"Even when I was very depressed, I could hold on to something. It seems that I have always had that streak of gold that I could hold on to"
About this Quote
Subtextually, Schenker is defending the legitimacy of fragile hope. "Something" is deliberately unspecific, the way lifelines often are in the moment: a riff, a person, a next gig, a memory of competence. By keeping it vague, he makes the mechanism portable, accessible to anyone who's had to bargain with their own mind one hour at a time. The "always" matters too. He's not describing a mood swing; he's describing an identity thread, a private continuity that predates the crash. That can be read as resilience, but also as artistry: a belief that there is a core self separate from the fog.
Context helps. Schenker's career is marked by volatility, exits, returns, and the intense pressure-cooker dynamics of rock culture, where genius is romanticized and damage is often normalized. Against that backdrop, "gold" isn't glamor; it's a small, stubborn value he assigns to himself even when the scene (or his own chemistry) might not. The quote works because it makes endurance feel less like a slogan and more like a grip.
Quote Details
| Topic | Resilience |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Schenker, Michael. (2026, January 17). Even when I was very depressed, I could hold on to something. It seems that I have always had that streak of gold that I could hold on to. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/even-when-i-was-very-depressed-i-could-hold-on-to-80136/
Chicago Style
Schenker, Michael. "Even when I was very depressed, I could hold on to something. It seems that I have always had that streak of gold that I could hold on to." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/even-when-i-was-very-depressed-i-could-hold-on-to-80136/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Even when I was very depressed, I could hold on to something. It seems that I have always had that streak of gold that I could hold on to." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/even-when-i-was-very-depressed-i-could-hold-on-to-80136/. Accessed 24 Feb. 2026.




