Steven Patrick Morrissey Quotes

When you look at what people consider success in the music industry, it's just terrible music.

I think Lady Gaga is talented. Madonna is talented, and the flair that Michael Jackson had. He was talented! Whatever it is that they do, they must be doing something right. They do have an audience out there, so I respect that.

It's not some great work of beauty and love to be a rock-and-roll singer.

The first time I arrived in Hollywood for the Grammy Awards, I thought I'd bump into people who mattered, such as Ry Cooder or Randy Newman. I was disappointed to see the people I'd always thought of as pop stars. They would charge around the stage rather than enjoy the music.

The music that is played on the radio all the time or written about in magazines has nothing to do with musicianship.

Popularity has everything to do with business and nothing to do with music.

Boy bands should be exploded from a great height. They're just pretty people singing music written by others.

There will always be rock stars, but I don't know how much depth and longevity they'll have.

Even though the popularity and the fanbase is much much greater, and more people have heard about me through things like the Grammys and the Ivors and touring and word of mouth, it doesn't reflect in the sales of the record and doesn't go into my pocket.

I know that bands that haven't put out a record for 10 years are playing to 20,000 people a night. But that's not the achievement.

The press will naturally come and go as it has done with all artists, from David Bowie to Neil Young to U2.

People get passionate about a song. It's been my experience if you put out radio candy, something commercial, it doesn't sell records.

America gets rock stars a little more than Canada does.

I am a Justin Bieber fan, but I am also so fascinated by how weird pop music can be and how manipulated it can be, so I enjoy thinking about that side of it too. I feel bad for him. I could never imagine growing up that way.

I don't have a problem being on 'MTV,' and I don't have a problem being on the radio. I actually like it. So there. And anyone that calls me a sell out is just jealous.

Nicki Minaj I think is one of the best judges I've ever worked with.

If I was just a fan of music, I would think that I was the number one artist in the world.

I'm a musician at heart, I know I'm not really a singer. I couldn't compete with real singers. But I sing because the public buys it.

I certainly enjoy Usher, Beyonce, Chris Brown, and there is Fantasia; these people will be around a while. They've got it. They've got the 'it' factor.

Not many artists or bands go platinum every year, from what people have told me, so it's an honor to have so many fans. A million people, that's a lot of people! Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and Justin Timberlake sell a few million, and so hopefully I'll make my way up to that.

It's easier to be the art school band than to be the Beatles.

People love music, but they also love the lifestyle and glam that comes along with it.

If people really like your music but you're not selling so many records, I don't think it really matters.

I'm personally looking for artists that are along the lines of today's pop stars. Whether it be a Rihanna or a Justin Bieber or a Kanye West or a Beyonce or a Lady Gaga, I'm looking for talent that's like that, that's what I love.

I've never personally criticized anyone else's music, but I know that the public's real problem is not the music I make but the perception that I play simple music for money only and for the notoriety and to increase my popularity.