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Creativity Quote by Adam Jones

"We're more into expressing ourselves than making radio hits"

About this Quote

It is, on its face, a shrug at chart-chasing. Underneath, it is a boundary line drawn in permanent marker: don’t judge us by the pop scoreboard.

When Adam Jones says, "We’re more into expressing ourselves than making radio hits", he’s defending a band identity built on control, opacity, and long-form immersion. The phrasing matters. "We’re more into" is casual, almost dismissive, as if the whole machinery of hooks, singles, and promotional cycles is a boring side quest. "Expressing ourselves" carries the moral high ground of authenticity, but it’s also strategic: it reframes any lack of radio presence not as failure, but as choice. That’s the subtextual judo move.

As a musician associated with work that resists easy compression, Jones is also implicitly critiquing the medium. Radio rewards immediacy: short intros, repeatable choruses, familiar structures. A band invested in tension, texture, and slow-burn dynamics is bound to sound like an argument with that format. The quote becomes an artistic alibi and a mission statement at once: if the songs sprawl, if the melodies refuse to smile on command, that isn’t indulgence - it’s integrity.

There’s a cultural moment embedded here, too: the late-90s/2000s split between mainstream rock’s commercial polish and a growing prestige economy of "serious" alternative music. Jones’ line signals allegiance to the latter, while quietly acknowledging the former’s gravitational pull. The boast is not that they can’t write hits; it’s that they won’t let hits write them.

Quote Details

TopicMusic
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Jones, Adam. (2026, January 17). We're more into expressing ourselves than making radio hits. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/were-more-into-expressing-ourselves-than-making-41710/

Chicago Style
Jones, Adam. "We're more into expressing ourselves than making radio hits." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/were-more-into-expressing-ourselves-than-making-41710/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"We're more into expressing ourselves than making radio hits." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/were-more-into-expressing-ourselves-than-making-41710/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

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Expressing Ourselves Over Radio Hits - Adam Jones
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Adam Jones (born January 15, 1965) is a Musician from USA.

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