of our job, you have to be able to do that, so suffering, tends - if you allow it - to let you look on the bright side. It will help with those senses.” PeopleThinkingArtImportantHelpingArtistSufferingQualityCompassionStruggleMusicianEmpathyArt IsBe PreparedBright Side Author:Reeve Carney
“I put my name on that Occupy Musicians list because someone wrote to me and said, "Would you do this?" I said, "Yeah sure, I support this." What artist wouldn't support that? What's the big deal? But then people wrote to me, "Wow! You're on that list!" And I'm like, "Who isn't on that list?" That would be more shocking.” PeopleArtistSupportMusician Author:Ian MacKaye