My nails are my rhythm section when I’m writing a song all alone. Some day, I may cut an album, just me and my nails.

I love making music. That’s what I love to do. So I don’t feel like there’s any need to take a break unless I want to.

Writing a song is so personal. You have to have trust in someone you’re working with; otherwise, you’re not gonna come out with something that’s really you.

And later, if I ever felt that I was getting swept away by the craziness of being in a band, well, I’d go back to Virginia.

I know people said I wasn’t selling out in America, but that was entirely untrue. We sold out all over the world, and every night I looked out into the fans and those front rows that you’re talking about, the tears, the honesty, the inability to not be completely overjoyed because they felt accepted.

Music will never go away, and I will never stop making music; it’s just what capacity or what arena you decide to do it.

I taught myself how to play the guitar, I taught myself how to play the drums, and I kind of fake doing both of them. But drumming comes more natural to me, and it just feels better.

I write songs that are like diary entries. I have to do it in order to feel sane.

Chicago gave me more music than any other city in America.

I always had a knack for improvisation. I can write down the notes I play, but never really had a proper academic musical background. I suppose I’m blessed and cursed by the fact I have that freedom.

Rap music is the only vital form of music introduced since punk rock.

Music is the art of the prophets and the gift of God.

‚Mean‘ is a song I wrote about somebody who wrote things that were so mean so many times that it would ruin my day. Then it would ruin the next day. And it would level me so many times, I just felt like I was being hit in the face every time this person would take to their computer.

You want to be a writer? Start writing. You want to be a filmmaker? Start shooting stuff on your phone right now.

In Hawaii, some of the biggest radio stations are reggae. The local bands are heavily influenced by Bob Marley.

I think what made it difficult for people to get, and still makes it difficult for people to get, is the theatrical nature of the work and the fact that, my music doesn’t exist without the performance-art element.

Until it’s on the radio or online, it’s not real. With U2, our album isn’t finished until it’s in the stores.

As long as my music is real, it’s no limit to how many ears I can grab.

My music seems to have a bigger mission than I have, which is very soothing but also very strange because people see more in me than I see, which can be terrifying.

I would like to do a duet with Taylor Hanson, because I have loved Hanson since I was 8.

I just know that I’m a fan of all different kinds of genres. You’re supposed to be free doing music, and that’s how I feel.

Speaking purely from a musical standpoint, I think I am a great performer.

I do put a lot of God in my music, but not because I’m super religious. There are a lot of demons in my music, too. I acknowledge both.

My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary.

To all the musicians, to the Academy, with all due respect, reggaeton is part of our Latin culture. And its representing as much as any other genre at the worldwide level.

Instruments sound interesting, not because of their sound, but because of the relationship a player has with them. Instrumentalists build a rapport with their instruments, which is what you like and respond to.

Music is part of the life of fashion, too.

Honestly, I’d love to be remembered as one of the best to ever pick up a mic, but if I’m doing my part to lessen some racial tension I feel good about what I’m doing.

Phish and Dave Matthews really know their audiences and really treat them well.

We tend to mistake music for the physical object.

I never intended for the Monster Ball to be a religious experience, it just became one.

Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.

Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from the eyes of woman.

There’s something missing in the music industry today… and it’s music. Songs you hear don’t last, it’s just product fed to you by the industry.

I look out at the stadiums full of people and see them all knowing the words to songs I wrote. And curling their hair! I remember straightening my hair because I wanted to be like everybody else, and now the fact that anybody would emulate what I do? It’s just funny. And wonderful.

If it’s good music, it’s good music.

When I joined Nirvana, I was the fifth or sixth drummer – I don’t know if they’d ever had a drummer they were totally happy with. And they were strangers. There was never much of a deeper connection outside of the music.

I could sing you a thousand and one doo-wop songs. I love the simplicity in that music. It’s not super-poetic, it’s just from the heart.

I listen to music that is of our time and I just get angry.

I feel the emotion that life conjures up and the songs I write get me closer to my feelings and realising who I am. It’s a natural process.

I’m the kind of person who needs to feel like everything happens for a reason. When you date a guy and it goes badly, that’s horrible. But if you can write a song about it, then it was worth it.

You just don’t wake up one day and decide that you need to write songs.

I like Cardi B!

So many girls come up and say to me, ‚I have never listened to country music in my life. I didn’t even know my town had a country-music station. Then I got your record, and now I’m obsessed.‘ That’s the coolest compliment to me.

U2 is sort of song writing by accident really. We don’t really know what we’re doing and when we do, it doesn’t seem to help.

I never wanted to sing. I just wanted to play rhythm guitar – hide in the back and just play.

I never listen to ‚Nevermind.‘ I haven’t listened to it since we put it out. That says something.

When my record comes on, you know that’s a DJ Khaled record. That’s my formula, and the people love it.

Songwriting is my way of channeling my feelings and my thoughts. Not just mine, but the things I see, the people I care about. My head would explode if I didn’t get some of that stuff out.

I consider myself to have one of the greatest voices in the industry.

I get so excited when a song I wrote that’s very personal to me goes No. 1 and I look down and see people singing the words back to me.

I just really want to get music out and tour and go places I’ve never been, and just do more videos. I love photography and videography, and so I really want to direct videos when I can.

Through Kurt I saw the beauty of minimalism and the importance of music that’s stripped down.

Basically, I live to do gigs.

Music, in performance, is a type of sculpture. The air in the performance is sculpted into something.

I wanted to get rid of the element that had been considered essential in pop music: the voice.

Sitting on a bedroom floor crying is something that makes you feel really alone. If someone’s singing about that feeling, you feel bonded to that person.

In case you’re wondering whether I lip synch, the answer is no… people think so because I sound so good.

There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do something we’d all love one another.

I won’t be satisfied until people want to hear me sing without looking at me. Of course, that doesn’t mean I want them to stop looking.

A good compromise, a good piece of legislation, is like a good sentence; or a good piece of music. Everybody can recognize it. They say, ‚Huh. It works. It makes sense.‘