“Punk was defined by an attitude rather than a musical style.”
Attitude
“I found music to be the therapy of choice.”
MusicAll Quotes by David Byrne
“Yeah, anybody can go in with two turntables and a microphone or a home studio sampler and a little cassette deck or whatever and make records in their bedrooms.”
Home“I never listen to the radio unless I rent a car.”
Car“I read the NY Times but I don't trust all of it.”
Trust“There's something about music that encourages people to want to know more about the person that made it, and where it was recorded, what year it was done, what they were listening to, and all this kind of stuff. There's something that invites all this obsessive behavior.”
Music“We tend to mistake music for the physical object.”
Music“I'm not suggesting people abandon musical instruments and start playing their cars and apartments, but I do think the reign of music as a commodity made only by professionals might be winding down.”
Music“It seems almost backwards to me that my music seems the more emotional outlet, and the art stuff seems more about ideas.”
Art“The imminent demise of the large record companies as gatekeepers of the world's popular music is a good thing, for the most part.”
Music“I do seem to like to combine the dramatic emotional warmth of strings with the grooves and body business of drums and bass.”
Business“I don't like begging money from producers.”
Money“People are already finding ways to make their music and play it in front of people and have a life in music, I guess, and I think that's pretty much all you can ask.”
Music“The true face of smoking is disease, death and horror - not the glamour and sophistication the pushers in the tobacco industry try to portray.”
Death“I like to combine the dramatic emotional warmth of strings with the grooves and body business of drums and bass.”
Business“Artists are notoriously snooty and suspicious of anything coming from the business community.”
Business“It didn't even occur to me that I'm the last person in the world who should play salsa or Brazilian music.”
Music“If anything, a lot of electronic music is music that no one listens to at home, hardly. It's really only to be heard when everyone's out enjoying it.”
Home“It's a fundamental, social attitude that the 1% supports symphonies and operas and doesn't support Johnny learning to program hip-hop beats. When I put it like that, it sounds like, 'Well, yeah,' but you start to think, 'Why not, though?' What makes one more valuable than another?”
Attitude“You create a community with music, not just at concerts but by talking about it with your friends.”
Music“Real beauty knocks you a little bit off kilter.”
Beauty