Words matter. These are the best Paul Weller Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
People say you make your best work when you’re in despair and all that, and at your lowest – but for me, I think happiness makes you positive, and I think that’s a good creative place to write from.
There have been records I’ve been really, really pleased with that haven’t connected with people. But I felt good about them.
I had a total belief in The Style Council. I meant every word and felt every action.
In my old age, my mind gets more open, and I listen to so many different types of music and I guess that all reflects in my work.
There are so many artists who get to my age that get comfortable and just stick in a groove, and I really don’t want to do that.
I’m so lucky, I’m just really grateful for what I’ve got around me – children and my wife and everything else.
It’s quite liberating to get to a certain age, ‘cos you’re not chasing number one hits or trying to be an international superstar. I’ve done all that. I’m not out to prove much more to anyone but myself really, to be an artist and see if there is a new undiscovered music out there for me to make.
People say that if you’re still angry at 52, you’re not an angry young man, just a grumpy old git.
I suppose I was much more serious-minded in the ’70s and ’80s.
I’d like to think I’ve left something in the world. Without in any way trying to be morbid, but life is very short, and I’d like to think I’d leave some body of work that would inspire other musicians long after I’ve gone.
There is a shy side to me that evaporates when I play on stage, and I like that. I think it’s another facet of my character, and I need to do that.
I’ve not had Botox, no.
I didn’t imagine getting to 50, let alone still be playing music. When I was 18, I thought it’d all be over by the time I was 21.
I’m not big on rap, to be honest. I just don’t get it. It’s angry people shouting. I like a song, melodies, people singing.
I’m fine with being thought of as a guitar player, and if I can get any recognition or respect for doing that, that’s a pretty good thing for me.
I still love playing music. It was all I ever wanted to do, and I got the chance to do it.
When I’m dead, I wanna leave a body of work, like authors or great painters do.
The Jam were a good band, however I feel that the Style Council were better. A lot of people I know will disagree with me. Some things we did with The Style Council were misinterpreted or over their heads.
I think politicians are so far out of step with what people really want.
‘Ageism,’ or whatever you want to call it, is a very English phenomenon. You don’t get it too much in many other cultures. And no one says it about authors or poets or filmmakers. ‘Oh, they’re too old to make films or write books.’
The Zombies were really unique – they had elements of jazz and classical music in their songs and songwriting. They had a very, very different sound compared to a lot of their contemporaries at the time.
Of course I’m proud of what I’ve done, but I’m interested in what’s next. I want to be relevant now, in 2012. I’ve done my bit for the past. I’ve only ever been about what’s next, really, and I’ll be that way until I keel over.
When I got into the Beatles, I must have only been about six or seven but old enough to take notice. We used to have an old radiogram which, for readers of a certain age, was like a big cabinet thing with a record player inside it.
I wear jeans and a T-shirt sometimes. I just like clothes – since the first time I can remember, like age ten or eleven; I was just obsessed with music and clothes. Just like a lot of people in England from my generation.
I think people are just really disappointed, disappointed with Blair as well, who’s just like Bush’s lapdog. I think everyone’s just disillusioned with politics in our country, and it must be the same in your country.
Playing music is a lifetime’s work. And if you want to carry on with it, you have to try to better yourself. You have to see where the music can take you.
I want to see where and how far I can go as an artist. I look back and see what I’ve done, and I want to do as much as I can in my lifetime. I love doing it. If I didn’t have that passion or love for it, I wouldn’t do it.
You can’t live a lie. You have to follow your heart.
I take my hat off to people like the Stones, but it’s not for me. I couldn’t do that. Jagger is brilliant and long may he rock. I couldn’t make my career out of old songs; it would do my head in.
Most people my age, their musical life ended in the ’80s. They stick with what they know. But my tastes are much broader. And I don’t want to stop learning.
I was such a massive fan of all the ’60s pop bands, but if I had to single out one band, it would definitely be The Beatles.
The only time I ever really got into rap was back in the early ’90s, and bands like A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Gang Starr. Musically, they were really interesting. But when hip-hop acts start sampling Sting or Phil Collins, then I just don’t get it at all.
Nothing wrong with pop!
Being a musician is a noble profession.
Everyone gets frustrated and aggressive, and I’d sooner take my aggression out on a guitar than on a person.
In all honesty, I don’t know what one song can change.
I don’t think about what I can’t do or what I shouldn’t be doing. I just think there are endless possibilities musically, really.
I come from a time when every kid dressed up. Everybody. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be able to hang out. It was very tribal. There’s nice things in that. It’s culture; it’s roots for me.
I never, ever wanted to be the Rolling Stones. Bless their hearts, but I don’t necessarily want to go on doing the same old thing for the next 10, 20 years… I could see how easy it is to get into that rut, the whole touring mindset.
Pop music was supposed to be a flash in the pan, but here we are 50 years later and it means something to us, and it always will do. It’s incredibly important.
All my children inspire me in life, and that always comes out in the writing.
Getting to No. 1 makes everyone feel better; of course it does. But it’s swings and roundabouts with these things. Sometimes you make a great record, and it clicks with people. And other times it passes them by; there’s nothing you can do. It’s still the same record.
When I told my mum I was going to play my first gig when I was 14, she couldn’t believe it, cause I was painfully shy at that time. But I just done it, put my head down and got through it. And I suppose there’s still a little bit of that, even though it’s many years later and I’ve been doing it for a long time.
No man should have cowboys boots in his wardrobe. That’s fair enough, isn’t it? Unless you’re a cowboy, of course.
I’m sure there’s a subconscious ‘go for it’ thing with turning 50. You want to do as much as possible and there are thoughts of how little time we have on the planet. For a lot of musicians in their 50s, the best days are behind them. I’d like to try and show that there is a future.
Music is the most natural thing in the world. When we go to a gig and we all like it and we share that experience, it’s the same sense of communion as a sacred rite in Borneo or wherever it may be; it just gets dressed up different. Its good for the soul.
I really enjoy playing America. I like the audiences there. It’s the home of a lot of music I grew up with.
I’ve always liked my clothes, even before I could properly afford them. Clothes for me were never a cloak, a cover. They were how I chose to express myself.
We can’t stop a baby in Africa from starving to death… but we can afford enough technology and weaponry to blow the world up a million times over.
Led Zeppelin would never have reformed if he or Jimmy Page were bald.
I want to hear as much music as I possibly can before I leave this mortal coil but it’s impossible to hear it all because there’s so much of it.
It is nice to make a record and people like it, and it’s encouraging.
I think I come from a time when all the artists I grew up with and I loved always used to try and push the boundaries, and there doesn’t seem so much of that, really.
I was always taught as a kid that if there’s anything you want in life, you’ve got to work towards it. I guess that sort of stayed with me, really. But also, for me, from the time I was, like, 10 years old, all I ever wanted to do was be in a band and make music.
I could write songs about politics, but I’m conscious of not writing songs that sound the same as the ones I wrote 30 years ago.