Michael Azerrad Quotes

We certainly weren't expecting to become pop stars.

It never crossed my mind that one day I'm gonna be big and famous and have my own TV show, you know?

I didn't really plan on fame. I never really factored that part into my life.

I never thought I'd be a, quote, 'rock & roll star.'

Having a Top 10 record changed my life a lot, you know?

You know, I didn't have enough money to quit my day job... the myth of the major label deal. Nowadays, you have a tour bus and a stylist and all this stuff. But back then, no way.

I loved being a rock and roll star, but it wasn't what I wanted in life.

The fame thing is interesting because I never wanted to be famous, and I never dreamt I would be famous.

We've been around long enough and have been to enough award shows to know that it is easy to lose to Phil Collins at any time.

I don't think I'd get caught up in the crazy side of the music industry because it's just not in my nature.

I would love to make my music and be completely anonymous, but that doesn't work. You can't have success and be faceless.

Selling eight million copies of your first album will mess you up.

It will shock many - I've lived a full life and really enjoyed my time as a pop star.

I didn't realize - you think you are doing a movie but then you realize it's a Columbia Pictures movie so it's probably going to have some publicity. Then you see a billboard and it's like, 'God! I'm on a billboard!' It doesn't hit all at once, it kind of unravels itself and it's still unraveling.

I think a lot of people secretly wish they were a rock star, and I'm no exception.

Before 'Gremlins,' I was a normal person, then within two weeks of the movie coming out, I couldn't walk into a store without people turning around and staring. It's exciting and also scary because everyone starts telling you how amazing you are.

We used to get on planes, and they'd ask who we were, and we'd say, 'The Dave Brubeck Quartet', and they'd say, 'Who?' In later years they'd say, 'Oh', which amounts to the same thing.

I want as many people as possible to hear my music. I'm happy to entertain people by being a star.

When I was writing the Destiny's Child songs, it was a big thing to be that young and taking control. And the label at the time didn't know that we were going to be that successful, so they gave us all control. And I got used to it.

I think as a writer you never have to flee from fame because you're not that visible in the first place, but, after the Broadway success of 'Beauty Queen,' people were coming up to me all the time, and I wasn't really prepared for that level of attention.

At the end of the day, there's only a few major stars in the music business, and then there's all these people that are aspiring to be that.

You realise that having a number one record and being loved and adored isn't the most important thing in the world. But at the same time, I don't have a problem with it. What I'm trying to say is, I'm not a reluctant pop star.

I would love to be like Justin Bieber or Selena Gomez. They were catapulted into stardom when they were so young - like I was - and they still haven't gone down the wrong path and I hope neither or them will. I find that really inspiring.

The music industry is really funny, when you have a hit record, everyone knows who are you, everyone wants to do duets with you, then if you have a miss, people suffer from amnesia.

To say how you would react if you were really storming the charts and had people running around after you... who's to say how any of us would deal with that.