Art & Creativity Quote by Van Morrison

Van Morrison’s praise for music criticism lands with the soft thud of someone choosing diplomacy over mythology. Rock culture loves the tantrum narrative: the artist as wounded prophet, misunderstood by “the press.” Morrison, who has often been cast as prickly and private, flips that script with a line that sounds generous but also carefully managed. “I do see value” is a hedged admission, less a love letter to critics than a signal that he’s not above feedback - on his terms.

The real tell is the second sentence. By emphasizing that “most” criticism has been “very good,” he’s not defending criticism as a practice so much as normalizing his own reception. It’s a subtle status claim: the work has held up under scrutiny. He’s also reframing the critic-artist relationship as transactional rather than adversarial. Criticism becomes part of the ecosystem that helps serious music remain legible over decades, especially for an artist whose catalog rewards close listening and whose persona resists easy access.

There’s context here, too: Morrison’s career spans eras when critics could anoint or bury records, and when tastemaking shifted from a handful of magazines to algorithm-fed chatter. This quote reads like an older craftsman asserting continuity: the conversation still matters, and he’s still in it. It’s gracious, yes, but also quietly self-protective - an endorsement of criticism that doubles as a reminder that his work has earned it.