Tom Waits Quotes

Where my tastes in music are concerned, I'm a real maximalist.

I have a very eclectic taste when it comes to music.

I just know that I'm a fan of all different kinds of genres. You're supposed to be free doing music, and that's how I feel.

I'm a real magpie when it comes to music; it's all random, and there's no pattern to what I like.

The most important thing is that you honor that musical integrity, whether you make music that sounds like ABBA or you make music that sounds like Void.

I don't like rock. Honestly, I like to listen to it, but it's not for me. There's a lot of musical genres that I find interesting, but they don't suit me. It's one thing to listen to different genres, but to perform a genre that isn't yours is counterproductive.

I love all forms of music. I even like music I dislike, because the music you dislike is like going to a strange country, and it forces you to rethink everything and to appreciate its particular joys.

I'm not really into gothic music, it's not really my type of scene but each to their own. I listen to pretty much anything.

I started to like blues, I guess, when I was about 6 or 7 years old. There was something about it, because nobody else played that kind of music.

The greatest thing about music is everyone has their own style, and I respect all styles of music.

I'm a bit suspicious of people who are narrow in their musical tastes.

I'm a huge fan of a lot of different genres of music, and I really felt like somehow I had been pigeonholed a little bit - maybe of my own doing - and in a way where I felt like I was sort of falsely defined. What my music was being called wasn't really the music I was always listening to.

I hate labels; the problem is that if you say you're one thing, it's hard for people to imagine you as something else. Music is way more complicated than that.

And I don't feel any form of music is beyond me in the sense of that I don't understand it or I don't have some love for some part of it.

We all listen to a lot of eclectic things.

Music is not a sport - one is not better than the other. You just like what you like and get inspired.

I've always had a close connection to both rock and classical music.

I'm totally open to exploring different types of music. I just have to always remember to be true to who I am.

My son always says I like very weird music.

I feel most comfortable keeping versatile when it comes to music genres.

You must surrender whatever preconceptions you have about music if you're really interested in it.

Now I listen to all kinds of music except rap, which all sounds the same to me.

Music is a personal preference. Everyone's free to connect and like whatever they want.

Not that I want to put the entire rap music style down - I just don't like it. And I know somewhere there's gotta be another guy like that. There's gotta be a guy just like that - just like me. There's gotta be somebody, somewhere... Maybe, maybe an assassin type.

We all have different musical instincts, and I think they're precious and should be respected.