Arts, Media & Entertainment: Music Quotes

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"I don't see it in terms of changing things, but rather using language and music as weapons for fighting a mainstream media which is predominately right wing, and loyal to the political framework and its corporate interests"

Thom Yorke, Musician

"I joined Tommy Dorsey at the Paramount Theater in New York as a singer. I replaced Frank Sinatra"

Ken Curtis, Actor

"Do I listen to pop music because I'm miserable, or am I miserable because listen to pop music?"

John Cusack, Actor

"Singing connected with movements and action is a much more ancient and, at the same time, more complex phenomenon than is a simple song"

Zoltan Kodaly, Composer

"If anyone asks you what kind of music you play, tell him "pop". Don't tell him "rock'n'roll" or they won't even let you in the hotel"

Buddy Holly, Musician

"But when you get to a song, not only do you have to do a vocal melody, you have to write words and not be redundant and make some semblance of a story"

Glenn Danzig, Musician

"Without Elvis, none of us could have made it"

Buddy Holly, Musician

"I like Celtic folk music, Native American music, and any kind of early music. There isn't a lot of music that I don't like... except for Show Tunes"

Terri Windling, Artist

"Sometime I write a song off a central idea, instead of emotion"

Ken Hill, Playwright

"I mean, I think I liked every band I ever played in because each band was different, each band had a different concept, and each band leader was different... different personalities and musical tastes"

Buddy Rich, Musician

"You go to LA, or you go to New York, and it's really fun to go there. But they're not grounded. Everybody is just competing all the time for the limelight. It's too much entertainment industry. There are too many choices. And it's distracting to me"

Bob Seger, Musician

"I learned a lot from Elvis. He taught me about music, art, literature, and culture"

Priscilla Presley, Actress

"I grew up in an era where an orchestra was like a treasure chest"

James Levine, Musician

"Everybody in all countries tries to play jazz"

Thelonious Monk, Musician

"Do not take up music unless you would rather die than not do so"

Nadia Boulanger, Musician

"It's what the Pixies always said about music - they were writing songs and just trying not to be boring. That was their main motivation and it worked for them. I remember reading that and thinking that was the way to do it"

Jonny Greenwood, Musician

"And you have a record company behind it, this is a key too, you need people to fight for your records, at least a little bit. So if you have a great song, it's catchy, and you've got a little bit of help, I think that's all you need. But there hasn't been that in music"

Joan Jett, Musician

"We had a really vast music collection and I was raised around rock'n'roll, it's just the way it was"

Slash, Musician

"This is the way I look at sex scenes: I have basically been doing them for a living for years. Trying to seduce an audience is the basis of rock 'n roll, and if I may say so, I'm pretty good at it"

Jon Bon Jovi, Musician

"I love to sing. I'm a soprano"

Sara Paretsky, Author

"Whether the angels play only Bach praising God, I am not quite sure. I am sure, however, that en famille they play Mozart"

Karl Barth, Theologian

"America stopped making vinyl and phased out the single, but Germany held out and refused. Warner's never phased out vinyl in Germany. Now America imports it!"

Peter Hook, Musician

"If somebody asks me to recommend a young good singer, I always do"

Maureen Forrester, Musician

"In contrast, traditional classical music starts from an abstract musical schema. This is then notated and only expressed in concrete sound as a last stage, when it is performed"

Pierre Schaeffer, Composer

"Rock 'n' roll music is what gets me off"

Joan Jett, Musician

"It was the Control album that was really about what I wanted to do"

Janet Jackson, Musician

"I want to sing like Aretha Franklin. Before her I wanted the technical ability of Ella Fitzgerald"

Lena Horne, Actress

"A symphony is no joke"

Johannes Brahms, Composer

"I'd done three solo albums in a row, and that's quite narcissistic"

Bjork, Musician

"If you see something is going wrong within politics and the world today, then some Hip Hop artist is gonna come along and get straight with it. If they think that there's a lot of racism going on, then there's another Hip Hop artist who's gonna come out and speak their mind"

Afrika Bambaataa, Musician

"The reason I do interviews is because I'm protecting my songs"

Bjork, Musician

"Actually freestyle really comes from 'Planet Rock'. If you listen to all the freestyle records you'll hear that they are based on 'Planet Rock'. All the Miami Bass records are based upon Planet Rock"

Afrika Bambaataa, Musician

"I'm surprised that I actually pulled off the recording, getting all those people at the same time"

Link Wray, Musician

"I think I love it more as I get older because I keep getting better on drums, vibes and piano"

Lionel Hampton, Musician

"Words are beautiful but restricted. They're very masculine, with a compact frame. But voice is over the dark, the place where there's nothing to hang on: it comes from a part of yourself that simply knows, expresses itself, and is"

Jeff Buckley, Musician

"Legislation won't necessarily start a riot. But the right song can make someone pick up a chair"

Saul Williams, Musician

"If there ever was a poet for the working class, Billy Joe Shaver and Merle Haggard would be my nomination"

David Allan Coe, Musician

"I went to see John Mayall at the Marquee, with Peter Green on guitar, and that was a particularly good gig"

Alvin Lee, Musician

"I created Punk for this day and age. Do you see Britney walking around wearing ties and singing punk? Hell no. That's what I do. I'm like a Sid Vicious for a new generation"

Avril Lavigne, Musician

"Our musical alphabet is poor and illogical"

Edgard Varese, Composer

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