John Frusciante Quotes

I would rather die than be a serious artist, or a fake artist.

If you try to go beyond your interests just for the sake of pretensions or wealth, your art becomes less legitimate.

I must be true to myself within my music or I would be a liar.

For me, I really feel like if there's not a real, true connection to the material, I don't need to sing it. I don't need to sing songs just because I like them anymore. I've done that.

Rather than trying to create an audience, just try and create music that feels good to you.

If you pretend to be somebody that you're not when you write songs - and I did that on some of the early Styx albums - nobody cares about what you have to say.

I really believe in not compromising your art. I feel like I've never compromised my art.

Rozay is an artist himself so he understands the importance of being true to your work.

Don't make music for some vast, unseen audience or market or ratings share or even for something as tangible as money. Though it's crucial to make a living, that shouldn't be your inspiration. Do it for yourself.

I'm just excited that I get to put out the music I love versus music just for the sake of it.

I would hate to make music and people love me for something that isn't me.

In the music industry, we value large success. I realized that while I would like that, that it's not what my writing is about. And if I start making it about that, it becomes impure.

Love the art in yourself and not yourself in the art.

I've always enjoyed feeling a connection to the avant-garde, such as Dada and surrealism and pop art. The only thing the artist can do is be honest with themselves and make the art they want to make. That's what I've always done.

You look at Michael McDonald and people like that; I think they just tried to write music that was true to themselves. That's our bottom line. Whatever people view us as, I think as long as we try to create good music that will win out in the end.

You can't trust an artist that just makes good records.

I think the key to making records generally is to make 'em for yourself, regardless of the climate in the business.

The whole process of music for me is something absolutely honest and really naked and bare, so I never forced myself to write in French.

I'm confident in my intentions and why I'm making music. I'm not making music because I want to be on your TV screen or the cover of your magazine.

Lucian Freud's career affirms that the only thing an artist can do is remain true to whatever vision, (lack of) talent, or ideas that happened to pick them in order to be made known to the world.

My purpose is to make a movie to make you warm. To give you some heat. Now, this rational world has become a place where only what is cool is good. Do you cut the movie on the basis of the beat of modernity or the basis of the beat of your own heart?

My music is going to be true. I'm not out to sell records. I'm experiencing something, and it's what I feel.

I always make music that is true to my spirit.

When I write a book... it's the same essential approach to music as with books. It has to be something I want to hear or read. Hopefully the audience comes along, since that's the only way you can write righteously. I have to ask, 'What do I want to hear?' not 'What do people want to hear?'

I try to be a good representative for country music. But as a country artist, it's important to move the needle and make a difference beyond your core audience. But you can't ever strategically try to accomplish that; then things get weird.