“If you're a Brit you kinda get used to people being cold and aloof and just generally arrogant - particularly musicians. (Compared to Londoners New Yorkers are a walk in the park!)” PeopleIfsUsedWalksColdMusicianParksArrogantNew YorkersAloofBritsLondonersWalks In The Park Author:Thea Gilmore
“I have a food show.It's not just baseball people. It's a mixture of baseball people, actors, musicians, chefs and whatnot. They bring out different dishes, and at the end of the show, I give the one I like the most the "Fielder's choice." It's good TV.” PeopleGivingDifferentEndsShowsChoicesActorsTvsMusicianBaseballDishesChefMixtures Author:Prince Fielder
“I really wanted a guitar. As A little boy I used to tell people I was going to be a musician. They would humor me, and I'd make up thirty minute songs and drive them nuts.” PeopleLittlesWantedUsedSongBoysMinutesMusicianGuitarThirtyNutsLittle Boys Author:Steve Young
“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
“Many people, including myself, thought of Jobs as an inventor, an Edison-like figure, but he wasn't. I did a documentary on James Brown recently; and, oddly, I found a lot in common between Jobs and Brown. Jobs was also a fantastic performer, put on an extraordinary live show at his product launches, but he could also be ruthless, cruel and totally self-aggrandizing. And just as Brown surrounded himself with the very best musicians, Jobs understood the importance of hiring the absolutely most talented people and knew how crucial they were to the success of what he was trying to do.” PeopleTryingSelfShowsJobsFoundCommonFiguresProductsMusicianUnderstoodImportanceExtraordinaryIncludingFantasticBrownPerformersCrucialDocumentariesInventorRuthlessHiring Author:Alex Gibney
“When you get in the middle of a career and you're successful, people come and offer you things. My biggest fear was that if you try to do something else and you're trying to build your music career, and then you say, "I'm going to go do a movie," and you're terrible, you can really hurt your music career because as a musician, the goal is to be cool. You're playing the guitar and you're in front of all these people and your vibe is to be as cool as you can possibly be.” PeopleIfsTryingGoalHurtCareersSuccessfulMiddleFrontsTerribleOffersMusicianGuitarSuccessful PeopleBeing CoolBiggest FearMusic Career Author:Tim McGraw
“As for uniqueness, this is virtually nonexistent! And it's a shame that people think they're unique because they have a face ring, retro clothing, colorful hair, drive a certain kind of automobile or listen to some obscure musician.” PeopleThinkingKindFacesCertainHairMusicianUniqueShameRingsClothingsUniquenessObscureAutomobileColorfulRetro Author:Gary Yourofsky
“In order to function and pay our bills and our taxes and feed our families and stuff, musicians have to make a living. It's not about being a millionaire. It's about being able to survive. When there are people constantly stealing from you, it's quite frustrating. It's a matter of changing the public's option about doing it.” PeopleMatterAbleOrderStuffPayTaxesMusicianFunctionBillsStealingOur FamilyFrustratingMillionaire Author:Matt Snell
“In America, the poor have been invisibilised, because obviously this model of success that has been held out to the world must not show the poor, it must not show the condition of black people. It can only the successful ones, basketball players, musicians, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell. But I think the time will come when the Occupy movement will have to somehow formulate something more than just anger.” PeopleThinkingWorldHas BeensShowsAmericaBlackPoorSuccessfulPlayerConditionsMovementBasketballMusicianModelsBlack PeopleRiceBasketball PlayerOccupy Movement Author:Arundhati Roy
“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
“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
“I would argue that among musicians who work in technology today, the level of technological sophistication probably exceeds that of military programs, to be blunt. They are just really smart people attracted to making strange new sounds.” PeopleTodaySoundLevelsTechnologyMilitaryStrangeMusicianSmartProgramArguingTechnologicalExceedBluntSmart PeopleSophisticationReally Smart Author:Jaron Lanier
“A lot of musicians have said things to me like, "Music saved my life". And "I'm standing on the shoulders of dozens of people that you've never heard of that were like angels for me that came out of the woodwork." And that's really the case for me. I had so many people that did those kinds of things for me.” PeopleKindSaidCasesHeardMusicianAngelStandingSavedShouldersDozen Author:Jon Gordon
“I saw a nice interview with Dave Binney recently. He was saying, "Man it was never easy. It's not like 'Oh wow, the good old days.' What, when certain people couldn't vote?" There was more work for musicians in the '40s, '50s, '60s. But I don't think it was ever easy.” PeopleThinkingMenCertainEasySawsNiceMusicianVoteInterviewsWowOld DaysDaveGood Old Days Author:Jon Gordon
“Whether it's a designer or a musician, I think the most important thing for people who express things are to be unique. There should be something unique only to them.” PeopleThinkingShouldImportantMusicianUniqueImportant ThingsDesigner Author:Taeyang
“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
“If you're a musician, you create what you love and hope other people love it as well. Amongst musicians, the starting point is what they love, and then they bring people to them. As a comedian, you have to say something that people relate to, or nobody laughs. As an actor, you have to perform the character in the way that people relate to.” PeopleIfsWayWellsCharacterActorsLaughingMusicianStartingRelateComedianWhat You LoveStarting PointHope And Love Author:John Bishop
“After Hurricane Katrina, I wanted to go back to New Orleans to help musicians return to the city. But Andrew Young advised me, "If you want to help people, go work at an investment bank." His contrarian advice opened my eyes to the importance of capital. "Learn how to make some money before you give it away." I learned that you can bring about good in the world especially if you have a paycheck.” PeopleIfsWorldWantGivingHelpingEyeWantedYoungCitiesAdviceReturnMusicianImportanceInvestmentNew OrleansHurricanesAndrewPaychecksKatrinaHurricane KatrinaGood In The World Author:Kabir Sehgal
“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
“People equate job titles to levels of creativity. We think that musicians are creative while accountants are not. Job title has nothing to do with human creativity. In fact, we all have enormous creative potential. Even those that often state with authority that "I'm not creative." With a systematic approach to building creative capacity, we all have the opportunity to create and leave a mark on the world.” PeopleThinkingWorldOpportunityCreativityCreativeBuildingAuthorityMusician Author:Josh Linkner
“If a song is cooking in the studio, that's great, but if I can imagine doing it on stage, that's the next level to me. ... Some people love paintings, and some people love poetry, and of course I love all of that, but when a musician is so in control of her instrument, I'm in awe. That's when I start to kind of evaporate into the universe.” PeopleKindSongUniverseImaginePaintingMusicianCookingAweLove Poetry Author:Chrysta Bell
“People always say that music is a universal language. It was very, very true. We could show up anywhere with any people speaking different languages and we could just be like, "You want to play that song? Yeah, okay." We would usually want to play Latin American songs, and they would usually want to play Santana or Jimi Hendrix and stuff like that. So we would trade off. So yeah, we were able to make a lot of friends that way and meet a lot of local musicians. It was a great experience.” PeopleDifferentSongLanguageLike YouMusicianMusic IsOkayTradeLatinLatin AmericaHendrixVery True Author:Jherek Bischoff
“On tour things go wrong all the time, I mean that's live music, that's what it's all about. I think one of the things I'm learning is that when stuff goes wrong, really brilliant musicians have the ability to turn this into something interesting and unique. I think good people in any sphere of anything know how to deal with problems, how to take it in your stride. We are learning this by touring, by being put in these positions when we need to focus and deal with it.” PeopleThinkingMeanProblemAbilityInterestingFocusMusicianUniqueBrilliantGood PeopleSomething Interesting Author:Joey Badass
“England never felt claustrophobic for me at all. I think it would feel more difficult for me if I lived in mainland Europe. America I think is really easy because Los Angeles has film stars everywhere and musicians and Santa Barbara a lot of people have homes there even if they don't live there. You are kind of inconsequential, no one cares.” PeopleThinkingKindHomeCareFilmEasyDifficultMusicianLos AngelesInconsequentialNo One Cares Author:Martin Gore
“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
“A lot of people are really quick to say, "That song sounds like this." Or you - "He's tryin' to sound like this." And I'm always like, "You're damn right I am. That's how - that's why we're all here." You know, we all grew up idolizing another musician. That's how this works. That's how music is created.” PeopleSongLike YouMusicianMusic Is Author:Bruno Mars
“Email is a mind-killer. Like, I really think getting a smartphone is the worst move I ever did in being a musician because while we've just been talking my phone's vibrated like 15 times and I only get push notifications for like two apps, so either like a bunch of houses are going up for sale right now or someone's like, "Why aren't you emailing me back?" It's just hard to stay in the moment. I can understand why people go to retreats to write and stuff like that but I don't have the time.” PeopleThinkingWritingMomentsMovingHouseWorstMusician Author:Dan Deacon
“I often envy a filmmaker or a playwright or an author where people are like, "Yeah, I sat down every night and read your book and it was beautiful." Or, "Yeah, I went to the movies and all I did was watch the movie because that's all you could do at the movies." Where with music, it's like, "Ugh, I love your music. I listen to it while I'm jogging thinking about how I hate my body." But it is also the privilege of being a musician is you can have your music in this documented form and play it live and that's, I think, what draws me to it the most.” PeopleThinkingBookBeautifulNightHateLove YouMusicianI HateEnvyFilmmakerSatPlaywright Author:Dan Deacon
“I don't consider myself very principled. As a travelling musician, you have to adapt and adjust to different contexts every day. It is always difficult to connect preach and practice. For instance, I fly more in a year than I had hoped to do in my whole life. I eat what people serve me, not what I think is right. I tried writing songs that were principled, but always ended up contradicting myself when trying to convert the principles into practice. In fact, these days I try not to be too principled, but rather be pragmatic.” PeopleThinkingWritingTryingDifferentSongDifficultMusicianWhole LifePragmaticContradicting Author:Moddi
“When the musician starts improvising, he never can go back to what he did last Sunday. That's what's frightening to a lot of people who can't let themselves go. But it's also very invigorating and very releasing because it opens you up to be yourself.” PeopleMusicianBeing YourselfSundayFrightening Author:Cecil Williams
“To a lot of people, my job is really fancy, so they're like, "Oh, whoah, you're a musician, wow!" Some people go to you, "Oh my god, you're a journalist!" And some people go, "What, you're a therapist? That's incredible!" So everyone, to a certain extent, has other people that you get impressed by, without even having a proper conversation or getting to know them. You're just like, "Oohhh, they're a bit fancy!"” PeopleMusicianIncrediblesJournalist Author:Shura
“If you're a woman musician, that is your qualifier. I've had people come up to me and say, "You're good for a girl." My only issue is, when that stereotype and stigma already exists, sometimes it's perpetuated by people who may not really play guitar. You somehow need to transcend that division of gender.” PeopleSometimesGirlMusicianGenderStereotypeStigma Author:Thao Nguyen
“My dream right now is - and I don't know how to do it, and I don't know if it will work exactly - but just this sort of vague aspiration to start some kind of website where people send in their stories or poems, and me or perhaps some other people turn that into music. And then by the end of the year we make a record and actually put it out. Like a band, but the band is actually a combination of the musician and the fan. I think that's a very 21st-century way of doing it.” PeopleThinkingKindDreamMusicianAspirationWebsite Author:Eef Barzelay
“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
“I grew up listening to a lot of that stuff, Motown and Stooges. But also early rock-and-roll like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley. I feel like as I grew older, I've been working with different musicians, people that have are constantly showing me different things.” PeopleDifferentListeningMusicianJerryChuckMotownStooges Author:Alex Winston
“Being a classical musician I'm fascinated with how my colleagues, not just singers, but every musician finds ways to express something else or something new or the same ol', same ol' in classical music. I'm always in dialogue with other musicians at least orally, if I can't be with them and a lot of dead musicians as well. I've learned a lot from dead people on recordings.” PeopleMusicianDialogueSomething NewClassical MusicDead People Author:Thomas Hampson
“Musicians know all about unemployment. You're unemployed a lot, and I think there's a great deal of empathy between musicians and people who are out of work.” PeopleThinkingMusicianEmpathy Author:Billy Joel
“I'm especially interested in what I call practitioner criticism, which is when people who practice an art form start writing about it on blogs. I think that's an immensely important development. I want to see much, much more of that. People who make music who are verbally articulate. And not all musicians are verbally articulate. But those who are should be encouraged to write about what they do and their perception of what other people do. It makes the discourse smarter.” PeopleThinkingWritingArtImportantPerceptionMusicianCriticismBe Encouraged Author:Terry Teachout
“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
“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
“When I went, I hadn't had very much time to have hopes or expectations. I knew very little about Nashville, and I think that was probably good. When I was there, I got really lucky - I ended up with people that just were amazing musicians, and that's the Nashville that I experienced. That is a big part of Nashville - there's a lot of musicians, and that makes it a very special place and shapes the city.” PeopleThinkingSpecialLuckyMusicianExpectationsHaving Hope Author:Anna Ternheim
“I think as this generation of electronic musicians goes on, popular electronic music will be more and more accepted. It's gonna get less confusing. You know, most people called rap stupid when it started, and it was one of the most innovative music forms of its time.” PeopleThinkingStupidMusicianRapAcceptedConfusingInnovativeElectronic Music Author:Dan Deacon
“I think people don't realize how many hours of practice goes into becoming a musician and getting better.” PeopleThinkingRealizingHoursMusicianGet Better Author:Emeli Sande
“I thought "I don't need to reach out to my fans, I don't need to have that dialogue with them." But as a musician, you have to constantly - especially since my music is not on the same level as my acting - you have to connect with your fans. I actually feel like I have developed friendships through Twitter, people that I've worked with I can kind of keep up with them. I've totally turned a corner. I get it. And Instagram.” PeopleKindActingMusicianMusic IsDialogueReach Out Author:Bryan Greenberg
“Being on the road, because you do so much waiting and so much traveling. It's not the same thing as being in the same city for a week or two weeks and then another city. It's really hard. I don't think people understand this about being a touring musician, or a touring actor, or somebody who flies everywhere for business. It's incredibly disorienting.” PeopleThinkingWaitingWeekMusician Author:How to Dress Well
“I find myself being quite cynical - and I think we all kind of are - towards the idea that it's associated with being a musician; you know... the kind of rock-star attitude. So, I hope that people know it's a joke.” PeopleThinkingKindAttitudeMusicianJokesAll KindsCynical Author:Thomas Powers
“There are people who are really great musicians. I've met a lot of them. And I'm not a great musician. I'm adequate enough to be able to throw some chords together and write songs, but I can only feel that because I'm expressing something honestly, or in a heartfelt way, or in some way that's not bullshit, that in some way the songs have merit.” PeopleWritingEnoughTogetherSongMusicianHonestlyBullshitReally GreatHeartfeltGreat Music Author:David Duchovny
“I'd really like people to see me as a real actress, which I am, but they don't. It's hard to get them to see me as a musician, they just see me as a hanger-on to the Stones, which is not what I am at all. It's a good idea, and if something like that would turn up I could do a whole television show. I've thought about playing a landlady, sort of a mad '60s lady, this absolutely insane character. I would love it. It's a great idea.” PeopleRealCharacterMusicianMadInsaneGreat Idea Author:Marianne Faithfull
“People don't get that being a musician is a job, they don't get what the work takes. And that's just because you're living a dream, so everyone who's observing it from the outside can't really empathize with how much work it is because you're fortunate. And it's a kind of competition with yourself to stay away from all of the excess, whether it's booze or drugs or just the late nights with the addiction to watching the sun rise in some weird part of the world. But when you meet the other musicians, there's generally a spiritual exhaustion that you connect with.” PeopleWorldKindDreamSpiritualNightDrugMusicianCompetitionAddictionObservingExhaustionLate NightSun Rise Author:Kevin Drew
“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