Tom DeLonge Quotes

I love rock-n-roll. I think it's an exciting art form. It's revolutionary. Still revolutionary and it changed people. It changed their hearts. But yeah, even rock-n-roll has a lot of rubbish, really bad music.

We're not trying to change the world; just music.

I've always supported new music from classic bands, especially if it's good.

Somewhere along the line, music became 'content'... It's my full intention to bring it back to music again! I believe in the power of song.

I don't see that there are any particular changes in popular music.

I think we're in a very low point of music right now.

I played Woodstock in '69, and it really changed my life. Without a doubt, it was the single event that really changed the way I felt about music. Up to that point, I hadn't really thought of myself as more serious musician, and I didn't really have that much interest in pop music.

Country music has to evolve in order to survive.

You can still make music that people love, but there won't be more innovation. I started listening to electronic music a long time ago. But mostly I listen to rap. I think rap is the most interesting.

Twenty years from now, will we listen to Lady Gaga? No. She might think she is making a stand for the freaks and the weirdos. But they're not going to have any decent music to play, are they?

Popular music sucks so bad right now.

The whole rise of new adult contemporary music and smooth jazz was a nice surprise.

I had to make a drastic change at Sun Records and I didn't really appreciate country music until I went there.

I think music will thrive where it wants to.

I think there are people who really always have and always will care about the quality of music in general, about the sound of the music, things like that.

When 'Nevermind' came out, my roommate had the CD. At first, I actually thought, 'This is too polished and commercial.' It was a little off-putting. But then I was like, 'This is the best music ever.' It felt so close to what I wanted to do.

Music is always going to be only as sophisticated as the culture that consumes it.

At 18, I moved to L.A. with my heavy metal band Avant Garde, which was very much influenced by Metallica. At 19, I got a job at Tower Records, and everything started to change very quickly. I started listening to the Velvet Underground, Pixies, early Nirvana, Sonic Youth, and also earlier music like the Beatles.

I'd really started hating music. I'd started hating all the songs, hating being in the industry, hating doing the shows. So I had to learn to love music again if I wanted to continue doing this.

I just don't get that new hot music. I don't know anything about all these groups like U2.

There's always people saying that rock is dead, rock is over. People are always out to kill rock and roll.

I just change with the times. I really don't have a say in what's going on. Music was here before me.

Superficial pop will always exist - there've always been Fabians - but when people like Dire Straits and Bruce Hornsby start having hits, it suggests that there's a revolution going on in music.

I think the problem starts with the general appreciation of the music in the larger society.

Late 20th century music was a really important thing. It changed the world, and I'm part of that, and now I'm part of the museum that celebrates that.