Top 60 Steven Van Zandt Quotes

Sometimes there’s no qualitative difference between two-and-a-half and three-and-a-half hour shows. It’s just a matter of how long you do it. It’s not like the show must be three hours and 30 minutes to work. That’s just not the case.

You’re either on the Republican team or the Democratic team, and all that matters is that your team wins. Judging by history, regardless of which team wins, the people always lose.

The first rule of rock and roll is it’s all about live. Then you have to learn a second craft, which is making records. It should go in that order.

I was obsessed with politics in the ’80s. I’ve recovered and I’m feeling much better now, thank you.

Young fans want to know about the past and older fans also want to find new music.

You want everybody to like your work, but when you look at what’s fashionable or trendy, it’s pretty obvious that I don’t exactly fit.

I learned a lot from Bruce Springsteen and David Chase.

I did 10 years on ‘Sopranos,’ but the whole craft of acting is relatively new to me. I’m still learning that, and I’ll be learning that forever.

I’ve always considered the government taking one out of every two dollars I earn absolute tyranny.

C-17s should be ready to go at various military bases around the world packed with water, food, medical supplies, sleeping bags and tents, all prepared to be air dropped in alongside soldiers and doctors to begin relief efforts.

I know what it takes to make a band, how they should interact, what makes a record sound like it’s a band – everything having to do with a band, I happen to be into.

I was 100 percent political in the ’80s – the first time around, let’s call it, my first life as an artist.

For me, it all comes down to one issue: if we can get money out of political systems, the whole world will change.

Every successful person needs to have at least one person in their life who’s not afraid of them.

Politics, in general, when you’re trying to change the world for the better in any kind of way, no matter how small or how big, it’s inches.

For those who are familiar with my work, ‘Soulfire’ is a return to how most people identify me, which is that soul-meets-rock thing.

Being a rock n’ roll star ain’t a part-time gig.

You can trace the E Street Band directly back to the Rascals.

First of all, just because the Tea Party people appear to be generally uneducated, ignorant about the political process, ignorant about economics, confused about their own platform from the beginning, and indelicate when it comes to the craft of diplomacy, doesn’t mean they’re wrong.

I was a gambler when I was a kid, so when we got to Las Vegas, it was like Mecca.

I tell everybody, if you’ve got a band that works, it’s a miracle. It’s never going to be perfect, but if it works on some level, hold on to it with both hands and don’t ever let it go.

The Rascals are something else. They’re up there with the Beatles, and Stones and Byrds. That level of musicality. They have a real chemistry. It is like magic.

I was deep into it – worldwide liberation politics as well as domestic – but by the end of the ’80s, I had decided it all comes down to one single issue: campaign-finance elimination.

I didn’t care about anything expect rock & roll. So it’s nice that it turned out to be something that you find a way to make a living from.

‘Born to Run’ was a mixture of things but mostly about youth and fantasies.

The only reason why I made solo records was because I got so obsessed with politics, and that is quite personal. I don’t really philosophically believe in solo records.

I met all my heroes on the oldies circuit: Gary U.S. Bonds, Lloyd Price, Little Richard.

Like most people, I’ve always felt using words like ‘best’ when applied to art is a fun way for critics to stay busy at the end of the year, and I guess a good way to help get ratings for awards shows, which is fine.

There is an established tradition of actors directing films that have a particular, personal meaning for them – Warren Beatty, Clint Eastwood, Kevin Costner, and most recently George Clooney to name a few. Remarkably, their films share an unusually high percentage of being very good.

Netflix completely shook up the world.

I tend to personally judge issue by issue rather than sort of endorsing this football-team mentality that we fall into in this country, where it’s all about the team.

I don’t wake up every day and just write to write. I only write with purpose.

Believe me, if Donald Trump didn’t have some point that he’s making, hitting home with people, he could not have come this far – as much as a showman as he may be.

It’s a challenge every year with a TV series. You want to keep evolving and keep it going. That’s part of the fun.

Bands should never break up.

I was very lucky with ‘The Sopranos.’

Little Steven – the songwriter, producer, and arranger – stayed alive doing the ‘Lilyhammer’ score. That pretty much took up three or four years of my life, and all of my musical energy went into that.

To walk into a studio, for me, is just like walking onto a beach or something.

It’s become uncool to play other people’s songs, and that’s absurd. It has got to change. It’s the reason why everything’s so mediocre.

I did nothing but international liberation politics for ten years, and usually it was like, you gain an inch, you lose a half an inch. It’s slow going, man.

I have very little interest in the modern world, and I’m not in any way conflicted about that.

I tried to get Primal Scream to come over to America several times.

People want to learn how other people live. It’s just human nature.

Timing really is nearly everything. And what it isn’t, circumstance makes up for.

There are… certainly more innovations on ‘Revolver’… but the truth of the matter is ‘Sgt. Pepper’ has something that was just completely different and unique at that moment.

‘Sopranos’ was a fascinating moment, just catching our whole culture by surprise, a fun ride to be on while I’m learning the craft.

Little Richard opens his mouth, and out comes liberation.

I am Italian. Springsteen’s mostly Italian, too. We’re both Italians with Dutch names, one of the many things we have in common.

You think your congressman is working all day to get you a job? He may want to. He or she is probably not a bad person. They probably want to do the right thing. But they can’t.

Primal Scream could be the biggest band in the world. They are fantastic when they make rock records – once every 10 years.

For me, making a record is a vacation. I’d like to do it more often. Just, chances are impossible… It’s a very expensive hobby, you know?

Rock n’ roll as a genre is different from pop and hip hop: it is about bands, and that for me suggests brotherhood, family, friendship and community.

In ‘The Sopranos,’ these guys know their best years are behind them. They have nostalgia for their old traditions. In their minds, they’re looking for a time when loyalty mattered, community mattered. E Street is about community, too. People are looking for something real.

I am interested in the interaction of a group of people who have a common goal, or a common obsession, each contributing something unique to make something greater than the sum of its parts. I don’t know why, but from day one, that has interested me.

Life should never be boring.

Band members have a special bond. A great band is more than just some people working together. It’s like a highly specialized army unit, or a winning sports team. A unique combination of elements that becomes stronger together than apart.

I’ve always had a reluctance to meet my heroes.

I played around with the idea of touring with a soul revue, with Smokey Robinson, Sam Moore, Darlene Love, people like that.

Reach for greatness, nothing less. And make sure you have some fun along the way.

My lifelong friend and mentor Frank Barsalona is gone. And the music business as we knew it went with him.