Stephen Malkmus Quotes

We're probably a couple of freaks who've created their own little universe, are living in our own little world and that's the only place where we can survive.

Lou Reed is something like a personal favorite of mine, but you could always put me into that drawer of singers who can't really sing, who speak their songs.

If a voice is just too nice, without an edge, it kinda all flows by. You forget it. You don't listen to the lyrics.

A good voice isn't so important. It's more important to sound really unique.

I'm not sure if you can blame everything on the American way of life, but the United States are big. So, if you have a lot of people there, the percentage of stupid people is bound to be higher.

I think most musicians know if they make the same record twice, even if they say they don't.

Despite my own doubts of being marketable or crushworthy, my goal was to write a record of peppy pop songs, hopefully without annoying anybody.

We're not on a desperate mission to write chart compatible stuff.

I didn't really like confessional poetry or things. They seemed sort of dated to me, or just corny.

We always did our own mixing.

The lyrics are different from Nick Cave songs and lyrics. His songs are very narrative.

I never decided to start singing, to be a singer.

I don't want to be in Mötley Crüe or something.

I guess the majority of people who want to ban certain musicians are the ones who are so proud of everything America stands for.

I still hate [the Eagles]…. There’s levels of evil in it to me.

Almost every band has somebody who's the main songwriter and who has a vision, a very clear idea of how a song should be.

There's no point that an album should sound like a watered down version of another album.

But, then again, I wouldn't call myself an indie-rock supporter even if there are some really good bands out there and there will always be some real good new bands.

Something taken off the page can sound great, I guess. Usually it doesn't. It seems like lately Pitchfork is trying to champion lyric writers more.

I like that band Get Hustle. They're cool live. I haven't heard their records, though.

Berlin is just an affordable European city that's supposed to be cool. There's nothing too deep about it.

There's no reason to stop. Who knows what's around the bend? To participate, meet new people. It's mostly other musicians and people like you, or anybody I meet who's in this, that keeps me going.

I'm not dying for things to say.

I'm not a go-to-the-gym type guy. I've tried before. And I'm not a jogger.

I'm just kind of a hippie. Age is not that relevant to the music.

I've been getting plenty off my chest. Sometimes I get too much off my chest and I regret it.

It's easy to be negatively funny about personalities in the media. It's just kind of a cheap laugh.

You know, the songs that are self-conscious or jerky, they are that way, but the other ones aren't, so that's a good thing. Some of the songs are Beck-jokey, but the others, they have heart in them.

Don't go to the same studio twice, or work with the same engineer twice.

When a band means a lot to you, you build the fantasy more than the reality. Always.

Some people, they've had a lot of fun, even if it was dumb fun and a shitty body of work.

George Oppen wasn't a larger than life personality, but I'm not either. And he lived a long time, so he was happy. Going down in flames is fine, too.

Family is the best. I can honestly say, it's a gift that is beyond making art. I didn't know that when I got into it.

The best I do, if I'm just playing around and riffing in a fantasy world, and then I'll write something down. Hopefully I write it down.

I did some writing. I was just taking the kids to school. I did a couple things and we did some tours. It was a lot of downtime.

I've lost my writing skills since college. I couldn't write a book. It would take a long time.

Besides, going on tour and playing songs and arranging things, going to practice, it's all I know to be productive.

There's something in life that's cool, it's relatively cheap, and fun, and populist. Even when it's elitist.

Most people want to be seen or heard. You want to shine. That's my way of shining.

I think it's just entertainment for people that are interested in the form. To sing along to and be psyched by.

I've wanted to not play as much. I would like to just sing now. Even though I don't think I'm a great singer, I wouldn't mind just - not being a frontman, per se, but singing and not playing.

If you'd rather learn how to ride a horse or something, I would say do that. That'll keep you out of trouble. You would think a band would get you in trouble, but I think it's the opposite.

When I see four young kids in a band, I think, That looks really fun, no matter how shitty they are. You develop your own thing, and get excited about your band name. It's all so harmless.

I thought The Doors were the greatest band for a while.

When I was a kid I really liked the guitarist of The Doors [Robby Krieger]. He plays blues, but he plays a lot of melodic things. He plays scales that are kind of unusual, and some bent notes.

Obviously songs and musicians mean a lot to people.

If there can be some paradigm shift thing that you can be part of, that's cool.

Оur music, it's an acquired taste. It's almost cult, even at our level. It can mean nothing to somebody and it can mean everything to somebody else.

The word "down," is very musical. It just always comes.

I'm more into describing a scenario and I move around in that scenario.