Jesse Stone Quotes

As a black artist in America, you know, it is so segregated as far as the radio goes and how they position music on the radio.

When people say Jerry Lee Lewis invented rock n' roll, they forget Little Richard. People talk about Elvis Presley and forget he was singing black music. I don't blame Elvis. It was the music business figuring it could make more money from this music if it weren't presented from the original source.

In 1965, when great young white artists in the English-speaking world were successfully re-channeling hillbilly and black music - you know Bob Dylan, Ray Davies, Pete Townsend, Keith Richards - they didn't get any money at first. They were all broke.

I have this massive love for the whole culture of pop music. It's my fascination, my ongoing passion.

I think 'pop' can be a bit of a dirty word. People are very cool in Australia. They don't like to admit that they like pop. There are people who listen to Triple J and cool stuff like that, but commercial radio is massive, and if you look at the sales of the pop songs every week, people love pop music.

The whole world has changed much since the '80's. In the united States, rap music and country music dominate radio and that certainly wasn't the case in the early '80's.

Jazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music.

When Phil and I started out, everyone hated rock n' roll. The record companies didn't like it at all - felt it was an unnecessary evil. And the press: interviewers were always older than us, and they let you know they didn't like your music, they were just doing the interview because it was their job.

My dad being a DJ, I heard all the hits, no matter what. My mom always had on the radio because my dad was on it.

My input for the first 16, 17 years of my life was AM radio, FM radio - pretty mainstream stuff. Rolling Stone was probably as edgy as it got.

I was born at the beginning of rock and roll. I got to experience the entire evolution of popular rock and roll music even before it started.

MTV definitely has the effect of narrowing the range of music that hits the mainstream. On the other hand, isn't that the effect of television in general?

I think celebrity culture and sexuality in pop music is really important, but I want there to be an alternative for people.

I figured as long as the music stayed hot and important and good, that there would always be a reason for 'Soul Train.'

People called rock & roll 'African music.' They called it 'voodoo music.' They said that it would drive the kids insane. They said that it was just a flash in the pan - the same thing that they always used to say about hip-hop.

I don't want to be the cranky old guy, but a lot of critics are too forgiving of mediocre artists. When you see these 'American Idol' people on the cover of 'Rolling Stone' being written about as serious artists, there's something wrong with that. You can erase them from the history of rock n' roll, and you wouldn't notice.

When I was growing up, radio DJs were celebrities, not just the people singing the songs.

Rhythm and blues used to be called race music. ... This music was going on for years, but nobody paid any attention to it.

He flipped the dail, and I crossed my arms over my chest as some vaguely European-sounding band sang about how video had killed the radio star. I wished someone would kill this radio.

What I can't understand why Blacks can't achieve royal status when it comes to forms that they have largely created? I mean there's a White King of Rock n' Roll, there's a White King of Jazz, how come we can never achieve titles of royalty in these fields we are supposed to prevail in? They held a so called Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the other night, where White judges credit people who resemble them with the invention of Rock and Roll. I didn't even see Blacks in the audience.

I was an MTV guy back in the day.

I like to enjoy good music. I like Michael Jackson; I don't care who wrote the songs.

The only difference between The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith, and Chubby Checker is that they get their music played on the radio.

There's a lot of politics in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. There's a lot us artists would change about the induction ceremony and who they pick.

I get tired of people trying to dog out the radio for not playing this or that. There are lots of people who like what they play - otherwise, they wouldn't play it.