Pete Townshend Quotes

Growing up in a band is weird - you get stuck hanging on to what it is you think you are. But what I took into Depeche was that punk ethic, that you don't have to be accomplished to be a musician. If you've got ideas, you can do this.

I'm just an artist and I'm doin' what I like to do.

We played for peanuts. But we did what we wanted to do, we heard what we wanted to hear, we performed what we wanted to perform, we learned what we wanted to learn.

When I started writing, I just wanted to do something different and creative. I first thought neo-soul was a good pathway for me, so I tried that out but realized I didn't want to be placed in that box.

I mean, if you decided to go out today and get you an instrument and do whatever it is that you do, no one can tell you how you're going to do it but when you do it.

A lot of people who have gone to music school have gotten their individuality stomped out of them. It becomes harder to find those instincts.

My parents were opera singers. I didn't want to play opera because I wasn't good enough. I didn't want to play their music; I wanted to play the music that I wanted to play, and I'm so lucky that today I get to play that music, even though I don't like every song I write.

I always just experiment with different sounds and styles until I find something that evokes the feeling I'm going for. I'm not trying to think too much about what anyone else is doing.

I think I'm just doing me, my music, my shows, and my stories.

I'm just doing all type of music that I like. I'm not so worried about the money like I used to be. I got money now. I don't have to worry about that.

All our forms are unique - movies, music and literature - and you have to leave the person who is doing it to do their best.

Arthur Russell is very important to me on many levels, and when I read Tim Lawrence's biography on him, 'Hold on to Your Dreams,' one of the things I took away was: first thought, best thought. I live by that when I make my own music.

Art is such a personal experience, I really try to make my own thing.

I didn't even learn to play guitar until the movie 'Walk Hard,' which is probably fortunate because maybe I would have pursued it, and that would have been a waste of my time.

One of my mottos for 'Currents' was 'Give the song what it deserves.' How would this song flourish? If the song could tell me what it wants, what can I give it? I tried not to dictate it with any sensible or logical decisions.

I was always very academically focused when I was growing up, and music was something for which I really had no preconceptions or expectations for myself or really any rules. It kind of represented, at least for me, a divergent path of creativity and self-discovery.

I have so many aspirations and interests that would not fit within the Disney brand. I need to make sure I'm engaging those proclivities as well.

I don't make art to make money, I make art so I can make art.

If you want to be an entertainer and just keep your audience happy, that's one thing. But to be an artist, I think, means ultimately primarily pleasing yourself, and in that respect, you constantly have this sense of confronting the expectations of your audience.

After all these years, being alone, creating your art and finding your way, finding the path I wanted to take, writing the songs, being more comfortable and confident in what I do, it's been actually an incredible joyride.

Whatever I ended up picking or choosing was always going to be a creative outlet for me.

Everything I do creatively is never for money.

While creating Moon Shoes, I had no idea that I was doing it. The experience was extremely organic, considering that I was making music spontaneously and working alongside friends. I chose to title the project 'Moon Shoes' to give listeners a sense of unearthly freedom. I believe each song moves listeners closer to the moon and personal truth.

In the contemporary world, artists are almost entirely self-referential.

I was doing something of my own after I left The Moody Blues, I went away, lived in Spain for a while.