Genre Labels Quotes

I never worry 'cause people always try to categorize me. "Oh, that's reggaeton." "Oh, he's a Latin rapper." "Oh, he's crunk." "Oh, he's a Southern rapper," or, "He's a club rapper." As long as they're listening to the music and they're talkin' about it, one way or the other, that means I'm doing something right.

My music has been called so many different things over the years. I figure as long as it's selling, call it what you want.

"Country" has become a marketing term. I see myself as a songwriter.

Music is music; you can't change rock and say well this is punk rock and this is acid rock or rockabilly.

Being singer/songwriter implies versatility and being able to create more than one medium, and R&B artist is a box, simple as that. It is 'that's what you do, that's what you are', and that's a little unfair, to me, because I don't just do that. So I like singer/songwriter because it allows me to move a little bit more freely.

Where do you even draw the line between genres?

I don't care about the word 'pop'. The Beatles were pop; it's just what's popular.

I don't think I've ever really been a science fiction writer. I'm closer to a fantasist, speculative fiction, whatever, but labels are ultimately derogatory, and I eschew them as best I can.

I'm tired of being considered a lesbian writer, tired of being a science-fiction writer, tired of being a thriller writer. I'm a writer. Period. Story matters to me.

In general, fiction is divided into 'literary fiction' and 'commercial fiction.' Nobody can definitively say what separates one from the other, but that doesn't stop everybody (including me) from trying. Your book probably will be perceived as one or the other, and that will affect how it is read, packaged and marketed.

I've never been particularly interested in genre distinctions. They seem to me more useful to a librarian than to a writer.

I hate labels because it should be just music. I don't see anything wrong with disco. Call it anything. It's music.

I never thought of us as a punk band, a metal band, or a new wave band. Just as a band band.

I didn't grow up with indie rock - I mean, I listened to bands that are considered indie rock, but I think that term is dead and uninteresting.

For me, the '80s was great because you had Boy George, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Prince, and Cyndi Lauper. No one put boxes saying this is urban, this is popular, this is underground. It was just good or bad.

Genre is a bookstore problem, not a literary problem.

I hate categories. Hank Williams is a great artist, period. Bob Dylan is a great artist, so is Marty Robbins. They just classify these people and put them in categories so they can sell the thing easier.

I find myself, by happy accident, writing 'Young Adult' fiction. However, I dislike such categories.

Labels don't mean much to me one way or another -- except when they close the minds of potential readers. I'd much rather we do away with genres and simply file everything under fiction. I know it can work -- one of my favourite record stores (Waterloo Music in Austin) simply files everything alphabetically and no one seems to have much problem finding what they're looking for.

I love a lot of music that's considered folk music, but I also love a lot of music that's considered punk or considered rap. I don't mind being called a folk singer. But it seems a bit limiting. I want to be able to write whatever kind of song I want.

I don't like being put in a box. I just make music, you know?

What makes one type of music classical and one bluegrass and one folk - these things aren't what's important.

I never thought I was playing black music. I was just playing music, the stuff I liked. I sang blues at parties and things when I was a kid.

I don't really care that much about genre labels. I tend to write across a variety of different genres.

I think what people call genre is just a question of orchestration. So, for instance, with Punch Brothers, you look at that band and say that's a bluegrass band, when really it's an orchestration choice.