Jarvis Cocker Quotes

I know that starting out as a young band, it's really easy to get lost with bands that sound the same or with the plethora of music that's out there.

Something happened in the nineties. There was a shift. I don't want to blame it on grunge or the rise of indie - but that was basically it. It was seen as dirty and kind of ignorant to have these ambitions, to want to be a big band.

The music scene is more competitive in the States.

Watch MTV and you can see what the music scene is like in England. The Spice Girls? Not a lot of creativity in the commercial area. There are still great musicians in England, but not a lot being heard that much.

The alternative scene, for a couple years now, has been taken seriously and that's a cool thing. I don't think it's exploded or anything, but I think it's pretty cool that it still exists, it's still affecting people.

No, I'm sure that there's a lot of L.A. bands out there.

I think Perry Ferrell put independent music on a very good path with Lollapalooza.

The bigger artists are definitely looking and paying attention to the culture and the style of bounce music.

The 'American Idol' and 'X Factor' shows, they're great shows. But I think I need to make a show like that, directed straight to the hood, to the artists that don't get the attention, that don't have the money to make themselves representable.

Independent artists and labels have always been the trend setters in music and the music business.

I think the singer/songwriter genre is going to be like bluegrass and jazz. You can make a living at it, but it's not part of the musical mainstream anymore.

It's a bummer sometimes but I always believe that great bands and great music always prevail.

My husband works in the music industry and he's always the first to know about great new bands, so I end up seeming really with it because I'll be listening to an up-and-coming band before everyone else hears about it.

All you needed was a couple of instruments and a few chords and you could be on an indie label.

The Flaming Lips have been on Warner Bros. forever, and certainly everything I heard growing up was on a major label in some way, from the Cure to Radiohead to Bjork.

There's a whole apparatus for indie bands now, but back in the eighties it was just getting built. The early people really took it on the chin.

Of course it's fantastic to have bands formed in garages, but there is a market for other types of music.

I don't really listen to the radio anymore, but some of the more contemporary people I like are Stereolab, Spiritualize, Yo La Tengo and Bedhead. There are other things too, like Pavement. They're a great band, with really good lyrics. But generally, I'm not overwhelmed by the state of indie-rock.

When I used to put an album out, I knew everyone on the charts. There weren't that many bands. Now, I couldn't even name half the new groups.

When I first started all this, it was mostly music fans that came along, Stones fans. But now, I'm being taken seriously. I've got highfalutin' art collectors and everything!

You stayed up on the record business by knowing who was doing what. You watched the Phil Spectors. That's what told you what to do, what was hot.

I'm indie through and through. I've always gone out with boys in bands.

I didn't expect major labels would embrace MySpace, and the original idea for music on the site was the unsigned bands, the independent bands.

Castle Face Records, run by The Oh Sees main man, Johnny Dwyer is always worth checking in with.

Like books and black lives, albums still matter.