If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
Neil PeartRead
Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to play music that I liked, and even when I was in cover bands when I was a teenager we only played cover tunes that we liked. That was the simple morality that I grew up with.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses the importance of authenticity in musical expression, highlighting a commitment to personal taste and integrity.
In this quote, Neil Peart emphasizes the significance of staying true to oneself by pursuing music that resonates personally. He reflects on his upbringing and the values instilled in him, which guided his choice to play tunes he genuinely enjoyed, rather than conforming to external expectations, illustrating a broader principle of living authentically.
Themes
MusicAuthenticityExpressionPersonal TasteIntegrity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a speech about pursuing one's passion in the arts.
More from Neil Peart
All quotes →The real test of a musician is live performance. It's one thing to spend a long time learning how to play well in the studio, but to do it in front of people is what keeps me coming back to touring.
Neil PeartRead
Performing live in front of an audience is such a matter of will - all of those things you can do just fine in your basement, suddenly you have to do them in front of hundreds or thousands of people, and it becomes a different matter entirely.
Neil PeartRead
It seems to me that's the only way you can have a truly creative aggregate of people is if they're all contributing in different ways.
Neil PeartRead
What I've learned over the years is that the craft of songwriting is trying to take the personal and make it universal - or in the case of telling a story, taking the universal and making it personal.
Neil PeartRead
I've heard the stories. Like, Eric Clapton said he wanted to burn his guitar when he heard Jimi Hendrix play. I never understood that because, when I went and saw a great drummer or heard one, all I wanted to do was practice.
Neil PeartRead
Similar quotes
It is quite cruel that a poet cannot wander through his regions of enchantment without having a critic, forever, like the old man of the sea, upon his back.
Marianne MooreRead
People really feel like music is free but will pay $6 for water. You can drink water free out of the tap, and it's good water. But they're OK paying for it.
Jay-ZRead
Music is everybody's possession.
John LennonRead
I just wanted a song to sing, and there came a point where I couldn't sing anything...nobo dy else was writing what I wanted to sing. I couldn't find it anywhere. If I could I probably would never have started writing.
Bob DylanRead
I concentrate in my work on preserving and displaying the original flavor from each ingredient in a dish.
Alain DucasseRead
In many ways, writing is the act of saying 'I,' of imposing oneself upon other people, of saying, 'Listen to me, see it my way, change your mind.' It's an aggressive, even a hostile act.
Joan DidionRead