Dre was one of my heros in the music industry. If he’s not down for his homeboys, I don’t wanna be a part of him or around him.

It wasn’t so much of a controlled effort to end up as part of the Goth scene.

That’s the era we grew up in. It’s weak to go to a psychiatrist.

If you take all that I’ve learned from Joe and all that Joe has learned from me, and you throw all that into a song, not only are you using the gifts that God gave...

I read and write classical piano and percussion, also guitar.

I’ve always seen myself as sort of this funky, eclectic artist.

I saw Suicide in ’74 and it was pretty horrifying.

I worked hard all my life as far as this music business. I dreamed of the day when I could go to New York and feel comfortable and they could come out here and be...

Do you want to feel good, or do you want to do good?

I didn’t know how well my first album had done; it was enough to get me to do the second album, which was a continuation of the music I’d worked on and perfected.

The Connection Machine was the most powerful supercomputer in the world. It is a complex supercomputer and it will take forever to completely describe how it works.

The lights go down, you hear the applause and you’re up there, and then everything else is forgotten.

I also told John Hammond this, 20 years later – to his exquisite embarrassment – that he was like this incredible, overwhelming influence on me.

Well, first of all, they’re all about the music and all I care about in my professional career is the music.

I think all those artists are artists who are appreciated because you believe their words and you appreciate their honesty in their music. If you don’t appreciate the honesty in the music, the beat can...

For hundreds of years people have talked about artists having inspiration, but often, some persons would say, write us a symphony or write us a song, on commission. The artists would come up with a...

Honestly, a lot of people thought that I was on top of the world selling so many millions of records, and that this is the life that everybody would want, but I never got to...

Around the age of 14, 15, I was in the studio, serious about it.

I’ve messed myself up more playing music than when I played football.

There is a bit of acting involved when you get in front of a camera for a video. Even when you perform onstage, you’re putting on a show.

Let me do five of those, and then some slower ones for those kids that can’t understand what I’m sayin.

Colleges are like old-age homes, except for the fact that more people die in colleges.

American Idol transcends age, gender, ethnicity, everything.

Throw caution to the wind and just do it.

Rock fans are pretty fickle, too, you know.

As far as music school goes. I walked through Berkeley one time to visit with some people I know.

You’re gonna notice me when I come in. I’m gonna make a statement without opening my mouth, and when I leave, you’re gonna remember that.

The Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife, actually, was an effort to put something on the mall in Washington so American tourists could walk through America, and in their minds everything on the mall would be...

If you’re climbing the ladder of life, you go rung by rung, one step at a time. Don’t look too far up, set your goals high but take one step at a time. Sometimes you...

Sounds like the blues are composed of feeling, finesse, and fear.

Jazz needs the help. It’s the more sophisticated music. All the other music is on the TV, but jazz isn’t.

Keep it in tune with the times, but don’t write with the specific purpose of trying to create a hit. If you’re doing it strictly to make money, you’re crazy. There are easier ways to...

On Valentine’s day, I’m doing a show with an orchestra. We’re doing a show with all standards for the Children’s Hospital in Charleston.

Going off the road just leaves me more time to be a writer.

I’ve learned a lot about my voice, and about things I can do with it. Maybe that’s why my sound has become a little more pop.

I really just want to be warm yellow light that pours over everyone I love.

I was an overnight sensation.

When I was a boy, I always saw myself as a hero in comic books and in movies. I grew up believing this dream.

I’m glad I started so young, because you are really able to endure so much at that age.

“Yield” was completed in 1997 and released in 1998. In the spring of 1997, I had made a decision to stop taking medications that I had been taking daily since 1988.

You can’t stop rock-n-roll!

The more far-out artists, the better.

I don’t see myself necessarily having a burning desire to write a symphony.

You’re allowed to rip-off another score so close that it’s ridiculous. In my opinion it’s ridiculous, how closely one can just rip-off a score that happened a year or two earlier.

I get pretty much all the exercise I need walking down airport concourses carrying bags.

I don’t go to church regular. But I pray for answers to my problems.

Sometimes I think our problems are made worse by the kind of business we’re in. Playing these road shows is a weird experience.

I love both my parents dearly.

I don’t know how Frank presented the old Mothers, since I never read the book. There might be some opinions on what he said, but I – or anyone else – could not make any...

Had I joined a straight rock band, I’m sure my drumming would be a little bit different right now.