Art & Creativity Quote by David Geffen

Geffen’s line is a mogul’s confession disguised as common sense: the industry doesn’t really struggle to recognize brilliance; it struggles to admit mediocrity when money, access, and ego are already invested. “Good” announces itself in music with an almost physical clarity - a hook that lands, a voice that cuts through, a feeling that spreads faster than any marketing plan. “Bad,” though, is slippery, because most of what fails isn’t offensively awful. It’s competent. It’s derivative. It’s safely listenable. And that’s exactly what makes it dangerous in a business built on relationships and risk management.

The subtext is less about taste than incentives. Gatekeepers can celebrate a win without offending anyone; calling something “bad” forces you to name the sunk costs: the signed artist, the expensive studio time, the campaign already booked, the executive who championed it. In that world, “bad” becomes a political accusation, not an aesthetic verdict. So the system develops softer euphemisms - “not a single,” “needs time,” “niche” - that keep the machinery humming.

Context matters: Geffen came up in an era when labels could manufacture exposure, but couldn’t reliably manufacture devotion. Radio, MTV, and retail gave power, yet the public still had veto rights. His quote captures the real asymmetry: hits are obvious in hindsight and often in the room; flops can be rationalized indefinitely. It’s an elegant argument for ruthless editing - and a reminder that the hardest part of taste is saying no when everyone’s already said yes.