The early Stones were adolescent rockers. They were self-conscious in an obvious and unpretentious way. And they were committed to a musical style that needed no justification because it came so naturally to them. As they grew musically the mere repetition of old rock and blues tunes became increasingly less satisfying.
I keep a band of great young people around me, and we’re not musically restrained. It’s not about ‘Let’s do it correct’ but ‘Let’s do it right.’
DJs are in incredible competition, musically. And they are the most musically creative and sensitive people in all the music charts. I am amazed how they are.
Whether lyrically or musically, it reaches in there and grabs your soul. That’s the stuff I gravitate toward.
I am not musically educated yet. I don’t read – I make my own language that works for myself. But I play by ear.
Growing up, I was inspired by The Beatles and Bob Dylan. Damian Rice was a huge influence for me musically.
I’ve always been enthralled with chaos and mayhem musically, and I loved speaking out and challenging stuff, and I thought, why is my music not representing this?
It’s just a lot of fun to be able to see your ideas come into fruition. And to see people translate the things that come out of my mind vocally. And to be able to produce vocals and give people my point of view musically. And to be able to sit in the crowd and see people sing the song that I wrote, it’s an amazing feeling.
I was always pretty decent at fast stick work or doing stuff that seems impressive that’s not really; I was pretty tasteful and had good ideas musically. But I had a terrible sense of tempo, which is like being a blind painter. The conductor would just rip into me, and it lasted for years.
Maybe the biggest thing that I’ve learned musically is that anything is possible. Things can work when maybe they don’t seem like they can.
It’s just that back then we didn’t know that was considered being a coproducer. I would sit on the side and say what I wanted musically, but at the time we thought if you aren’t the one playing it, you don’t get the credit. Now you’ll start seeing my name listed as producer.
I am a person who thinks about the music first in trying to achieve something musically valid.
Reuniting with my brothers musically has been really incredible.
I’ve been called ‘musically schizophrenic,’ and some people think that’s a cool thing.
We kind of established in Sons of Apollo right from the get go that it would be a very collaborative process musically, but after that, I was going to take the reins and control everything else beyond that the way I did with Dream Theater.
If I was rich enough, I would love to launch my own record label. I would love to try and give all my musically talented friends a start in the industry.
You know Manchester is always a bit of a hard place for people coming from London, just with all the history. Manchester has this immensely huge and healthy history musically.
It probably would be impossible for me to make music and not make it sound like Burzum. This is the music I make and the only music I am able to make, so I have no other options musically.
Country music’s always had the best musicians in any format of music, and I always gravitated toward that, stuff that was musically interesting.
The technology is good and it’s bad. You know what you’re dealing with out there musically, but my head stops at this electronic stuff. I don’t quite know what I’m dealing with out there yet.
It’s important to refresh the way of thinking and doing things musically. You can get so stuck in what you’ve done in the past that you can’t move on into the future.
It’s fun to move people musically.
I buy everything India Arie, just because she’s such a positive person, and I just love her music. Her music’s so soulful… I think Kanye West is a genius musically.
Amy Winehouse affected my life tremendously. I think maybe she was the first sense of intimacy that I had with a complete stranger, musically speaking.
Joining a band without ever having really met the people before, you just want to be musically powerful.
We have harmonies, folk songs, and compositions attached to each occasion – ranging from birth, harvest, to our festivals. Our country thrives on culture, music, and arts. Musically, ours is a very rich country.
If you focus too much on development of the visual angle, it could be a detriment to what you’re doing musically.
If you look at ‘West Side Story,’ a lot of those numbers are actually pretty cutty, but the cuts are always musically motivated.
When you’re collaborating with somebody, there has to be a spirit of cooperation. There are a lot of times when you just can’t persuade someone to write a certain type of song, either musically or lyrically.
The fun for me musically is that you never quite know what works and why. So why pretend you do? Why not just put things together and discover, in the creative process, if and why they work? That approach has served me well.
‘Break of Dawn,’ musically, is still soulful and eclectic, but I think I opened up a little bit more vocally. It’s a little more intimate. It’s a little more sensual than before – and pensive.
My parents were both very musically inclined, they were both songwriters and musicians, so we grew up in the house singing music together, and R&B had a huge strong arm in the foundation of my career.
My experience with the Detroit Symphony has been musically very satisfying. They have a wonderful sound, which for me is one of the most important qualities in an orchestra.
Anybody that has followed closely what I’ve been doing can see from ‘Home,’ being as big a hit as it was, it kind of opened the door for me to try new things musically.
Balanchine is the number one influence for me. His work was really musically driven. He and Jerome Robbins were the ones who really showed me that dance could be about the inner relation between movement and music. When I was a student first seeing their work, I was like, ‘Oh, this is a thing?’
The thing about places like Trinidad and Jamaica is that they can be very musically insular. There isn’t much space for kids making hip-hop, electronic music, or hybrid genres.
It’s very difficult to be funny musically. I think I achieved It with ‘The Pink Panther.’
Opening for certain acts after so many years of headlining obviously made us resentful. It was kind of hard watching all these bands, who I really believed didn’t deserve to be on top musically, going ahead and pushing us out.
I think that the only goals that we try to set for ourselves is to evolve musically.
Chick Corea was a great influence on me, musically, as I was growing up.
My films are musically inclined.
Reggeton has changed very much, musically. It has evolved. The artists have also evolved.
There was a time, early on in my career, when it was very important for me to be liked by everyone. It meant that I was musically less honest with myself.
I grew up surrounded by all types of cultures – French, Indian, Arabic – a melting pot of cultures, sounds, foods, people, and religions. It opened my eyes early, and I’m grateful for that. It’s not about success in one area; it’s about exploring the world musically and spending time in those places whenever you can.
You have Vampire Weekend who have more African references musically than most African-American artists.
I’m a real big Marilyn Manson fan. I get a lot of my styles from him. Not even musically – living-wise, too. Marilyn Manson definitely shows me you shouldn’t care what nobody say. I watched a bunch of his interviews, and he’s not just an artist; he’s one of the most intelligent people I ever saw in my life.
Having a band was part of my heart’s desire, musically. Within myself, I was saying that, ‘Not until you have a band for yourself can you maintain the standard of your songs,’ and the sound become a foundation. You don’t have to feel around for two or three weeks for the sound because the foundation is already built.
I saw Mercury Prize-winners Alt-J for the first time recently, touring their debut album ‘An Awesome Wave,’ and I’m still riding the high: they’re the most musically dynamic and exciting band to have poured tune into my lug holes live since Bellowhead.
One of the things that’s influenced me musically was my experience at Brown University. I was surrounded by musicians that I really admired, and felt challenged to come up with music, lyrics, and recordings that stood up to the expectations of those musicians and myself.
Musically, I actually grew up listening to country music as a kid, like George Strait, Alan Jackson… all those guys. So it was kind of weird crossing over from that to pop and R&B, but you know, I love Michael Jackson, Ne-Yo, Usher, R. Kelly, Drake, Boyz II Men.
I was always very grateful to ’em and am grateful to ’em now. I went back a couple of years ago and did their 20th anniversary show. But the longer I stayed on Hee Haw, the worse things got for me musically.
Oh, yeah. I know Dizzy. For years he’s been my buddy way, way, way back. Dizzy is one of the most astute guys and one of the most learned guys in the world and knows exactly what he’s doing musically.
Michael Jackson is the greatest musical influence on me. He’s my man. Musically, he is the one artist I want to be like.
You learn a lot about each other from a tour, musically and humanly.
