John Rzeznik Quotes

I was told when I was little I couldn't have an opinion because you want everyone to buy your record and like you.

There are so many things to think about when you make an album. Like, who am I trying to impress? Am I going to get respect, critical acclaim? Or am I going to sell lots of records?

The joy of songwriting only gets messed up if you are trying to follow up a big success, or you are trying to create a hit single, or if you have conscious thoughts of a particular outcome for the music.

My goal was never to sell many records.

It's more important for me to have a good record with good music and be part of a movie that's good and where the music is used in a really great way. That's the important thing. The other stuff you want to say about it, I don't care.

No one told me I had to make something that would sell, but I personally want everyone to like my music.

For me, it was a lot of pressure to make another movie after 'Inglourious Basterds' because I didn't want to do something wrong. I wanted to have a beautiful project for another American movie.

It's hard for a hit to be bad for your career.

Tears for Fears was always very personal, but at the same time, it was always big business, a lot of pressure.

Forget about musical credibility. I think, unless you're Radiohead or whatever, it's pointless striving for that. What I would like is some respect.

There's a lot of pressure that comes from the mainstream stuff, and already people who have been saying - people who don't know any better - have been saying things to me like, 'You should really think about neosoul. You'd definitely be more successful in that.' But that's not my expression.

I don't think you're selling out by allowing the masses to love your art. The only curse is that, when you get so big, sometimes people forget to look at the music.

I used to never feel pressure to be creative; it's always just been a fun thing. And then suddenly, it's my job, and people are asking, 'Where's the record?'

It's difficult as an artist sometimes. There's a lot of pressure when it's your first album. You want to make something that's meaningful and timeless, not something that's trendy.

I'm glad 'Honest' came out right after 'Karate Chop,' because I don't want to be seen as a one-hit wonder.

I'm going to make the music I make regardless and it's always going to be driven by rhythm and blues and hopefully it becomes popular. But I don't cater to, like, 'OK, I want to make music that's going to fit in this pop world or go on the charts, etcetera, etcetera.' Hopefully, enough people like it so it becomes popular.

It's really weird how the rock world is quickly becoming like the jazz world. How if you do OK, or get a tiny bit of success, that's considered a sellout, whether you did anything different or not.

We always thought if 'Beauty and the Beat' sold even 100,000 copies, we'd be real happy and a successful group, so when it reached a million... Hey, we just laughed about it.

Obviously, I would like to play to bigger audiences and have a bit more success, but not if I have to commercialize.

I don't want to just make music as I want to be legendary. I understand it has to be commercial as I have to feed my family. I am in between these two marks and they are not many people in this space. I want my work to my valued even if my face is forgotten.

When I came back to New York, it was such a joke because I was always referred to as the pure young poet who wasn't in it for what he could get out of it. And all of a sudden, the pure young poet comes back... and I'm hanging out with the Rolling Stones.

After I made 'Oh Carolina' in the 1990s, the record company wanted me to copy that sound, and I refused.

I guess the bottom line is I don't make music that is consumed en masse.

I'd never intended to write a Christmas hit - I was a serious musician!

I thought my second record was good, but it didn't have that smash hit we did on the first one that somehow found its way onto tons of formats of radio stations.