"I'm not interested in being famous. I'm interested in making good music"
About this Quote
Fame is the noise; craft is the signal. David Gilmour’s line lands because it refuses the bargain modern culture assumes every artist is making: trade some private self for a bigger spotlight. Coming from a guitarist whose work helped define stadium-scale rock, the disavowal isn’t naive. It’s a boundary statement from someone who’s already seen what mass adoration does to the day-to-day business of making anything honest.
The intent is plain but pointed: redirect attention from persona to product. Gilmour frames “famous” as a passive state, something that happens to you, while “making good music” is active, chosen, and measurable in the only currency that matters to musicianship: the work. That grammatical contrast is the whole argument. It’s also a subtle critique of an industry that increasingly treats visibility as the job, with music as the content strategy.
The subtext is a defense of process. Good music demands time, taste, and solitude; fame demands access, performance, and constant narrative. You can hear the implicit cost-benefit analysis: every interview, every public myth, every expectations-management cycle siphons hours and attention away from the studio, the guitar, the listening.
Context sharpens it. Post-’60s rock produced both unparalleled artistic freedom and a machinery of celebrity that chewed up its stars. Pink Floyd’s own history - sprawling concepts, internal friction, the spectacle of The Wall - makes the quote read like hard-won wisdom, not humblebrag. It’s Gilmour staking out an old-school ethic in a world that rewards being seen over being good.
The intent is plain but pointed: redirect attention from persona to product. Gilmour frames “famous” as a passive state, something that happens to you, while “making good music” is active, chosen, and measurable in the only currency that matters to musicianship: the work. That grammatical contrast is the whole argument. It’s also a subtle critique of an industry that increasingly treats visibility as the job, with music as the content strategy.
The subtext is a defense of process. Good music demands time, taste, and solitude; fame demands access, performance, and constant narrative. You can hear the implicit cost-benefit analysis: every interview, every public myth, every expectations-management cycle siphons hours and attention away from the studio, the guitar, the listening.
Context sharpens it. Post-’60s rock produced both unparalleled artistic freedom and a machinery of celebrity that chewed up its stars. Pink Floyd’s own history - sprawling concepts, internal friction, the spectacle of The Wall - makes the quote read like hard-won wisdom, not humblebrag. It’s Gilmour staking out an old-school ethic in a world that rewards being seen over being good.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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