Music Integrity Quotes

Steve Earle had a mainstream career. Dwight Yoakam had a mainstream career. Willie Nelson did. But they always made good music, they always stuck to who they were. They weren't relying on radio like a lot of people are in Nashville.

I wouldn't use a song I didn't think was my brand or image.

I don't need a sensationalized headline to sell music or to bring attention to my music. It's the music and it's always been about the music.

I like all music. Well, I don't like music that was created to make money. I don't really like bands that don't write their own music.

I find it hard to not like music if it has passion behind it and good integrity. Only if it's made for the wrong reasons and shows a lack of respect for its audience will I find something to dislike.

I'm not a fan of anybody music who I feel like a sucka. I don't listen to you. They play you in the club, you can have the #1 jam, but if I know your character, how can I listen to your music?

To me, music is no joke and it's not for sale.

Not compromising the music, but there is a way, by just showing the people that you're sincere and honest with what you're doing, and by talking to them.

In my opinion, some of the hip-hop records that come out, people are willing to compromise. I'm not.

I once asked a studio guy in Toronto, "How many people don't use auto tune?" and he said, "You and Nelly Furtado are the only two people who've never used it in here." Even though I'm not into Nelly Furtado, it kind of made me respect her. It's cool that she has some integrity.

Music is worth doing just because. It doesn’t have to be justified by some political point of view, and it’s kind of insulting to the music to make it a tool for something else.

When no one's buying your records, it's easy to justify selling a song. But once you start selling records, you can't really justify having two songs in Cadillac commercials. It looks greedy. And it is greedy. This whole music thing should be about music.

A lot of what gets on the radio isn't saying anything other than somebody wants to be famous and will do whatever they're told to get it.

At the same time, I definitely want to expand my fan base but not at the expense of prostituting my music or heart.

I've always been real honest in my music and real honest when I play live.

There's a lot of artists out there who are pretty big but don't write their songs, they just have a lifestyle brand. These are all things that I think are a great enemy to music.

A lot of people these days are not music lovers - they just want to be famous which is a very different thing to what I grew up believing in.

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

We don't want any vocalist messing up the music.

I don't think we were anti-commercial. But we were anti-contrivance, and like Zeppelin, we found dignity through the music we were playing.

We cannot afford to have lies in music.

When people listen to artists, and you turn on the radio, it's a lot of gimmicks. And that's real. So I take it like there's nobody keeping it honest and truthful no more, especially as far as young teenagers and females.

I always felt like I could combine good pop songs that are easy for people to like with a real person and a real mind and integrity. So maybe I bring people into that pop world who don't usually find themselves there because there's not enough stuff for them to get excited about otherwise. I try to be genuine. I try to be real. It's such a subjective thing, but I try to convey an emotion.

I didn't want to be told what to do. I don't want to water down my music to fit into their formats. I know what rock and roll is to me, but everything's turning into one big commercial.

I chose 'The Voice' because I knew they had a lot more respect for each artist, as opposed to the other shows. They don't get it. I don't think those shows ever got it. I was turned off by some of the other shows and how they did things.