Creativity Quote by Brian Molko

Molko grabs a dusty compliment and drags it into the age of copy-paste identity. “Imitation is the highest form of flattery” is a phrase that usually lets the imitator off the hook: it frames copying as admiration. He accepts the setup, then snaps it shut with “but clones kind of get it wrong,” swapping flattering mimicry for something creepier and more industrial. “Clones” isn’t just about people dressing like you at a gig; it’s a culture of mass replication where style becomes template, not expression.

The casual phrasing matters. “Kind of” softens the blow just enough to keep it from sounding like a scold, which fits a musician speaking from inside pop culture rather than above it. Molko’s not rejecting influence; he’s rejecting the hollowing-out that happens when influence turns into uniform. The pivot to “we are promoting individuality” sounds like a mission statement, but the “we” is doing heavy lifting: it’s a band-to-fan bond, a scene, a community that sells itself as outsider-friendly even while it generates its own strict look.

There’s also an unspoken tension between authenticity and branding. Rock, especially alternative rock, has long marketed “be yourself” as both ethos and product. Molko acknowledges that contradiction without naming it: the world rewards uniqueness, then monetizes the easiest-to-reproduce version of it. His line draws a boundary: admiration is welcome, but your job is to metabolize it into your own weirdness, not become a photocopy of someone else’s.