Top 40 Stephen Malkmus Quotes

I’m more into describing a scenario and I move around in that scenario.

The lyrics are different from Nick Cave songs and lyrics. His songs are very narrative.

There’s no point that an album should sound like a watered down version of another album.

‘Summer Babe’ is the start of Pavement front-loading their albums with the catchiest song first.

I really do think everybody can sing.

I’ve tried to rap, and I cannot do it.

I’m not saying I look at those pictures all the time and think, ‘Wow, I was hot.’ Just, you know, I think everybody deserves to be objectified at least once in their life.

We’re probably a couple of freaks who’ve created their own little universe, are living in our own little world and that’s the only place where we can survive.

I’m a junior – like Dinosaur Jr.

I’ve always been attracted to negative influences – I thought that meant you were smart.

Lou Reed is something like a personal favorite of mine, but you could always put me into that drawer of singers who can’t really sing, who speak their songs.

In this achievement-based lifestyle, most of us have certain boxes we’re checking to make us useful humans. But a lot of things you do as a parent are kinda invisible. There’s a lot you achieve – just getting dinner on the table – that are more than making a song.

Well, yeah, I sang to some songs on the radio or in the shower.

Pop music catches on like a meme. It just takes a little bit of tinder, and it can become a phenomenon. You have to break through that wall a little bit. Why it happens, I don’t really know.

‘Silence Kid’ starts with a broken classic-rock intro. It’s funny to hear us do that. Obviously, we weren’t skillful rock stars. Then it’s spinning through a lot of hooks really fast, and all of a sudden, it’s over.

We’re not on a desperate mission to write chart compatible stuff.

We were delighted to have Nigel as a producer. The only problem is that Nigel is so famous that he seems to dominate most interviews without being there.

With Pavement, we had no managers and never had a lawyer. We got lucky with not signing any bad deals.

Freddie Gray was a story I followed closer than others, for whatever reason, in this larger narrative of police brutality.

I know why Migos are popular – they’re good, and they make great videos, and they’re funny.

I am good at just looking in the kitchen and getting stuff on the table and keeping the mess minimal. There’s an art to the drudgery.

I’m into Zwan. Zwan was good.

I listen to things that are popular and try to think about it in a mathematical way.

I like that band Get Hustle. They’re cool live. I haven’t heard their records, though.

I’m not sure if you can blame everything on the American way of life, but the United States are big. So, if you have a lot of people there, the percentage of stupid people is bound to be higher.

I wouldn’t say that ‘Wowee Zowee’ was a success. We probably had a chance, had I focused a little more, to capitalize on the attention the band got for ‘Crooked Rain.’

I think the focus of the media changes. At the moment the more electronic stuff like trip-hop was the flavor of the month, just a little while ago. It all depends on the angle, from which point of view you see it.

I never decided to start singing, to be a singer.

John Waters is a genius.

Almost every band has somebody who’s the main songwriter and who has a vision, a very clear idea of how a song should be.

I don’t even think my voice is really good.

But, then again, I wouldn’t call myself an indie-rock supporter even if there are some really good bands out there and there will always be some real good new bands.

If I watch a basketball game, I don’t really care if a guy hit a three-pointer with three seconds left. I mean, I can like that. But I’m more interested in who drafted him and what makes him special.

If a voice is just too nice, without an edge, it kinda all flows by. You forget it. You don’t listen to the lyrics.

I hate being tan.

What producers did was mostly recording in the studio, so it never changed our sound just that much.

A good voice isn’t so important. It’s more important to sound really unique.

I’ll cover just about anything – except for a Kid Rock song.

I would be happy to produce groups, like John Cale – he was in the Velvet Underground, and then he went on to produce these bands.

I had another version of ‘We Dance’ that was kind of glam-rock. It was a little ‘Taking Care of Business’ mixed with Simon and Garfunkel. But on the album, I did it in a down-and-out way, like the Frogs or David Bowie or something – a little torch song thing.