Powerlessness of Music Quotes

Fifteen Minutes

A friend was complaining that the music shown on TV is crass and gives the impression that there is no good music out there. Well, actually he was agreeing with this perception. He is my age, a very busy man and pretty much writes off most music that has emerged since the 60s and 70s! I just said, ‘Well, yeah, of course that’s what you find on TV. That’s not part of my reality anymore.’ I said it never ceases to amaze me how much wondrous music keeps appearing. I would have thought it would have dried up. But, sure, you don’t find it in the mainstream. And we agreed that it’s sad a lot of that music does not get the attention it is due. My friend said that a song or artist may receive momentary acclaim but then the fickle audience quickly move on to the next one and forget all about it. I guess that’s because there is such a rich diversity and neverending supply of music these days and it is all accessible through the internet. Even my favourite artists these days have but a modest following.

"When you do music or you do anything for the public, you gotta be a slave to that. You got to be there on time, you got to carry clocks, and dollar bills, and tax trips. You got all kinds of things to do. I was free in the mountains, what’d I want a music career for? I got a music career, I play music for music. I don’t play music for attention, I don’t play music to little girls. I’m not selling records, I don’t play music like you guys play music." - Charles Manson (KALX interview).

"Music is my soul. Music’s the way I express, it’s my religion." - Charles Manson.

"When you do music or you do anything for the public, you gotta be a slave to that. You got to be there on time, you got to carry clocks, and dollar bills, and tax trips. You got all kinds of things to do. I was free in the mountains, what’d I want a music career for? I got a music career, I play music for music. I don’t play music for attention, I don’t play music to little girls. I’m not selling records, I don’t play music like you guys play music." - Charles Manson (KALX interview).

“You know what we need? Yet another banal, insipid, lacklustre, eye-gouge inducing, MOR, cover version of a classic song, completely desecrated by a nasally, warbling, feeble-voiced, talentless little scroat/scroatette so that it can then be used by a totally unoriginal advertising company to help promote some more unnecessary tat on TV.” – Pete Raygun Di-Murro.

“Dire Straits is a great band. Someone tells you they like Brothers in Arms and immediately you know they're a stupid annoying git.” – Alexei Sayle.

“I worry that the person who thought up Muzak may be thinking up something else.” - Lily Tomlin.

“I've sold my soul to the devil.” – John Lennon (on the commercial success of the Beatles, as quoted in Lennon (1985) by Ray Coleman).

“It’s not about rolling in the money. It’s about knowing that what you’ve done really does touch people’s hearts. You just can’t beat that.” – John Lydon (2009).

“Elvis Presley was the first real rock and roll star. A white southerner who singing blues laced with country and country tinged with gospel, Presley brought together music from both sides of the color line. Presley performed this music with a natural hip-swiveling sexuality that made him a teen idol and a role model for generations of cool rebels. Presley was repeatedly dismissed as vulgar, incompetent and a bad influence. However the force of his music and image signaled to the mainstream culture it was time for a change.” (www.history-of-rock.com/elvis_presley.htm).

Tuesday 22 August 2014, 07:52 PM (Yahoo)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Bob Dylan says the quality of modern recordings is "atrocious," and even the songs on his new album sounded much better in the studio than on disc.

"I don't know anybody who's made a record that sounds decent in the past 20 years, really," the 65-year-old rocker said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.

Dylan, who released eight studio albums in the past two decades, returns with his first recording in five years, "Modern Times," next Tuesday.

Noting the music industry's complaints that illegal downloading means people are getting their music for free, he said, "Well, why not? It ain't worth nothing anyway."

"You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them," he added. "There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like ... static."

Dylan said he does his best to fight technology, but it's a losing battle.

"Even these songs probably sounded ten times better in the studio when we recorded 'em. CDs are small. There's no stature to it."