Lester Bangs Quotes

People don't analyze Britney Spears' lyrics 'cause they're so obvious, you know? And her image is so kind of blah and mainstream that who really wants to read between the lines, because it's all so out there in front of you and boring and white bread.

I think there are certain genres of music where people are allowed to go on, but there is something about rock and roll, I guess because it originally started out to be a teenage rebellion.

Rock'n'roll to me is a rebellion against the sterile pedestal culture of movies.

Rock and roll music - the music of freedom frightens people and unleashes all manner of conservative defense mechanisms.

The only thing that exists to me is commercial pop music.

Anti-parent music seems to be all the pop-rock market wants.

I don't think 'Sugar Man' is a music doc any more than 'The Social Network' is about computers. It just happens to have the best soundtrack ever.

They were marketing me as a teen idol, when the stuff on the record was not what teen idols were doing at the time.

I think there were early critics who wanted us to change the world because the Sex Pistols failed.

The whole thing about rock music, pop music, is it's really for kids.

The kids today have these fresh faces. It's like they're on pins and needles, waiting to see what I'm going to do. They've never seen me. In the 1960s, those were hippies. They were wired up already. The kids today know me because I've worked with Jeff Tweedy and other young producers.

In the Top 40, half the songs are secret messages to the teen world to drop out, turn on, and groove with the chemicals and light shows at discotheques.

They are called 'Emos' now, and before that they were 'Goths.' They didn't have a name for it when I was one, but I was that black-wearing teenager and yes, I wore a little eyeliner.

I was the rebel in our family and a child of the eighties. That meant going to the mall.

I think that the stuff I write for pop music is terribly, terribly cheesy.

That was the coolest thing about 'Baby Got Back.' The establishment didn't embrace the song, which is what kept me from being the next pop guy to fizzle out and get laughed at, get dissed on TV. That helped save me. The fact that MTV banned the record made the record, in a weird way.

Being a musician has actually surrounded and immersed me in pop culture and youth culture from a very young age. But even before I was singing in bands and creating any kind of art, I was always fascinated by pop culture.

I would totally do a Madonna or Lady Gaga video.

I've always wanted to write pop music. I never wanted to be cool or make a hipster record.

The more parents hate the music, the more their children will like it. It had been true with Elvis, and it had been true with the Rolling Stones. 'Straight Outta Compton' was music that parents could loathe with a passion. I knew we had a massive hit.

I started off making music that made fun of pop; now I'm nominated for helping produce pop songs that aim to be as honest as possible.

When you finish a song, your first thought is going to be, 'Is this song a hit?' I hate that we think that way, because it kind of takes a little bit of the meaning out of the songs that are being written, but you're definitely going to think, 'Can this song be put on the radio?'

Bands like Little Mix do represent youth culture because loads of 16 year old girls listen to them.

When I was a teenager, you were either a punk, a skinhead or a mod, or you weren't on the scene. Me and my mates were skinheads.

I don't think hip-hop is a dying art form. I think it's impossible for hip-hop to be a dying art form.