Music Quote by John Hunter

It is a neat little feedback loop disguised as modesty: a performer claiming he simply responds to “good people,” as if taste itself were a moral category. John Hunter’s line flatters the audience twice. First, it selects them as “good,” implying discernment, generosity, maybe even status. Then it frames his art as service rather than ambition, the musician (or entertainer) as someone who plays because he’s invited, not because he needs to conquer a room.

The subtext is transactional but not crude. Approval is cast as fuel: “the more they like it, the more I play.” That’s not just about applause; it’s about permission. In 18th-century Britain, where patronage and polite society still shaped who got heard and where, “liking” could mean repeat invitations, introductions, money, and protection from the volatility of public taste. The phrase “seem to like” adds a telling hedge: he’s reading the room, aware that affection is performative too.

The intent, then, is strategic self-positioning. He’s not the tortured genius; he’s the agreeable professional who understands that art circulates through social chemistry. The line also sneaks in a gentle defense against critics: if you don’t like it, you’re implicitly not among the “good people.” It’s marketing with a soft hand - a way to turn taste into character, and applause into destiny.