Musical Pioneers Quotes

I didn't even respect singers until I heard Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong.

Music is all about leadership and there ain't really a lot of leaders.

There is a reactionary conservative side of classical music, which is not the most exciting side of it. The side that draws me in, there's a real encouragement of risk-taking, going back to masters of that tradition like Beethoven and Bartok and Stravinsky.

We came along at a time when people were really focused on music. We were part of the second generation of bands after all of those great 60's bands when rock was still in its' infancy.

Considering the great heritage in music that we have - the work of the giants of the past, the present, and the promise of those who are to come - I feel that we have every reason to face the future optimistically.

I get a wave of pride in America when I look back at what we've accomplished in the field of music.

The Rolling Stones are constantly changing, but beneath the changes they remain the most formal of rock bands. Their successive releases have been continuous extensions of their approach, not radical redefinitions, as has so often been the case with the Beatles.

I know we play a part in the story of progressive music, but for us those influences are the real fathers, the ones that we were interested in.

More than a quarter of a century into the band's career together, it's inspiring to hear Melvins continue to deafen new generations of listeners.

People who take risks like Amy Winehouse and Norah Jones take a second to catch on, but eventually they do because they're different and honest in a musical landscape that's not always like that.

There are so many forms of soul: David Bowie was soulful as hell; Johnny Cash was soulful as hell; you also have a Prince, a Stevie Wonder. I want to bring my perception of that and not live inside the box of, 'This is the type of tracks you get,' 'This is the type of drums you get.'

I think that's given inspiration to other musicians. I know, particularly through the 90s, a lot of bands would cite Rush as an influence. I don't think it was so much our music, but more the way we really stuck to our guns.

The Beatles were just four guys that loved each other. That's all they'll ever be.

We've been in the game for so long, it's great to be honored for our contributions to the game of hip-hop and be told that we're not forgotten about, that our music is timeless.

I believe Dad will be respected in 300 years, like Beethoven. As will Elvis, as will the Carter Family, as will Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams.

Nina Simone is a musical genius and a rich and precious treasure who paid a heavy price for her artistic freedom.

Everybody's just emulated us and now everybody just kinda takes our sound as their foundations.

The Beatles did everything long before anyone else. They weren't afraid to try things and to experiment with a lot of sounds. In 200 years, when you look up 'rock and roll' in the dictionary, it'll have a picture of the Beatles next to it.

I haven't really heard much that's impressed me the way it was when I first heard Ray Charles or somebody like that. That was really an impression.

You could put Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley on one side of the stage, and James Brown on the other, and you wouldn't even notice the others were there!

I declare that The Beatles are mutants.

The New York Dolls are the only band that we grew up on that we haven't played with.

The early ELP albums were pioneering in a way.

There's a steady forward march of a creative process that some of us stay with and don't give up - that should be an admirable thing - from Louis Armstrong to Charlie Parker to Miles to Ornette and some people who are not even known today - some kids coming up - people who are out to change the world.

One indisputable fact is that whatever has happened to, and with, the Allman Brothers Band, we've persevered.