Michael Hutchence Quotes

I come from an art-school background, and I still feel that in my music, it's about exploration and challenging myself, about putting myself in a place that's frightening because I haven't been there before.

I've never played it safe on my own music.

I've always been inspired by artists who have shown musical and intellectual curiosity and the courage to take risks.

Being an American musician means being adventurous.

The biggest misconception about us is that we're just a rock band. We think our music is a cross-section of many genres; a hybrid of what the six of us have grown up on.

I think there's quite a lot of cowardice in music. I don't mind if it goes wrong, I just want to go for it.

If I didn't start singing in the cabarets and on my albums, I could have never even tried something like 'Capone.'

A big part of directing is being strong in certain circumstances and taking the gamble and hope you don't get fired.

I'm influenced by all kinds of music. I have a very diverse iPod. You never know if I've got it on shuffle. You never know what you are going to hear next. I like all genres.

We all know the dangers of sequels. Lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place too often, and I think you've got to move beyond it, go the extra mile and have the courage not to just repeat the first one.

Hip hop is doing the new rock thing; there are no rules. They can do anything, really. And that's inspiring.

All art is an intensely vulnerable gesture, and it is made with no small amounts of risk, and fear. So, I have plenty of sympathy for self-defense mechanisms, especially among artists.

I think music needs danger; it needs risk.

An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose.

My dream collaboration is with Lauryn Hill. Is that ever gonna' happen? Who knows! But there's still a lot I feel like musically I could do.

Ultimately, I just made the decision to move to L.A. sight unseen. It took me a while to save up some money to do it.

I like the idea of an eclectic approach, incorporating jazz with other forms and other genres of music.

I love to get to that place where I don't know what kind of music I'm doing; I don't know if it's any good. I don't know if it's anything. It's a big question mark. The idea is to have interesting results. That's my bottom line.

What I really like doing is taking risks, musically.

I think my music has always been a mixture, depending on whom I'm working with - what band, what musicians, what producer.

I feel that when you care about your music, taking risks is something you should do to keep things exciting.

I listen to a wide range of music, from country to pop to alternative rock, as well as Indian music. You know, what excites me are new ideas. And with a lot of the international hits - from Lady Gaga to Rihanna and others - you'd find excellent production and groundbreaking ideas that lift the music to a greater realm.

At first, I found the music I was making really hard to find a home for. I felt like my attitude was really British, but not the actual sounds I was making. Back in 2003, when I made 'Galang,' there were no clubs that had an 'anything and everything' attitude.

I spent two years figuring out how I could turn it into something that would satisfy me as a musician but also make some kind of cross-cultural link. I feel that I kind of at least touched on the possibilities of cross-cultural music, but it is a lifetime's work, and I don't profess to be anything other than a novice at it.

If you looked at my iPod, you would get a trip out of all the different music, from the real heavy metal to bluegrass to classical.