Stephen Malkmus Quotes

Gradually, people are connecting with my music, and that means the world to me.

Because of 'Wasn't Expecting That,' I've had a lot of people come up to me and say how I've written their lives or their grandparents' lives. It means the world to me that I helped in the tiniest way.

The thing that will never go away is that connection you make with a band or a song where you're moved by the fact that it's real people making music. You make that human connection with a song like 'Let It Be' or 'Long and Winding Road' or a song like 'Bohemian Rhapsody' or 'Roxanne,' any of those songs. They sound like people making music.

It's the subtleties of a ballad that truly make it beautiful - and it's all in the way you present it to the listener.

It feels really good that people are connecting to my music so much.

Music is really nothing if you think about it - it only becomes something when somebody listens to it. And then it becomes uncontrollable.

Something we're really known for is our signature harmonies, our great melodies - stuff that just makes you feel something and moves you.

The emotion of a song's lyrics has always been what grabs me deeply.

I don't think it's an artist's responsibility to be political all the time. I think your first responsibility as an artist is to make music that people will listen to and enjoy. However, I think that when you are able to say something that is moving and put it in a great song, then that is even better.

Me personally, I think all the barriers that are put up between genres are so easily broken. People just love music that moves them.

Music has brought me a lot of emotional moments.

That's why you put out records: hoping that people will connect with them. I mean, I play music for myself, for sure, and I would still play music even if people didn't like it. But it means a lot when it connects to people and they enjoy it. But it's funny: you get criticism as much as you get praise. It kind of evens out after awhile.

My favorite kind of song is the most beautiful song that you love so much and it's so good it makes you want to cry a little bit. Any jam can sound like that on a certain day.

A great pop song should be felt when you hear it.

When you're a musician, one of the things that comes to you in the beginning that is quite unexpected is the reaction from your fans, and to the way your music plays an important part in their life in figuring things out.

I think the main objective is to move people, make people think in their heart. I personally am not interested in appealing to other musicians. To me, it's more inspiring to move someone who doesn't know anything about music but has a feel.

Every artist wants to connect with the listener.

Hopefully, somebody who's hearing my music, it's relatable to them, and it strikes a cord with them.

The most rewarding experience as a musician is to know that I moved people personally.

I want the poem to be an experience - for both the listener and for myself.

We love high-end art, but when you're looking at high-end art in music, a lot of the time, it's appreciated academically, but you can't feel it as much.

I am really thankful to the audiences that they have appreciated all my songs and I have managed to touch their soul.

Once I heard how deep music could touch people and what it can make you feel and all of these emotions it could bring out, I was really fascinated with it all.

'7 Years' seems to have attracted a lot of age groups - people seem to see their own lives in the song, and it's great to see so many people reacting in that way to it.

When you listen to a song, it should make you sit up and wonder, 'Hey, what is this!' or give you an inexplicable feeling of joy or relate beautifully to the music in you.