"I always say that it's about breaking the rules. But the secret of breaking rules in a way that works is understanding what the rules are in the first place"
About this Quote
Wakeman’s line smuggles discipline into a slogan that usually gets sold as pure rebellion. “Breaking the rules” is the rock-myth version of creativity: instinct, swagger, a little sabotage. Then he flips it with “the secret,” turning the pose into craft. The subtext is almost parental: you can’t shortcut the boring part. If you want to sound like you’re inventing a language, you still have to know the grammar.
Coming from Wakeman, the point lands with extra bite. He’s not just a prog-rock showman in a cape; he’s a conservatory-trained keyboardist who made a career out of maximalist arrangements, classical references, and technical fluency dressed up as spectacle. Prog’s whole cultural argument was that rock could be as structurally ambitious as “serious” music, but it also took heat for being indulgent. Wakeman’s quote reads like a preemptive defense: virtuosity isn’t the enemy of freshness; ignorance is.
The wording matters. “In a way that works” is the tell. He’s not romanticizing chaos; he’s talking about effects: tension, release, surprise, coherence. Rules in music aren’t just classroom diktats; they’re expectations listeners carry in their bodies. Once you know what a cadence is supposed to do, you can delay it, detour it, mock it, or explode it - and the audience feels the swerve as meaning, not accident.
It’s a manifesto for smart risk: rebellion with a map, transgression with intention.
Coming from Wakeman, the point lands with extra bite. He’s not just a prog-rock showman in a cape; he’s a conservatory-trained keyboardist who made a career out of maximalist arrangements, classical references, and technical fluency dressed up as spectacle. Prog’s whole cultural argument was that rock could be as structurally ambitious as “serious” music, but it also took heat for being indulgent. Wakeman’s quote reads like a preemptive defense: virtuosity isn’t the enemy of freshness; ignorance is.
The wording matters. “In a way that works” is the tell. He’s not romanticizing chaos; he’s talking about effects: tension, release, surprise, coherence. Rules in music aren’t just classroom diktats; they’re expectations listeners carry in their bodies. Once you know what a cadence is supposed to do, you can delay it, detour it, mock it, or explode it - and the audience feels the swerve as meaning, not accident.
It’s a manifesto for smart risk: rebellion with a map, transgression with intention.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
|---|
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