Songwriting Quality Quotes

I've written a lot of songs in the last couple years, but writing a lot of songs doesn't always mean writing good songs.

Industry executives sacrificed art for what sells and mega-stars now saturate the market with the same tired lyrics.

I was pretty strict in high school about who I would listen to. Musicians like Neil Young, Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell... who were, in my opinion, great writers. The music mattered, but it held hands with the lyrics, and the personality was, overall, unsullied.

Linkin Park has been a band for such a long time, for me, in my eyes. I was 16 years old when I first heard them. I heard 'Hybrid Theory,' and I was floored at what I was listening to. It was angry yet melodic, it had hip-hop and it had - it was just different, good. Good songwriting.

The new generation of musicians is writing music on computers, and this is very sad because the quality of songwriting has crashed and dived. There are some songs out that are made by only one guy who works a computer and doesn't play any instruments.

When the fad changed from folk to rock, they didn't take along any good writers.

Whenever I'm writing a song, if I have an idea for the music video, that's how I know it's a good song.

When a lot of musicians change styles, their songwriting suffers because they want to be different.

Songs like 'Outfit' and 'Decoration Day' and 'Dress Blues,' those were good songs, but the output wasn't as consistent in those days.

I love the idea of how fast can we make the song, but I don't think that I'm necessarily, like, a super-talented songwriter. I think I'm just really productive. One out of 10 songs is a hit.

There are albums that I listen to religiously just because I'm such a big fan: any Bruce Springsteen album, or old George Strait albums because the songwriting's so strong.

I think sometimes songwriting becomes diluted when you have lots of components to mask a lack of core.

Composers now just don't have the depth of inspiration for melody. Most of the lyrics of the pop songs you hear today are repetitious. They're almost nursery rhymes, as if written by children - which they are.

I realized you can be the dopest producer technically, but if the songs don't give you emotion, it doesn't matter.