"Most writers can write, most rock 'n rollers cannot"
About this Quote
Eldritch lands the punch with a deceptively simple comparison: writing is a baseline competency in literature, but musicianship is not a baseline competency in rock. The sting is in the asymmetry. In the world of books, if you can’t write, you’re not a writer for long. In rock, if you can’t play, you can still be a “rock ’n roller” - held up by attitude, volume, image, or a myth that charisma is a substitute for craft.
Coming from Andrew Eldritch - the icy ringmaster behind The Sisters of Mercy, a band built as much on control and concept as on riffs - the line reads like a gatekeeping joke and a critique of an industry that rewards performance over proficiency. It’s not anti-rock so much as anti-careless. Eldritch’s own career is famously meticulous: drum machines, tight aesthetics, a refusal to be casual about the machinery of cool. That background makes the quote less a blanket insult and more a warning shot at a scene that mistakes spontaneity for quality and sloppiness for authenticity.
The subtext is also about standards and consequences. Writers are publicly judged on the one thing they’re selling: sentences. Rock acts can sell a vibe while outsourcing the work, literally or figuratively, to producers, backing tracks, or better bandmates. Eldritch’s wit works because it pries apart “being” and “doing”: you can claim the identity, but the craft still knows the difference.
Coming from Andrew Eldritch - the icy ringmaster behind The Sisters of Mercy, a band built as much on control and concept as on riffs - the line reads like a gatekeeping joke and a critique of an industry that rewards performance over proficiency. It’s not anti-rock so much as anti-careless. Eldritch’s own career is famously meticulous: drum machines, tight aesthetics, a refusal to be casual about the machinery of cool. That background makes the quote less a blanket insult and more a warning shot at a scene that mistakes spontaneity for quality and sloppiness for authenticity.
The subtext is also about standards and consequences. Writers are publicly judged on the one thing they’re selling: sentences. Rock acts can sell a vibe while outsourcing the work, literally or figuratively, to producers, backing tracks, or better bandmates. Eldritch’s wit works because it pries apart “being” and “doing”: you can claim the identity, but the craft still knows the difference.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
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