Music Standards Quotes

You shouldn't even be in a band if you can't play Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away.

You can go on 'Saturday Night Live' now and not even play live.

When I started playing music, people weren't selling 5 million records. That was not the standard; that was not the focus.

A singer is someone who puts out an album. That's a very generous description.

It's a classic album. If it ain't better than 'The Truth,' it's right there with it. I wouldn't say it if I ain't think so, 'cause 'The Truth' was my baby. That's the pure album.

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

Don’t listen to music that is degrading.

I feel like I'm waving the flag for musicianship, trying to bring back bands that can play.

Ninety percent of all music is always crap, and when too many people decide they're going to have guitar bands, then ninety percent of them are going to be crap. It's just a given law.

When I first started playing in a band, before the Beatles, working bands played standards and they saved their rock material til the end of the night when they were really stretched out. It could be pretty lame.

Your main radio stations, the stations that get the most listeners, don't play anything that has any kind of integrity to it.

Sometimes I don't go into the studio for quite a while because I haven't found enough good songs. They have to have a certain caliber and connect with me because I'm going to be playing them for the rest of my life. I start off with a circle of friends whose songs I love anyway.

If you're going to play it out of tune, then play it out of tune properly.

I'm definitely someone who's really picky about who I work with and how I want things to go, because I have a high standard of integrity for my music. I want it to be genuine.

If you're going to use standards as criteria for signing musicians, you can sign thousands. If you're going to use some sort of conceptual interpretation that's based on the tradition of those standards, but is trying to move away from it, you're down to about 10 people or so.

I've grown up on Bob Dylan and all that, but there was a certain standard set up by people before 1955.

Jazz musicians have always taken the standards of their time and performed them with a jazz sensibility.

I listen to music all the time, and a lot of the things I cover are the standards of my time, and they work for me.

If you're a good band then the filter of the band is pretty strong.

I don't sing songs on albums that I don't like.

One thing with Backstreet Boys, we never try to rush out an album. We always try to make quality music that can stand the test of time.

I think my knowledge of music theory is rooted in jazz theory, and a lot of the writers of standards - Rodgers and Hart, and Gershwin.

You couldn't really like a bad guitar in 1960 'cause everybody was pretty good.

I only want to be associated with music that is high quality. That's my main criteria.

My heart is with the standards. That's what I was raised on. I'm perfectly comfortable with pop. I feel lucky because I'm pretty versatile.