Creativity Quote by Kenny Hickey

There is a particular kind of honesty that only lands because it sounds like self-sabotage. Kenny Hickey’s line, “I think it’s just a lack of ability, we’re incapable of writing hits,” reads less like a confession of incompetence than a preemptive strike against the whole machinery of commercial expectation. In rock and metal culture especially, “hit” is a loaded word: it implies compromise, polish, and a set of invisible rules written by radio programmers and label marketing teams. By declaring incapacity, Hickey isn’t merely lowering the bar; he’s refusing to play the game where the bar was set by someone else.

The intent feels double-edged. On the surface, it’s disarmingly blunt, almost shrugging: maybe we just don’t have it. Underneath, it’s a defense of artistic identity. If your sound is built on mood, heaviness, or slow-burn atmosphere, the three-minute dopamine spike of a charting single can be an aesthetic betrayal. Calling it “ability” shifts the conversation from ethics (we won’t) to nature (we can’t), a subtle rhetorical move that protects the band from accusations of trying and failing, while also insulating them from pressure to try at all.

The line also anticipates the fanbase’s values. Listeners who pride themselves on taste outside the mainstream often want their artists to be allergic to mass approval. Hickey gives them that, in one deadpan sentence: a refusal that masquerades as limitation, turning “not for everyone” into a badge rather than an apology.