Background Image

...

Over Time, I Started Becoming More Aware Of The Vastness And Complexity Of The Universe, Which Led Me Away From Any Sort Of Conventional Christianity. I Still Love The Teachings Of Christ, But I Also Believe That The Human Condition Prevents Us From Having Any True Objective Knowledge Of The Universe. All Human Belief Systems Are Inherently Flawed. If I Had To Label Myself Now, I'd Call Myself A Taoist-christian-agnostic Quantum Mechanic. Also, There's Nothing In The Actual Bible That Limits A Christian In Their Interest In Science. Anti-science Is A Function Of Ignorant Fundamentalism.

-Moby

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

Over Time, I Started

Moby

...

Over Time, I Started Becoming More Aware Of The Vastness And Complexity Of The Universe, Which Led Me Away From Any Sort Of Conventional Christianity. I Still Love The Teachings Of Christ, But I Also Believe That The Human Condition Prevents Us From Having Any True Objective Knowledge Of The Universe. All Human Belief Systems Are Inherently Flawed. If I Had To Label Myself Now, I'd Call Myself A Taoist-christian-agnostic Quantum Mechanic. Also, There's Nothing In The Actual Bible That Limits A Christian In Their Interest In Science. Anti-science Is A Function Of Ignorant Fundamentalism.

Views: 4

Topic

More From Moby

As An American, No One Expected Donald Trump To Ever Be A Serious Candidate For President. I Don't Think He Even Expected To Be A Serious Candidate. He Wanted The Free Media He Would Get.

In 1992 I Was Doing One Of My First Ever Tours And I Was In Heathrow Airport And I Saw These Middle-aged Musicians Who Had Clearly Been On Tour For Decades, And They All Looked Haggard And Unhappy And Unhealthy. I Vowed To Myself That I Would Never Be That Person. Flash Forward 20 Years And I Found Myself In Heathrow Looking Haggard And Unhappy And Unhealthy. I Decided I Would Rather Spend My Time Staying Home Working On Music And Making Dinner With Friends, Instead Of Spending Six Months In A Hotel In A State Of Depressing Suspended Adolescence.

Once The Pathological Low Self-esteem Goes, That's When Things Go Downhill.

The Most Emotional Part Is When I Go Into My Studio Every Day And Pretty Much Never Have An Idea Of What's Gonna Happen.

If I'm Walking Down The Street And Someone Stops Me And Says, "oh! A Song That You Wrote Meant A Lot To Me, And I Listened To It After I Went To My Sister's Funeral," That's When It Hits Me.

We Hope That As A Species We're Capable Of Dealing With Environmental Catastrophe Before It Actually Does Collectively Kill Most Of Us.

In The Course Of My Life, I've Made Some Happy Songs But It's The More Sort Of Like Pathos-laden, Emotional, Melancholic Music That Either I Make Or That Other People Make That Really Resonates With Me.

When Britney Shaves Off All Her Hair And Beats Paparazzi With Umbrellas - That's What Celebrities Are Supposed To Do. They're Not Supposed To Be Reasonable, Middle-aged Guys Drinking Organic Tea Talking About Semiotics.

When I Was Growing Up, Albums Were My Closest Friends, As Sad As That May Sound - Joy Division's 'closer,' Or Echo And The Bunnymen's 'heaven Up Here'... I Had A More Intimate Relationship With Those Records Than I Did With Most Of The People In My Life.

Intimate Relationships

I'm Sure Most People Have This Experience: When You're Young You Drink, You Do Drugs, You Stay Up Late, And There Are No Consequences.

I Always Just Made Music That Resonates With Me Emotionally.

I'd Much Rather Go To A Banksy Art Show Than A Moby Art Show. My Art Is Painfully Naive.

The Young Have To Kill The Old. The Young, If They Want To Achieve Their Own Platform, Have To Diminish The Reputations Of The Ones That Have Gone Before. That's How Life Works.

There Might Be A Lot Of Difference Between Republicans And Democrats On Key Social Issues Like Women's Rights And Health Care. But When It Comes To Taking Corporate Cash, They're Pretty Much The Same Beast.

My Main Interest Is Just To Work With People Who Have Beautiful, Interesting, Emotive Voices; I'm Not Too Concerned Whether Someone Is Famous.

That Softness Around Your Eyes, A Softness In Your Face. Almost The Way You Feel When You’re About To Start Crying. That, To Me, Is Love. It Can Be Romantic Love, It Can Be Friendship Love, It Can Be Family Love, It Can Be Love For A Chipmunk. It Can Be Love For Anything.

There Are So Many Causes. Gun Control, Climate Change, Deforestation, Animal Welfare, Human Welfare, Education. Working On The Big Issues Is Noble And Great, But Being Aware Of What’s Going On Around You Right At This Moment, Being Kind To The People Around You, Extending Compassion And Decency, Not Just To Everyone You Meet But Also To Yourself—i Think That’s One Of The Biggest Challenges Most People Face.

Though In Many Of Its Aspects This Visible World Seems Formed In Love, The Invisible Spheres Were Formed In Fright.

When I Was Nine Years Old, I Started Playing Guitar, And I Took Classical Guitar Lessons And Studied Music Theory. And Played Jazz For A While. And Then When I Was Around Fourteen Years Old, I Discovered Punk Rock. And So I Then Tried To Unlearn Everything I Had Learned In Classical Music And Jazz So I Could Play In Punk Rock Bands.

Since I Stopped Drinking My Love Life Has Taken A Really Serious Hit. Romantic Encounters That Seemed Like A Really Good Idea At Three O'clock In The Morning On The Lower East Side? Less So In Sobriety.

In A Way I Almost Feel Like The Election Of Donald Trump Has Inspired Democrats And Progressives And Punk Rockers In A Way That Hasn't Been Seen Since Vietnam.

It Just Seems Like Musicians Want To Sell A Few Records And Put Out A Perfume Line, And I Think It's So Sad That There Are So Many Musicians Who Don't Want To Change The World.

To Quote Homer Simpson, Alcohol Is The Cause And Solution To All Of Life's Problems. I Don't Think There's Anything Wrong With Drinking And Drug Use, If People Can Do It And Not Hurt Themselves. But It Got To The Point Where I Was Really Hurting Myself.

Honestly, The Most Vulnerable Part Of My Life Is Probably Just Honest Expression, As Cliché As That Might Sound.

By Being Vulnerable, Either With Yourself Or In The Presence Of Another Person, That’s Where All Growth And Ultimate Well-being Comes From.

I Believe That The Role Of Limited Government Should Be Looking After The Needs Of Veterans, The Elderly, Children And Those Institutions That Improve The Quality Of Life For Struggling Families - I Don't Believe That Government Should Bend To Serve The Needs Of Subsidized Multi-national Corporations And Entitled Billionaires.

A Great Song Is A Great Song, Whether It's On Vinyl Or Cd Or Cassette Or Reel To Reel Or Mp3. Then Again, That Might Be An Overly Optimistic View, But I Do Think That Great Music Will Transcend The Medium In Which It Is Delivered.

Britney [spears]'s Actually Kind Of Like A Broken-down Shell Of A Human Being, That's What Makes Her So Endearing And Compelling.

I Think That The Current Climate Enables A Lot Of Musicians To Do Relatively Well. Twenty-five Years Ago, You Could Be A Bass Player In A Folk-rock Band And Do Pretty Well - That Sort Of Means That You're Going To Have To Go Get A Day Job. But A Lot Of My Friends Have Learned How To Write Classical Music For Movies And Produce Other People And Do Remixes, And Dj And Go On Tour, And Do All These Different Things. The More Diverse Their Approach, The Better Their Chances Of Actually Having A Career.

I Stopped Drinking And Realised New York Still Has A Lot Of Charm, But It Has Become So Bourgeois And Affluent - And I Can't Really Complain Because I'm Sort Of Bourgeois And Affluent Myself, But I Like Living In A Place Where Artists And Musicians And Writers Can Actually Pay The Rent.

When I Was Growing Up, I Fetishised New York City. It Was The Land Of Lou Reed And The Velvet Underground, It Was Where Leonard Cohen Wrote 'chelsea Hotel', It Was Cbgbs And All The Punk Rock Clubs. Artists And Musicians Lived There, And It Was Cheap And Dangerous.

The Truth Is That Genetics Has Robbed Me Of Hair. But It's Not Interesting To Blame Genetics.

I Read The New Testament, Specifically The Gospels And I Was Struck At Their Divinity, Feeling That Humans Could Not Have Figured This Out On Their Own. We're Just Not Bright Enough.

I Wish I Could Sing. I Don't Technically Have A Terrible Voice, But It's Certainly Not As Good As Most Of My Friends. Whenever I Hear Myself On A Record, It Just Reminds Me I'm Not A Very Good Singer.

People Love Their Favorite Records. And I Aspire To Make A Record Someone Might Be Able To Love In That Way.

All I Want To Do With My Life Is Try And Make Music That I Really Love, And So Every Day I Try And Work On Music.

Can't Do Any Work With A Rock Star; You Have To Go Through Their Lawyers And Their Agents And Their Managers And You Have To Book Them Hotel Rooms. When You Work With Your Friends, You Just Call Them Up And They Come Over And You Record And Then You Go Out To See A Movie.

I Buy Things With The Best Of Intention Of Living In Them And Then Life Intercedes.

One Of The Goals Of A Spiritual Practice Is Self-awareness, And One Of The Best Tools Of Self-awareness Is Simple Emotional Vulnerability.

I'm Gonna Have To Start Walking Down The Street And Start Hitting People In The Head!

I'm Like A Bad Musical Cliche Because I Bring My Guitar On The Road And Try To Write Songs In Hotel Rooms.

For Better Or Worse, I'm Interested In Just About Everything: Every Different Type Of Music I Can Imagine. I Can Never See A Reason To Choose Just One Type Of Music At The Exclusion Of Everything Else. Different Types Of Music Are Capable Of Being Rewarding In Different Kinds Of Ways.

I'm Straight, But I Love Going To House Music Clubs And Flirting With Women And Gay Men.

I Think It'd Be Great If Prince Made An Album Of Just Romantic, Slow Ballads.

If A Musician Is Making A Mediocre, Self-indulgent Body Of Work, They Have To Know That, For The Most Part, People Aren't Going To Be Interested.

I Honestly Haven't Thought Much About What To Play And Where, Perhaps I Should...it Seems Like Most Musicians Are Better At That Than I Am.

I Don't Want To Get Too Nuanced, But We Have The Electoral College In The United States And That Means We Don't Have Direct Democracy.

People Who Meditate And Have A Good Spiritual Practice, Their Immune Systems Are Stronger. Generally, They Are Happier And Healthier.

I Love Lots Of Different Types Of Music, But It's Music That Has This Up-swelling Of Beauty And Emotion That Is Most Important To Me.

I Feel Like Someone Who's Meditating Could Possibly Benefit Their Meditation Practice And Their Well-being Just By Sitting Down And Thinking About Things That They Love For Ten Minutes.

Intellectually, Human Beings And Animals May Be Different, But It's Pretty Obvious That Animals Have A Rich Emotional Life And That They Feel Joy And Pain. It's Easy To Forget The Connection Between A Hamburger And The Cow It Came From. But I Forced Myself To Acknowledge The Fact That Every Time I Ate A Hamburger, A Cow Had Ceased To Breathe

It's Sometimes Too Easy To Point Fingers When Circumstances Dramatically Go Awry, But As An Addict, I'm Ultimately Responsible For My Own Decisions, No Matter How Benign Or Tragic The Consequences.

I Can't Think Of Any Musician Or Producer Who Has Influenced Me More Than Brian Eno. From When He Was In Roxy Music, Producing Devo, The Talking Heads And My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts.

It's Much Easier To Have A Diversified Career As An Electronic Musician Than It Is As A Drummer. Nothing Against Drummers. If You're A Drummer, You Just Wait Around For People To Ask You To Play Drums. But If You Have Your Own Studio And Can Make Music, You Have The Ability To Approach Music A Lot Differently.

I Love To Be Busy. I'm Envious Of People Who Are Able To Take Their Spare Time And Relax. All I Like To Do Is Work. Perhaps It's Lingering Calvinist Guilt?

If You And I Become Vegans, The Global Consequences Aren't Going To Be That Much. But If We Can Get A Few Hundred Million People To Become A Little More Aware And Cut Back On Their Animal Consumption, The Consequences Will Be Great.

Look Not Too Long In The Face Of The Fire, O Man! Never Dream With Thy Hand On The Helm! Turn Not Thy Back To The Compass; Accept The First Hint Of The Hitching Tiller; Believe Not The Artificial Fire, When Its Redness Makes All Things Look Ghastly. To-morrow, In The Natural Sun, The Skies Will Be Bright; Those Who Glared Like Devils In The Forking Flames, The Morn Will Show In Far Other, At Least Gentler, Relief; The Glorious, Golden, Glad Sun, The Only True Lamp—all Others But Liars!

For Me, Love Is Very Non-academic. Love, It’s A Very Physical Thing. I Don’t Mean Physical In Terms Of - I Mean, It Can Be Sexual. But Those Moments When I’m Aware Of The Fact That I Love Someone Or Love Something, It Really Manifests Physically.

I Made A Record In 1996 Called 'animal Rights' That Was A Very Difficult, Very Dark Punk-rock Record. Of All The Records I've Made, It's My Favorite One. It's Also The One That Got The Worst Reviews And Sold The Worst.

I'm Just Fascinated With The World That I Can See, But I'm Even More Fascinated With The World That I Can't See.

I Have No Patience For Anyone Who Thinks They've Figured Things Out, No Patience For People Who Think They're Right At The Expense Of Everyone Else. The World Is Too Connected And Too Complicated To Conform To Any Of Our Rigid Ideas Of What It Should Be Like.

When I Was In My Twenties, I Thought I Was Bulletproof.

I Was In Bar About 15 Years Ago, A Relationship Had Ended Badly, I Was Very Drunk And I Thought I Would Convince Myself To Try And Be Gay. Like, At One Point I Didn't Like Coffee, Then I Learned To Like It.

Over Time, I Started Becoming More Aware Of The Vastness And Complexity Of The Universe, Which Led Me Away From Any Sort Of Conventional Christianity. I Still Love The Teachings Of Christ, But I Also Believe That The Human Condition Prevents Us From Having Any True Objective Knowledge Of The Universe. All Human Belief Systems Are Inherently Flawed. If I Had To Label Myself Now, I'd Call Myself A Taoist-christian-agnostic Quantum Mechanic. Also, There's Nothing In The Actual Bible That Limits A Christian In Their Interest In Science. Anti-science Is A Function Of Ignorant Fundamentalism.

I Need An Audience Way More Than An Audience Needs Me.

For His Sake I'm Sorry That Robert Johnson Sold His Soul To The Devil, But For Our Sake And The Sake Of Music I'm Glad He Did.

There Are A Lot Of People In The Animal Rights Movement Who Can Be Very Passionate And Aggressive, And I Applaud People's Passion, But When People Are Judgmental And Aggressive, All You End Up Doing Is Getting Other People To Turn Away In Irritation. To Change People's Minds, You Have To Respect The People You're Talking To.

I Grew Up Obsessed With Science Fiction, And When I Was Really Young, I Wanted To Be A Scientist.

As Far As I'm Concerned, The Whole Point Of Making Music Is To Get It Heard By As Many People As Possible.

I've Dated Attractive People And I Don't Find A Correlation Between Amorous Enthusiasm And Beauty And Public Figure Status.

I Went To Columbia University Because They Were Doing A Study On People Who Suffered From Panic Attacks, And Because I Suffered From Panic Attacks My Whole Life, I Decided To Be A Part Of It. They Had This Questionnaire Where They Asked, How Many Units Of Alcohol Do You Have In A Month? The Top Answer Was 40 Or More, And I Got Really Scared Because I Was Having On Average 60 Or 70 Drinks A Week. And I Realized That That Was A Bad Sign.

When Playing Big Festivals, I Tend To Play Big, Over The Top Techno Tracks, Like Hands In The Air Songs That Make Sense Being Played In Front Of 30,000 People. I Steer Away From Subtlety In The Interests Of Big Bombastic Dance Music.

I Don't Know Many Artists Who Are Happy With Themselves All Of The Time.

The Average Life Expectancy Of A Celebrity Is 20 Years Less Than Someone Working In A Coal Mine.

In Some Ways It's Hard To See Electronic Music As A Genre Because The Word "electronic" Just Refers To How It's Made. Hip-hop Is Electronic Music. Most Reggae Is Electronic. Pop Is Electronic. House Music, Techno, All These Sorts Of Ostensibly Disparate Genres Are Sort Of Being Created With The Same Equipment.

I've Had My Charlie Sheen Moments, It Was Usually Just At The Mars Bar On The Corner Of First Avenue With Me And A Few Homeless Guys.

Have I Dated A Supermodel? Of Course Not. I'd Look Ridiculous.

We Do All, Myself Included, We Tend To Hold Ourselves To Pretty Low Standards. But When It Comes To Judging Public Figures Or Politicians Or People We've Never Met, We Tend To Hold People To Very High Standards, And, If We Held Ourselves To Those Standards, We'd Always Fall Short.

Sometimes People Will Think, I Need To Have Pre-sanctioned Spiritual Joy. Getting Joy From My Contemplative Meditation Practice Or Getting Joy From Reading Thich Nhat Hahn Books. Those Things Can Be Joyful But I Think It’s The Small, Simple Joys Of Playing With Dogs Or Having Sex With Someone You Love Or Going For A Walk Outside, Stuff That We Tend To Ignore.

Research Performed On Animals Is, By Definition, Scientifically Unsound.

I Think The Most Exciting Thing Is Access To Information. People's Ability To Document Things And Expose Things That May Have Not Otherwise Been Documented And Exposed. All The Information You Want Is Available Instantly, Which Is Overwhelming, But I Think Can Have A Positive Change On The Political Process And Accountability For Leaders And Corporations.

For Me, New York Still Ranks As The Most Beautiful And The Most Interesting City In The World. It Is Also The Most Varied In Terms Of The Things It Has To Offer.

There Are Viable (and Usually Better) Alternatives To The Use Of Animals For Food, Sport, Clothing, & Experimentation. I Beg You To Discontinue Any Actions That Might Cause Or Condone Animal Torture, Abuse, Or Destruction.

Musicians, Actors, Writers - We're All Neurotic, Odd People Who've Lucked Into Accidental Careers. So I Just Don't Like Being Around Public Figures With That Sense Of Entitlement, It Just Seems Unhealthy, And It Strips So Much Potential For Them To Develop As A Human Being.

Never Have Public Feuds With Anyone Who's Surrounded By People Who Carry Guns.

This Isn't Like Naming Your Dog Spot.

I'm Not Trying To Look For Pity Or Sympathy. I Was Just Surprised That So Many People In The World Of Entertainment Seemed To Be Okay With Misogyny And Homophobia As Long As They Were Profiting From It.

The Idea Of Feeling Old Is Much More The Worry Of A Slightly Younger Person. When You Are Getting Old, That Becomes - Psssh - Completely Secondary To The Absolute Understanding Of How Short Your Life Is.

I Love The Fact That No One's Ever Bought My Record Because They Were Enamoured Of The Way I Look. Maybe One Person. There Must Be Someone Out There With Compromised Taste.

Because I've Been That Drunk Person In The Club So Many Thousands Of Times, When I'm In An Environment Where People Are Drunk Or On Drugs, I Certainly Don't Judge Them. Because It's Almost A Given That For Much Of My Life I've Been Way More Messed Up Than Them.

Being A Vegan Is Pretty Easy These Days, As Almost Every Town And City Has Health Food Stores And Vegetarian-friendly Restaurants.

When 'play' First Came Out, Journalists Didn't Review It; It Didn't Get Radio Play. And Then It Became This Big Successful Record And, I Hate To Admit This, I Found Myself Liking The Fame. I Bought Into It.

When I Was Growing Up I Was An Atheist, Then An Agnostic, And Then I Had A Good Eight Or Ten Years Of Being Quite A Serious Christian.

To Truly Live A Creative Life Means That You Will Need To Experiment In As Many Different Fields As Possible.

Shaving Your Head Is Acceptable. It's When You Start Wearing Toupees And Brushing Your Hair Over That Things Go Wrong.

When I Can Really Open Myself Up To Someone And Show Someone Who I Really Am, It's Amazing When It Happens.

I Have No Perspective As Regards My Work. One Reason I Put Out Records And Books Is People Respond To It, And It Enables You To Actually See The Work More Clearly. It's A Form Of Therapy For Me. Sometimes Abusive Therapy.

I Truly Believe, As An Institution, Most Major Labels Should Just Die.

If You're Inclined To Dismiss L.a. As A Place Of Unrelenting Vapidity And Generic 1980s Architecture, Then You're Doing Yourself And L.a. A Huge Disservice, And You're Just Not Looking Hard Enough.

I'm Not Catholic But The Virgin Mary Fascinates Me Because She's Like A Folk Hero.

The People Who Get More Fame, Who Get More Money, More Often Than Not They Are Miserable, Insecure And On Anti-depressants. It's Strange That Everyone Keeps Buying Into This Idea That More Success Is Good, That More Fame Is Good, That More Money Is Good. Yet, We Look At The People Who Have More Success, More Fame, More Money And They're Miserable.

I'm Like A Monk With A Taste For Hookers.

I Always Feel Kind Of Absurd And Presumptuous Presenting A Speech.

I Love Nyc. It's The City Of My Birth And Probably The Most Amazing City On The Planet.

I'm Obsessed With Politics, And I Talk About It Any Chance I Can Get. I Have Strong Opinions About How The World Should Be Run.

I Know It's Simple, But My Main Inspiration Is Just My Love Of Music. I Know That Sounds Overly Naive. But It's True.

I Guess...on One Hand, I Spent Way Too Much Time Watching Science Fiction And Reading Science Fiction When I Was Growing Up. But A Part Of It Is I Also Never Felt Much Of A Connection To The World In Which I Lived While I Was Growing Up, And So, Oddly Enough, I Think I Felt A Lot More Connected To The Worlds That I Read About In Science Fiction.

I'm Envious Of People Who Can Sleep As Long As They Want. I Have The Circadian Rhythm Of A Farmer.

When I Say, 'i Love Christ And Love The Teachings Of Christ,' I Mean That In The Most Simple And Naive Way. I'm Not Saying I'm Right.

I Know, In My Heart Of Hearts, I Don't Do Things For Money.

The Worst Case Scenario Is You Really Like Someone's Work, Then You Meet Them And They're A Self-involved, Entitled Douchebag.

Worst Case Scenario

My Goal Is To Make One-not A Hodgepodge, But Just The Sort Of Record That I Would Want To Listen To.

But At The Same Time, I Don't Let Myself Regret Things To The Point That I'm Paralyzed.

Old People Go To The Polls Because They Can't Get Erections, Young People Stay Home, Do Drugs And Have Sex.

A Few Years Ago, Before I Stopped Drinking, I Was Feeling Very Sorry For Myself And Very Drunk, And I Googled 'moby Sucks'. In Less Than One Second Something Like 20 Million Responses Came Up... Yeah, There Has Been A Lot Of Loathing Directed Towards Me, And It Used To Drive Me Crazy.

I Love It When Celebrities Fall Apart, You Want Them To Fall Apart Like Charlie Sheen.

Growing Up In Connecticut, All The Colonial Houses Looked Alike. In Los Angeles, The Diversity Is So Extreme, It's Baffling.

All Of Us Little Bald White Guys Wearing Glasses Kind Of Look The Same.

But When A Man’s Religion Becomes Really Frantic; When It Is A Positive Torment To Him; And In Fine, Makes This Earth Of Ours An Uncomfortable Inn To Lodge In; Then I Think It High Time To Take That Individual Aside And Argue The Point With Him.

I Truly Don't Judge Other People's Actions. But I Think That Factory Farming Is An Abomination.

Who Wakes Up When They're Worth £120million And Says, 'i'm Unhappy Today But If Only I Had An Extra £2million!'

More Often Than Not, Whenever Gossip Has Been Written About Me, The Gossip Is More Interesting Than The Reality. I Know Some Public Figures Hate Gossip, But Personally I Like It Because It Makes My Life Sound More Glamorous And Interesting Than It Really Is.

Moby Lives The Simplest Of Any Person I Think I Know.

As People Continue To Do More And Buy More Over The Internet, Continue To Meet People Over The Internet, Connection Speeds Are Going To Get Faster, And The Internet Is Just Going To Become An Even More Integral Part Of People's Lives.

I Don't Think Of Myself As A Singer; I Usually End Up Singing When I Can't Find Anyone Better To Sing, Or When I'm Too Lazy To Find Someone Better.

The Moment A Career Is On A Quantitative Downswing, Your Loathsomeness Is Sort Of Attenuated.

I’ve Never Seen The Need To Choose One Type Of Music At The Exclusion Of Another. That Would Feel Kind Of Sad And Arbitrary.

One Time I Was Doing An Interview For A Gay Magazine And Halfway Through The Journalist Found Out I Wasn't Gay. He Said, 'sorry, I Can't Continue The Interview.' Because They Only Had Gay Public Figures In Their Magazine. I Felt So Crestfallen. I Wanted To Tell Him: But I Play Fundraisers For Gay Marriage! I'd Rather My Kids Were Gay Than Straight!'

If I Were To Be Really Petulant, I Would Say New York Is The One Doing The Betraying. Because The New York I Fell In Love With Doesn't Really Exist Anymore.

There Are A Lot Of Musicians Who Are Still Desperately Trying To Pretend That It's 1998 And By Having A Huge Marketing Campaign, They Somehow Believe That They Can Sell 10 Million Records. That's Delusional. No One Sells 10 Million Records. The Days Of Musicians Getting Rich Off Of Selling Records Are Done.

I Have Nothing Against Bombastic Music, But When It Comes To Making Albums, I'd Prefer To Make Music That Has A Sort Of Vulnerable Subtlety To It.

There's Nothing In The Actual Bible That Limits A Christian In Their Appreciation Of Or Interest In Science. Anti-science Is Purely A Function Of Ignorant Fundamentalism.

I've Made Records That Everyone Has Hated And I've Loved, And Made Records That Everyone Has Loved And I've Deemed, At Best, Mediocre.

There Are So Many Musicians, Friends Of Mine, Who Play Shows For Ten People A Night, Or Always Desperately Wanted A Record Contract. So Even If Every Person On The Planet Loathes Me, I Have Nothing To Complain About. My Job Is Not A Bad Job, So I Can't Complain.

When I Do Have Time To Work On Music, I'm Kind Of Selfish, And Would Rather Work On My Own Stuff Than Someone Else's.

Somehow, Magically, I've Become An Electronic Musician, And I Have A Recording Studio That Looks Like The Bridge Of The Enterprise.

There's Not A Lot Of Precedent For Weird, Bald Musicians In The Lower East Side Making Records In Their Bedrooms And Going On To Sell A Lot Of Copies Of The Record. Especially If You Look At The Pop Climate.

The Strange Thing About Hotel Rooms Is That They Look Familiar And Seem Familiar And Have Many Of The Accoutrements That Seem Domestic And Familiar, But They Are Really Weird, Alien And Anonymous Places.

There's Something About The Human Brain, That It Actually Has A Predilection Towards Negativity, Which Served Us Really Well When We Lived In An Environment That Was Very Threatening.

I Think That Eminem Is Very Talented And Remarkably Bright, And I Actually Do Like A Lot Of His Music.

I've Been An Animal Rights Activist And A Vegan For 28 Years. The Entire Time, I've Asked Myself: How Do I Best Advance An Animal Rights Agenda?

It’s Perfectly Natural For Me To Sit Down And Talk About Meditating And Spiritual Practice With My Friends. But Then I Realize, How Would It Sound To A Drunk Cynical Guy In London?

Since I Was Really Little, I've Just Always Had An Obsession With, Not Just Science Fiction, But Science And Space. And Also Because As Time Passes And The More Advanced Science Becomes, The More Interesting It Becomes.

If I Had To Label Myself Now, I'd Call Myself A Taoist-christian-agnostic Quantum Mechanic.

It's Enshrined In Our Constitution That An Individual Has A Right To Release Information And Disseminate Information That Makes The Powers That Be Uncomfortable.

The Only Sort Of Descriptive Adjective Or Catch Phrase For My Music Would Be 'eclectic.'

So In 1987 I Gave Up All Animal Products And Became A Vegan. Simply So That I Could Eat And Live In Accordance With My Beliefs That Animals Have Their Own Lives, That They're Entitled To Their Own Lives And That Contributing To Animal Suffering Is Something That I Don't Want To Be A Part Of.

Without David Bowie, Popular Music As We Know It Pretty Much Wouldn't Exist.

Factory-farm Lobbyists Are So Powerful And So Well Funded And They Do Everything In Their Power To Hide The Truth About Farming. They Keep The Farms And Slaughterhouses In Places That Most People Never Visit; They Execute Huge Marketing Campaigns In An Effort To Make Animal Production Look Like A Happy, Nice, Benign Institution.

My Goal With Everything That I Do Is To Present Things In A Way That I Would Want To See If I Was In The Audience Or Buying The Record.

There Was A Time When I Was Way Too Reliant Upon Other People's Opinions And Perspective Of Me. And I Guess Over Time Came To See How Unhealthy That Was. I Mean It's Almost Like A Sign Of Mental Illness To Base Your Self-worth On The Opinions Of Complete Strangers.

I Learned In The Last Few Years That It's Really Unhappy And Really Unsustainable To Try And Base Your Well Being On Something As Arbitrary As Record Sale And Critical Acclaim And The Interests Of The Public. All Of Those Things Are So Fickle. So My Approach Now To Music Is I Want To Make Records That I Love, And I Hope That Other People Love Them, Then That's Ok.

A Lot Of People Do Talk About The Demise Of The Album, But I Still Believe That If An Artist Tries Hard To Make A Great Album, People Will Buy It And Listen To It As An Album, Rather Than Just A Collection Of Random Songs.

Every Single Day The World Seems Like It Is On The Brink Of Falling Apart. But Then I Look Outside My Window, And Things Look About The Same As They Did A Week Ago. It's Almost A Form Of Cognitive Dissonance.

When You're Signed To A Big Label You're Always In The Position Of Convincing Them, Especially Now Because Labels Are Barely Keeping The Lights On, So Getting Them To Spend A Little Bit Of Money Is Really Hard.

I Think A Lot Of Self-importance Is A Product Of Fear. And Fear, Living In Sort Of An Un-self-examined Fear-based Life, Tends To Lead To Narcissism And Self-importance.

This Whole World Is Run By Brutes For The Common And The Stupid.

If There Is True Evil In The World - It Is Republican Conservatives.

As Music Became More Profitable In The 1990s, It Seemed Like It Attracted A Lot Of People Who Were Just Interested In The Financial Aspect Of It, Which Is Depressing.

Nasa Is An Utterly Fascinating Place, And The Fact That The Buildings Look So Anonymous Almost Make It More Fascinating. You Walk By A Generic Office-park-looking Building, And You Have No Idea What's Going On Inside.

As Long As The World Continues To Be Strange And Interesting, I Still Want To Take Pictures Of It.

I Love It When Celebrities Fall Apart.

I Spent So Much Of My Life Reading About Spirituality And Reading About Neuroscience And Trying Different Meditation Practices. It's A Really Big Part Of My Life. But It's Sometimes Hard To Talk About. There Are So Many People In The World Who Don't Live In Southern California And Don't Spend Their Time Meditating.

If I Spend 100 Days In A Row Making Music There’s A Chance Nothing Will Come Of It. But If I Spend 100 Days Not Making Music It’s Guaranteed That Nothing Will Come Of It. So Keep Working.

In An Odd Way, Donald Trump And Maybe Brexit Is Gonna Be Great For Inspiring A New Wave Of Socially Conscious Political Music.

To Paraphrase Paul From The New Testament, He Has A Great Soliloquy About Love, Where He's Basically Saying, If I've Figured Out The Secrets Of The Universe But I Don't Have Love, Figuring Out The Secrets Of Universe Means Nothing.

In The Long, Nonillustrious History Of White People Pilfering African American Culture, Have I Just Perpetrated That? I'm Motivated By A Love For The Music And By A Love Of The Performances, And I Really Hope I Haven't Done Anything Bad.

Let Peace And Beauty Reign.

I Would Drink And Drink And Then At 3 O'clock In The Morning Take Anything That Was Put In Front Of Me. And I'd Sometimes Be Disappointed When Conventional Things Were Put In Front Of Me. Like, I'd Do A Line Of Something And Be Disappointed To Find It Was Just Cocaine.

There's A Fairly Extensive Network Of Musicians On Tour Who Are All Trying To Stay Sober, And We Generally Reach Out To Each Other And Offer Support When And Where We Can.

I Run Into A Lot Of People Who Are Instantly Filled With Ridicule At The Idea That Someone Wouldn't Eat Meat.

I Love That Vinyl Is Actually Growing In Popularity, And That There Are So Many Great Record Stores.

The World Is Too Big And Too Intricate To Conform To Our Ideas Of What It Should Be Like... Just Because We Invent Myths And Theories To Explain Away The Chaos We're Still Going To Live In A World That's Older And More Complicated Than We'll Ever Understand.

I've Been Having A Midlife Crisis Since I Was Four Years Old.

Luckily Almost No One Buys Music Anymore, So Selling Music Doesn't Really Affect Any Of My Professional Decisions.

I Feel That One Of The Reasons Brexit Happened Was That People Stayed At Home Rather Than Going To The Polls.

God Has Taken His Chosen People, The Problem Being You Are The Only Non-chosen Person.

Every Time You Read An Interview With A Supermodel, They're Always Like, 'oh, I Was A Such Nerd.' I Resent That A Little Bit. I Was In The A/v Club. I Used To Eat My Lunch In A Closet.

Doing Interviews And Touring Are Two Ways That I Can Try To Bring My Music To People. It Can Be Tiring, But It's Better Than Working At Burger King.

There Are Certain Songs That If People Come Up To Me And Tell Me How Much That Song Meant To Them, I Think, You Should Have Better Taste, Then, Because I Don't Really Like That Song.

I Honestly Just Love Being In My Studio Working On Music. That's All The Inspiration I Need. And I Don't Write With An End Result In Mind, I Just Write For The Simple Love Of Writing.

I Live In New York And I Love Hanging Out In Gay Clubs, And A Lot Of My Friends Are Gay. But, For Better Or For Worse, I'm Not Gay.

I Was Trying To Convince Myself I Could Learn To Be Gay - But No. That's One Of My Great Regrets.

I've Done The Performing Monkey Stuff And Massive Breakdowns, It's Just They Weren't Documented.

Now Small Fowls Flew Screaming Over The Yet Yawning Gulf; A Sullen White Surf Beat Against Its Steep Sides; Then All Collapsed; And The Great Shroud Of The Sea Rolled On As It Rolled Five Thousand Years Ago.

New York Is Such A Competitive Place; It Tears People Apart. People Come Here And, If They Can't Make It In The First Month, They Get Torn Apart And They Have To Go Back To Where They Came From. I Don't Think That's Terribly Healthy.

I Have Actually Found Myself Buying Up More And More Old Analogue Gear. I Have This Strange Obsession With Old Drum Machines.

No One Drives In Manhattan - In Fact, Many Of The Folks Who Live In Manhattan Don't Even Have Driving Licenses!

A Part Of Me Wants To Sort Of Try And Sound Cool And Feed This Myth That I'm Some Sort Of Glamorous Lothario, But I Was Raised By Women - My Mother And Her Mother And My Aunts - And As A Result, Most Of My Friends Have Always Been Women.

Up Until The Rise Of Electronic Music, If You Were A Musician In Portugal Or Germany Or Italy Or Japan, And You Didn't Sing In English, You Really Were Limited: You Could Be Successful In The Country Where People Understood Your Language. The World Of Electronic Music Is Completely International. You Have Djs From Finland Making Huge Records For People In New Zealand, Djs In South Korea Making Huge Records For People In France. By The Fact That It Doesn't Cost Anything To Make, And That It Transcends Language, Nation It Accidentally Accomplishes A Lot Of Really Remarkable Things.

You Can't Find An Uglier Urban Environment Than The Centre Of Hollywood, But Then You Go To Griffith Park, You Go To The Beach, You Go To The Mountains, And It's Rural. I Live Up In The Hollywood Hills And I Have Frogs, Owls, Coyotes, Mountain Lions - But I'm Ten Minutes From The Centre Of The City.

Hollywood Hills

I Was Raised With This Idea That We're Supposed To Be Tolerant Of Other People's Opinions, But Then What Happens If Other People's Opinions Are Racist And Hateful And Wrong?

It Will Be Interesting To See What The Long Term Fruits Of Our National Apathy Will Be, 'cos So Far They've Been Pretty Foul.

When I Was Very Young, I Played In A Punk-rock Band, But I Also Studied Music Theory And Classical Music.

I Was Never Encouraged To Believe Anything. I Was Brought Up In A Profoundly Agnostic Or Pantheistic Community.

If We Base Our Belief Systems On The Humble Assumption That The Complexities Of The World Are Ontologically Beyond Our Understanding, Then Maybe Our Belief Systems Will Make More Sense And End Up Causing Less Suffering.

Under No Circumstances Do I Ever Want To See Any Part Of Me Having Sex! I Wouldn't Want To See Video Tape, Pictures, In The Mirror, Nothing.

At 3 O'clock In The Morning On Tour When You're Sober Is A Lot Less Fun Than 3 A.m. When You're Drunk In A Bar Or In A Nightclub. But Having Said That, 9 In The Morning On Tour Sober Is Immeasurably Better Than 9 A.m. On Tour When You're Hung Over And Feeling Like Death.

My Secret Is Being Not Terrible At A Lot Of Things.

I'd Just Rather Have A Really Sharp, Interesting, Smart Gay Son Than Some Big Dumb Hetero Meathead.

Trending Author

Luigi Pirandello

Kathie Lee Gifford

Category