Michelle Shocked Quotes

A whole generation of veteran composers has never taken a stand or provided an example and has produced in the music academies generations of docile workers for the music industry. What can you expect from downtrodden workers who see music as a type of profession, like stenography, and not an act of creation that by its nature is subversive?

I think music will thrive where it wants to.

I always loved music, and I always wanted to make a film about it, but I could never do it because of the censorship that was around.

I'm very much interested in music specifically and wanted to make a film about it, but not in an atmosphere of censorship.

Music's not like becoming a doctor, who can walk into a community and find people who need him.

Studying music in a conservatory would be stifling for me, although I respect people who can do it. And by no means am I an expert at notating music or music theory - that's not really my world.

There's more to being a musician than just making music.

I don't really plan to be a pop star; I just want to be able to make music without the whole My Dad thing hanging over me, which everyone in my position goes through.

Music is always going to be only as sophisticated as the culture that consumes it.

It is better to make a piece of music than to perform one, better to perform one than to listen to one, better to listen to one than to misuse it as a means of distraction, entertainment, or acquisition of 'culture.'

Maybe I'm a dreamer, but I think the ordinary guy has just as much right to say 'This is a good song' as somebody who is in the music business.

I hope I don't give music a bad name.

I don't think they should regulate the music field. I don't see how they can regulate the arts.

I love playing and working on music. It is something that I feel really lucky to be able to spend my life doing. And I don't sleep much!

Music will never go away, and I will never stop making music; it's just what capacity or what arena you decide to do it.

I always love making albums. I'm passionate about it and it's something that's healthy for the soul and spirit.

Music has always been an important thing to me in my life and understand I've worked in the music business.

Sometimes I forget that I'm supposed to keep people entertained because I'm just making music for my lifestyle and for my people who live my lifestyle. We forget that there's a world waiting on us.

Dick Clark was a really great influence in my career; he helped me a lot with his whole organization, and they were awesome to me at all different points - but one thing that I really disagreed with him on was when he said that what I do, pop music, is a disposable art form.

Pop songs are not as graceful as they used to be. Performers today haven't gone through the regimen of learning how to write. And of course, everyone wants to own copyrights.

Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it.

It used to be that creative music was most of the music that you heard back in the '30s and '40s, and now it's like 3 percent. So, its kind of a struggle getttin' it out there.

I remember times when the whole music scene was just flourishing.

Music's always been a huge part of my life, and my first record came out in 1981.

I've made money, and I've been ripped off. I've had creative freedom, and I've been pressured to make hits. I have dealt with diva behavior from crazy musicians, and I have seen genius records by wonderful artists get completely ignored. I love music. I always will.