Eliot Sumner Quotes

It's not very often that I like new bands.

This person loves tangerines, This person loves raspberries - and my son won't even look at berries. Isn't that amazing? And so I have to apply that to music; otherwise, I would always hide in a hole because of all the people that don't like Coldplay.

Everyone's gonna have their opinion, everyone's gonna have their favorite bands. The best way I can describe it is music is like food, either you love it, hate it, or are indifferent about it. Or you grow up and acquire a taste for it.

The first time I ever heard the blues, my parents had a stack of records that they weren't using anymore. I found them when I was ten; I didn't know what it was. But I found Lightnin' Hopkins.

I love listening to things like those wonderful piano pieces of Stockhausen. It's just not my thing as a composer or performer, and thank goodness we're not obliged to be Modernist any more.

You used to defend your musical values to the hilt, but now if something isn't working, you just hop to another band. My youngest daughter went from Justin Bieber to the Jonas Brothers to Joy Division in the space of a few months!

I just don't believe in the old definition that a fan of music is: I find a band, I listen to all of it and I pretend to like stuff that I don't like. Now if I don't like it, I just go, 'I don't like this.' It's way fairer.

I don't listen to music that I won't like in a month.

It's funny: here I am, a guy who plays in one of the world's biggest classic-rock bands, and to tell you the truth, I listen to classic rock the least.

I was exposed to jazz and blues and gospel and country music and rock, and I was the only kid I knew who knew about that stuff.

Musically, my palette is eclectic.

Thinking Slayer's music is not my thing doesn't mean I don't respect the band for what they are and what they've done. I just won't play it. As I can imagine they won't listen to mine either, for that matter.

It's the duty of every generation to find music their parents hate.

I didn't like progressive jazz or anything. Rock was something I like to listen to.

I've always listened to a wide variety of music, and I know that shows through my songwriting evolution.

In all of my years in this business, I've always been part of either a progressive band or a metal band.

I grew up listening to all music, not just country.

It's neat to hear a new generation of musicians come up.

Before the first xx record, I pretty much exclusively listened to electronica. Now, I listen to anything. I think the most inspiring thing is just learning more about more and more different kinds of music and becoming a fan of so many different types and so many different genres.

When a different type of music is put in front of you, you can choose for yourself what you're supposed to like.

But I feel like I developed my own love for hip-hop and rap music by myself. Just growing up and hearing new things. As you grow up, you begin to listen to new music that this kid is listening to, then you begin to like your own music, and start discovering it yourself.

I have a very wide spectrum of stuff that I grew up listening to.

When you get to your teenage years, you want to find something that you identify with. It's almost a slight rebellion; you don't want to listen to what your parents listen to anymore; you want to find your own music. That, for me, was hearing the Fugees for the first time.

I'm no musical snob.

I grew up playing in rock bands while I was listening to rap records. I like a lot of stuff.