James Mercer Quotes

Rock in the mainstream culture has lost a lot of its mojo.

Not everybody in the country-music community is like me - I just happen to be one of the guys that is stereotypical.

I know that starting out as a young band, it's really easy to get lost with bands that sound the same or with the plethora of music that's out there.

There hasn't been anything real since grunge. That was the last movement led by music or an art form.

I remember that in '81, country radio was pretty pop, and everybody wanted a crossover record - and all of a sudden it came back to traditional. Now it's kind of swung the other way a little bit, but it always comes back.

When 5150 came out rock was king. Post Nirvana and Pearl Jam 1996 is a different story.

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

In England, rock music very rarely infiltrates the charts, but country music even less so.

America is tough for rock music. Rock n' roll used to be the main music for the youth, and it's not so much anymore. It's hip-hop and stuff.

The 'rock world' is a lot smaller than it used to be. It's doing a lot less things than it used to be. From Woodstock back in the day and Rage Against the Machine, no one sells millions of records anymore.

Rock became an incredible commercial success, people just became bored with serious music, and it was forgotten.

I think the singer/songwriter genre is going to be like bluegrass and jazz. You can make a living at it, but it's not part of the musical mainstream anymore.

Rock is periodically pronounced dead by clear rock critics - killed by world music, or by hip-hop, or electronica, or the Backstreet Boys. But if you wait a year, it comes back to life.

What I do know is rock and roll and metal never goes away, ever. It took the back seat in America in the '90s. In Japan and South America, it was still really big. I never followed trends, so I don't know the exact function of them.

Pup, who's like the most amazing, they're keeping rock 'n' roll and punk alive.

I've seen those kids at the shows, I can hear them, and I can certainly tell the difference between one of our fans and a Fall Out Boy fan who's just there because they heard we were hot.

Most youngsters are so well-connected with the rock music circle that they will know instantly if I attempt to imitate any rock star.

So many bands would say that they were alternative, or they were this or that... 'Heavy metal' was a pretty uncool word after about 1992; it was almost like, 'Stay away.' But it didn't bother us one bit. And our fans were the best ever.

I think rock 'n' roll, in a way, has been dead for a long time.

There's this whole split personality thing of being a farm girl and a rock and roll girl.

Metal needs to be exposed to more people, so it's good for rock if there's bigger bands.

Rock bands were never newsworthy. In the '60s and '70s, rock bands weren't in the newspapers because they weren't considered mainstream; they wouldn't sell papers.

People think it is all about country music, and I know a lot of country music has come out of there, but like Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dillon was recorded there. A lot of great records; R&B records, jazz records. It's a lot of great players and great studios.

I never really liked the lyrics or the sameness of the music. It always seemed to have the same rhythm or whatever. But when it turned a little more rock, I kind of liked it. I like what Kid Rock did to country. I like all the modern, new stuff that's coming out, and it just so happens that my boyfriend is not a country player, but he was a rock musician.

Today the most outlaw thing you can possibly do in Nashville, Tennessee, is play country music.