Ben Gibbard Quotes

I got everything I wanted. When I was young in Kansas City, I knew nothing about Frank Sinatra, Billy Eckstine, Ella Fitzgerald, of all those concert halls, of all those countries. I did not know what it was like to direct a band... All I wanted was to be big, to be in show-business, and to travel...and that's what I've been doing all my life.

You know, most people, they want to go to Hollywood. They want to be a star. They want to be a rock star. That thought never entered any of our minds, the Van Halen family.

My understanding of this life is that you tour and play for years and years, have some longevity and a steady career. That may sound boring, but I always thought that was less depressing than being a one-hit wonder.

I don't mind having a one-hit wonder as long as I have a career in show business, which has been fabulous.

I was really wanting to be a rock star. I was saying, "I am going to have a fancy car, I got to have fancy clothes, and I have got to play the whole role." Obviously, I meant business.

When I first started writing songs, I was probably about ten or twelve years old, and the first thing you think as a songwriter is, 'Can this be a hit? Can this come out, and people are going to hear the song and like the song, and then they're going to like you, and you'll get famous and rich?' That hasn't changed a bit.

I don't want to sell my soul or anything, but to go on a huge tour would be next level.

I could bear being in the charts and being on everyone's car radio 10 times a day. I'm just terrified of... a lot of people I respect have done it with a real little 'ditty' and that was the end of it - that was all they were ever known for.

My dad was basically my manager from ages 13 to 16. I was on this train towards becoming a child pop star. Not that I would have necessarily become a star, but that was the goal.

In my mind, I was never going to have the things I wanted if I played music for a living, unless I became a rock star.

I always thought: 'Oh my God, we are going to be famous, we're going to be huge.' We were 21, 22 years old.

I have worked with artists who are super-young and new and experiencing success, and I feel bad because I can see it in their eyes that they truly think that is it for the rest of their life. And I am like, 'It may be, but you have to work at it, and even if you do, it may not be, so enjoy what is going on right now.'

For a long time, we got no respect. People thought we just got lucky. They said we were a one-record wonder.

I think the fact that Gang Starr kept getting more and more successful was the reason we never thought about our age.

The Raspberries were together two years for one century. It was a very successful failure of a group.

Our goal was definitely to be the biggest band in the world, for sure.

I've been blessed. Every few years, I'll connect with somebody and put out a record with somebody that keeps me relevant.

Louis is Louis Walsh, if he don't work again, he's laughing. So are generations of Louis Walsh to come.

You see so many musicians come and go. For me, it's really about the longevity in the music industry. It's not all about having a lot of hit records at one time.

I want to make the greatest record ever made. It's the only thing I can think about.

I was very ambitious in my dream of being a pop star.

I feel very ready to be a pop star. I feel like that's something that I deserve, and I feel prepared for being number one in the charts!

Reading interviews with other people, I see them say, 'All I want is for our band to be massive', but it was never an ambition of ours to be in a band that's this big. That's so far from how my mind works that I find it puzzling. There's nothing wrong with being ambitious, but we're not.

I always say that my biggest goal is a Grammy, and on the way there I will grab everything that is given.

I didn't want to just be a rapper, I wanted to be a star.