I get to do all the styles of music that I love. There's no boundaries; there's nobody holding on to me saying I can't do that.
Nashville was totally different than I ever dreamed. I had only seen the music business on television and been to a couple of concerts. I had no clue.
I just love music. I love writing songs. It's not even a job; it's a gift. I'm waiting for someone to kick me out of the party because I snuck in here, and I keep thinking somebody's going to figure out that I have no clue. Turns out that most of them have even less of a clue.
In the '80s, I got tired of the rat race. It was a terrible time for music. I wasn't part of that whole MTV craze. I did 'Go Ahead and Rain,' which was Madeleine Stowe's first bit, but felt no connection to it. I went many years where I didn't have to work.
We are blessed to not have violence at our shows. People come to our shows and act a clown. When you do music, you have no control who comes to your shows. I'm sure they have fights at Miley Cyrus shows.
I had no desire to be famous; I just wanted to make the greatest music ever made. I didn't want anyone to know who I was.
I like to make music because it's fun to do and it makes me feel good, but I have no desire to be a huge pop singer or anything like that. I just like to make it.
All the instruments of percussion known to European science are essentially nonmusical and can only be tolerated in open air music or in large orchestras where a little noise more or less makes no difference.
Music is music - it makes no difference what it is. I can like Slipknot and Public Enemy equally.
I will always do music, and now - with where the world is going with social media and people dropping stuff for free and doing this and doing that - there's no excuse.
I guess when I first started writing music, I really had no idea if anyone was ever going to hear what I was writing and almost no intention of people hearing it. So, it was kind of this journal. It was pretty unfiltered.
I was always struck by how Picasso had no interest in music.
The first time that I came to New York to work properly was the mid-'80s, but I was doing eight shows a week. You have no life. Going to a punk rock club - or whatever the music was at that time - would not have been on my agenda.
As long as my music is real, it's no limit to how many ears I can grab.
I have no love for myself as a human being, but I have immense pride in the music I make.
The paradox is that I have no love for myself as a human being, but I have immense pride in the music I make, and I believe it has an important place. Others do, too, and the thousands of people with Morrissey tattoos certainly proves something.
Jazz is like a big secret club. The mainstream media doesn't pay any attention to it; it's, like, 1 percent of the music market - no one cares. Why? Because the majority of jazz is old.
If you don't know the blues... there's no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock and roll or any other form of popular music.
The thing about my music is, there really is no point.
My purpose is to make exciting music, and I feel like I'll be doing that for the rest of my life, so there's no pressure.
