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Daily Inspiration Quote by Ken Hill

"The most important thing is that you like the music"

About this Quote

A deceptively simple line that quietly takes a swing at nearly everything surrounding art except the art itself. Coming from Ken Hill, a playwright best known for nimble, audience-first musical adaptations, "The most important thing is that you like the music" reads less like a Hallmark reassurance and more like a practical manifesto. Hill worked in a tradition where taste-makers can turn culture into a credentialing system: the right references, the right posture, the right kind of approval. He cuts through that with a sentence that centers pleasure, not permission.

The intent is democratic. "You" is doing heavy lifting here: the individual listener, not the critic, not the gatekeeper, not the industry. Hill isn’t arguing that craft, history, or ambition don’t matter; he’s arguing they don’t matter first. The hierarchy is the point. By naming "the most important thing", he demotes the usual suspects - prestige, pedigree, genre loyalty - to supporting roles.

The subtext carries a knowing impatience with snobbery and with the anxious modern habit of outsourcing taste. People often ask if they should like something because it’s "important". Hill flips that insecurity: liking is not a failure of sophistication but the entry fee to any meaningful relationship with music. For a playwright, especially one translating classics into crowd-pleasing theater, it’s also a defense of accessibility: if art can’t seduce, it can’t stay. The line works because it’s both permission and provocation - a reminder that enjoyment isn’t the enemy of seriousness; it’s the proof of contact.

Quote Details

TopicMusic
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Hill, Ken. (2026, January 16). The most important thing is that you like the music. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-most-important-thing-is-that-you-like-the-101786/

Chicago Style
Hill, Ken. "The most important thing is that you like the music." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-most-important-thing-is-that-you-like-the-101786/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The most important thing is that you like the music." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-most-important-thing-is-that-you-like-the-101786/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

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Ken Hill (January 28, 1937 - January 23, 1995) was a Playwright from United Kingdom.

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