Mark McGrath Quotes

The bad gains respect through imitation, the good loses it especially in art.

Being authentic can be a good thing in that often people who are fixated on that are also fixated on having very high standards, so they may maintain something they think has tremendous value. On the other hand, most of the kinds of music that I've been excited about are hybrid in their origins.

If I wanted to make a quick buck, there's far easier ways of doing it. What I want is to provoke people. If you want a hit song, all you need to do is rewrite an old song. It might have been proven to work, but you won't be remembered the same way.

There is a big difference between No. 1 and No. 2. I don't care who wrote it. I'd love to one day have a No. 1 that I wrote, but if that ain't in the cards, whatever. My job is right now is to make the best music I can and try to get it to the people, whether it be something that I wrote or not. It's my job to be the best I can for the fans.

I would never do anything that makes the perception of country music worse.

It can be disheartening to see acts that don't necessarily have any input on their own material to do so well in the charts.

Truth is the number one element in whatever you do with music.

Nothing that I say in my music is a lie.

I don't think the label makes the artist or the artist makes the label. It's the music that makes everything work or not.

People be famous for everything other than music and that's what they really trying to do. But they don't know once you get famous for being this funny guy, nobody's going to take you serious as a musician.

I think art is much more valuable when it's honest. If it's not honest, it's just propaganda.

I'm a pop artist, and that's what I'll always be. I don't want to be a 'credible artist.'

Not to name names, but a lot of pop female artists you see, they don't write their own songs. Lot of top male artists and boy band artists, they don't write their own songs. They're just a product. They sell, they sell, they sell. They don't care about musical integrity, any of that kind of stuff.

Ice Cube is the piece of me that I give away to the public.

You're playing serious music, and you want to be taken seriously. When they get my age wrong on the program, I wish they'd make me older.

When I want to be popular, I pull on a guitar and sing a song. Pras did not affect me because, in the realm of politics, he has never stood up for anything.

How many new rock stars have come around that have anything to say at all? Guys where you even want to know what they're thinking? Are they thinking? Where did it go astray?

I just want to make good music. That's it. That's what I care about.

I am quite certain in my heart of hearts that modern music and modern art is not a conspiracy, but is a form of truth and integrity for those who practise it honestly, decently and with all their being.

I would rather fall flat on my face than try to just make a quick dollar by making music that fits into the radio format right now. It does nothing for me.

If you're really on top, you probably didn't do that great, 'cause you have to water it down a bit for it to get that mass appeal.

These days, there are many people around the world who listen to the songs that made me infamous and read the books that made me respectable.

If it turns out to be a hit, well, good luck dealing with fame. And if it's not a hit and you can still survive and make music you believe in, well, then you're truly blessed. I think that's where we are now.

If you're gonna pretend to be something, then you have to at least live up to what it is.

I'm not saying I wasn't flawed or amateurish. But you can never say I did anything to appease the music business.