I’m no hillbilly singer.
Elvis PresleyLook, when I started out, mainstream culture was Sinatra, Perry Como, Andy Williams, Sound of Music. There was no fitting into it then and of course, there’s no fitting into it now.
Bob DylanOne of the interesting things about having little musical knowledge is that you generate surprising results sometimes; you move to places you wouldn’t if you knew better.
Brian EnoPuerto Rico’s relationship with music is everything. It’s an island full of talent and if you grow up there, you grow up living and breathing music.
Bad BunnyIf you want to find the source of much of the music of modern day Russia, you will find it in the incredible compositions of that crazed lunatic Berlioz.
Ray BradburyI 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.
RihannaIn a certain way, it’s the sound of the words, the inflection and the way the song is sung and the way it fits the melody and the way the syllables are on the tongue that has as much of the meaning as the actual, literal words.
David ByrneI don’t know if I ever feel totally great about a record when I put it out. With every record that I put out, someone has literally got to come pry it from me because when I listen to my own music, I just hear flaws in it.
EminemIt’s about the stories. If I write 14 stories that I love, then the next step is to get the environment of music around it to best envelop the story, and all kinds of sonic goodness – sonic goodies.
Frank OceanA letdown is worth a few songs. A heartbreak is worth a few albums.
Taylor SwiftI didn’t think it was special to be able to sing.
Amy WinehouseHip-hop saved my life, man. It’s the only thing I’ve ever been even decent at. I don’t know how to do anything else.
EminemYou know, Nirvana used to start rehearsals with the three of us just jamming. For, like, a half an hour, just noise and freeform crap – and usually it was crap. But sometimes things would come from it, and some songs on Nevermind came from that, and ‚Heart Shaped Box‘ and stuff on ‚In Utero‘ just happened that way.
Dave GrohlAnything that encourages people to pick up an instrument and play, I’m fully behind.
Taylor SwiftHere’s the thing with me and the religious thing. This is the flat-out truth: I find the religiosity and philosophy in the music. I don’t find it anywhere else.
Bob DylanI only live in my music, and I have scarcely begun one thing when I start on another. As I am now working, I am often engaged on three or four things at the same time.
Ludwig van Beethoven‚Nothin‘ on You‘ by B.o.B was the first song where I heard myself on the radio. I’d been trying my whole career to write a song like that, which incorporates live instruments with hip-hop and singing.
Bruno MarsMusic is this divine thing, the closest that we can get to something divine. It’s like this instinct we all own, and some of us have found a way to hear that music and write it down and share it with people.
AuroraMy only scheme was to be a rapper.
EminemOn the other hand, what I like my music to do to me is awaken the ghosts inside of me. Not the demons, you understand, but the ghosts.
David BowieMusic is always a commentary on society.
Frank ZappaI’m a huge fan of R. Kelly’s. He’s a musical genius and probably the most prolific artist of the generation before mine.
The WeekndI had to resign myself, many years ago, that I’m not too articulate when it comes to explaining how I feel about things. But my music does it for me, it really does.
David BowieRock ‚n‘ roll is ridiculous. It’s absurd. In the past, U2 was trying to duck that. Now we’re wrapping our arms around it and giving it a great big kiss.
BonoWhen you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
Khalil GibranA good song never gets old.
Bad BunnyYou get to a point where it’s like you can’t really do anything right, and people will pick on you for whatever decisions you make, so I just try and take no notice and get on with my music.
Taylor SwiftI don’t know anything about music. In my line you don’t have to.
Elvis PresleyThe problem with fine art is that in most cases people have to make a special excursion to go and look at it: they can’t afford to own it. So it isn’t really part of their life in the way that music can be.
Brian EnoI wish all teenagers can filter through songs instead of turning to drugs and alcohol.
Taylor SwiftThere weren’t a lot of career opportunities in crazy-fast hardcore punk, so you didn’t have a lot of ambition, just the love and passion to play music with your friends.
Dave GrohlThere’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.
Jimmy BuffettI booked my first studio at like 12 or 13. Somewhere in that season of my life, singing along with the radio became me wanting to be on radio, you know. And writing Langston Hughes replica poems became me wanting to write like Stevie Wonder.
Frank OceanMy mother is a singer, my sisters all sing, my uncles are incredible singers and guitar players, so it’s just kind of been like my habitat.
Bruno MarsI make a lot of pieces of music that I never release as CDs.
Brian EnoI used to love Kurt Cobain, when he was telling people we’re a pop band. People would laugh, they thought of it as good old ironic Kurt. But he wasn’t being ironic.
BonoI can understand how some people might resent me for having the audacity to continue playing music, but it’d take a lot more than that to stop me from doing it. I started Foo Fighters because I didn’t want to retreat.
Dave GrohlTones sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes.
Ludwig van BeethovenI’m working on my life story. I’m not decided if it’s going to be a musical or a movie with music in it.
Dolly PartonWe uploaded ‚Ocean Eyes‘ to SoundCloud, and it started getting a lot of plays pretty much immediately.
Billie EilishMusic when healthy, is the teacher of perfect order, and when depraved, the teacher of perfect disorder.
John RuskinWhenever I write a novel, music just sort of naturally slips in (much like cats do, I suppose).
Haruki MurakamiI didn’t live at school, I lived where I could and studied what I enjoyed studying. I took what I wanted from that education but was making my first record at the same time. I don’t know anyone from school. I was just leading a different life. I was really interested in writing and other things.
Lana Del ReyIf one plays good music, people don’t listen and if one plays bad music people don’t talk.
Oscar WildeI really like hip-hop and rap; that’s my main influence. I really wanna be more of a hip-hop artist.
Billie EilishI listen to music all day every day. I can’t not listen to music. It’s kind of scary how much I listen to music, but it’s what I love, and it’s all I care about, so I’m good with it.
Billie EilishI hate the idea of genres.
Billie EilishI’m not into albums that are meant to sound perfect.
Dave GrohlMusic in itself carries a whole set of messages which are very, very rich and complex, and the words either serve to exclude certain ones or point up certain others.
Brian EnoRobyn is who I am. Rihanna – that’s an idea of who I am.
RihannaThe opera is to music what a bawdy house is to a cathedral.
H. L. MenckenI’m such an emotional and sensitive person, so it only makes sense that my songs are as well.
Aurora‚Victory‘ is like, you won, so the question is, what? What did you win? I think that the songs go into that. It’s just about reaching a place in myself.
Nipsey HussleRed is such an interesting color to correlate with emotion, because it’s on both ends of the spectrum. On one end you have happiness, falling in love, infatuation with someone, passion, all that. On the other end, you’ve got obsession, jealousy, danger, fear, anger and frustration.
Taylor SwiftI want you to feel happy and enjoy the theatre of my life the way that I do. No matter what happens with my music and wherever I go – that heart of that glamorous girl in New York will never be gone.
Lady GagaIf you pour your life into songs, you want them to be heard. It’s a desire to communicate. A deep desire to communicate inspires songwriting.
BonoI’ve got my Grammys on top of my piano and I look at them when I play.
Taylor SwiftWhen I listen to the radio, I just hear so much music that doesn’t even sound like people. The vocals are all tuned, and the drums are all fake.
Dave GrohlThe first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind, is curiosity.
Edmund BurkeThere’s a lot of pressure putting an album out all over the world and hoping people everywhere like it.
Taylor Swift