George Carlin Quotes

After this many years of being a lead singer in a touring rock band, I've had my fair share of fun. But those days are long behind me.

As far as groupies, I never saw any of them.

Boys in bands are more difficult to deal with than one-year-old babies. I've been one of them, and I am one of them, but it is the truth.

They don't really teach you how to be famous and a lot of people don't realise that this game comes with a lot of traps. So I'm just looking after myself, looking after my health and making sure I don't fall into those traps.

A lot of backup singers are really shy and don't want their life documented. They're not pining to be celebrity. They've had a front-row look at celebrity for a long time, and most people find out it's not for them.

I panic every time I put out a record. I think every artist does.

There's a certain sense of ownership that the fans have over you....The thing is, it's all good. You just have to get used to it. If somebody comes up to you while you're eating dinner or something, it's kind of like, 'Well, I asked for it.' It's much better than the alternative-nobody caring and nobody buying your music. The point is to try to just realize that these people are really excited, and that's a good thing. You want them to be that way.

Drugs and sex go hand in hand when you're a rock and roll musician. Whereas if I were a violinist, it might be a little different.

People think fame and money will bring you happiness. Fame actually makes life, especially human relationships, much more complicated.

Because celebrities' lives are so visible, I think it makes it look lighter than it is.

I don’t think famous is what I necessarily went for. The media was never something I really looked into and now especially I see it happening to me I think I was very smart when I was younger to not want that. It doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen, I just avoided it as much as possible.

I actually can't think of anything worse than being famous... Fame really distorts your perception of yourself.

I don't think there's any kind of preparation for sudden celebrity. I think you almost have this slight nervous breakdown when that kind of media attention happens. I mean, you're doing the same kind of thing that you do all the time, only you have to make these weird adjustments. Like, you're buying a slice of pizza and somebody's outside photographing you which is weird - that's not normal! It's very uncomfortable.

Starting off in music, the purpose of it was not to become like well known on the street and be famous. You know, I didn't even think about that part of being famous. Famous for making records, yes, but famous face in a woman's magazine, I never thought of that. I didn't want that.

The paparazzi have got worse for everyone over the years. It has just become such a big deal. No-one in this business really has much privacy.

You have celebrities who are pushed to the brink of a public meltdown, and so the public thinks that every person in the public eye has dirty secrets that they're keeping, or isn't what they seem, or is masking it and faking sincerity, faking authenticity, faking being surprised at award shows when you win a Grammy.

Everyone just wants to see what you can do for yourself. People think that just because I have some big ridiculous number on my myspace page that it's all easy for me. People are interested but I don't come home to labels waiting outside my house.

They're hungry for something they know nothing about, but we, we know all too well that the price of fame is the loss of privacy.

There are a lot of people who think celebrities shouldn't complain, that the photography is just a price to pay for having this career. I guess that's bizarre. What they don't understand is that this is all stuff that's really new.

I don't get why it would be interesting. I'm not that different. And also, now with Instagram and everything, everyone's so on their phones that even when I'm in a restaurant like this, where you wouldn't expect it, someone will come up and ask to get a picture with me and I'm like, 'No!'

I've met Bob Dylan's bodyguards, and if Steve Earle thinks he can stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table, he's sadly mistaken.

I was watching Ashlee Simpson on Jay's show last night... She was really singing, and I was saying, 'Bring back the lip synch'... And it struck me that Ashlee Simpson is a lot like George Bush - because she wouldn't even really be in the big leagues if it wasn't for family connections, and she's in way over her head. And she doesn't know what to do. And she blamed her band.

Of course I am stressed after I finish working on an album about what an audience will think, if it will be successful or not.

Alas, we are the victims of advertisement. Those who taste the joys and sorrows of fame when they have passed forty, know how to look after themselves. They know what is concealed beneath the flowers, and what the gossip, the calumnies, and the praise are worth. But as for those who win fame when they are twenty, they know nothing, and are caught up in the whirlpool.

I think they find it - they find me quite confusing, because - they know the music, but they don't know anything about me because I keep a very private lifestyle so they end up making up stories as such. But I don't really concern myself too much about them.