Varg Vikernes Quotes

I don't remember half of the new bands, though - and I think that's kind of where we're going. It's turning into just a big derby of songs. May the best song win.

These people shred. That's what I was saying about Nashville-you can go to an open mic night at the Holiday Inn and probably see more talented musicians than the ones touring. When we first came down here I was like, "Wow I'm glad we didn't cut our teeth down here, there's so much competition." You're being challenged constantly because you're surrounded by these amazing musicians.

It doesn't really seem any different anywhere. I'd say it seems like we're biggest in Australia. It's just that we've always been this underground band and for some reason in the last month has been starting to go overground.

In the Sixties, you needed talent to make it.

I don't think I was ever designed to be a ubiquitous worldwide star. I'm a singer-songwriter writing quite personal songs. You're not supposed to chuck me on a stage with bells and whistles. There was a struggle ahead after that happened, and perhaps I was trying to write songs to compete in that arena.

I remember, after the New Year's Eve 1991 show, somebody running onto the bus and saying Nirvana had just hit No. 1. I remember thinking, 'Wow; it's on now.' It changed something. We had something to prove - that our band was as good as I thought it was.

I just appreciate the love that I get and support from hip-hop.

All the rappers in rave music are like the sloppy seconds of rappers who couldn't make it.

Singing rock n' roll - they called it singing for the devil. But we all wanted an opportunity to compete in the music industry, and that was the opportunity.

As far as Memphis being underrated, I feel like a lot of people have slept on Memphis music when it comes to breaking through into the mainstream.

Ride It' did it for me. Not only did the Asian community love it, but the black community and the white community got to hear about it. The song became such a big hit for me and got me noticed by the CEOs of Cash Money in America.

You can't be rolling into town with stars in your eyes. A lot of people get to Nashville and immediately start selling themselves: 'Let's go to lunch and talk about the business!' Then you realize everyone is talented here.

Every year, there's some band that plays guitar-oriented pop music that has a single, but for the most part, it's kind of relegated to the sidelines.

I have a really good relationship with a lot of people in the music industry from Detroit. They're very kind when it comes to us stepping into their field or what they do and they're really willing to help out and help you get better at what you're trying to do.

There is so much talent in the country, and not all of that necessarily is confined to Bollywood. There are some great musicians from the independent music scenario in India making some great music.

In Nashville, good guitar players are a dime a dozen.

We started out to finish groups like U2 - that was what it was all about.

I feel like I don't fit in. There's not a lot of outlets for urban music, for black artists who don't have that crossover thing going early on.

People think this is a competition between bands, when the reality is the more successful bands the better.

In the music business, we're much better off staying in Bath - we don't get involved in the competitiveness, where you've got to be seen in the right places and music kind of takes second place.

It's easy to get squashed down in this business, for sure. Nashville can definitely train you to not get too excited.

It's very tough to give advice because it's tough out there for everybody but for a girl it's even tougher, because I don't think the glass ceiling has changed at all in the past 30 years. Otherwise the radio would be covered with girl bands, or girls in bands, so I don't think much has changed on that level. But I think that bands can still have a lot of success trying to go another route.

I would never discredit anyone that is working their way up on a show like "American Idol." I think they work so hard overcoming all of the obstacles to get on the show in the first place and then every week they are judged in front of all of America... I give them complete credit for getting up on stage... I think they deserve all the success that they get.

In a way, to have whatever people talk about as "crossover success," I think it means you start making bad music. I mean, when I'm flipping through the channels and see the VMAs or something, I don't really see any music there.

A lot of bands that are great disappear a little bit faster than they used to. They don't get as much support for the long haul. You have to be pretty tough to hang in there.