Explore Quotes by Stephen Malkmus

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.

When you get older, you have to wrestle with what's appropriate behavior a little bit more. Am I not acting too old or too young?

I wouldn't say that 'Wowee Zowee' was a success. We probably had a chance, had I focused a little more, to capitalize on the attention the band got for 'Crooked Rain.'

'Summer Babe' is the start of Pavement front-loading their albums with the catchiest song first.

I'm into Zwan. Zwan was good.

I would be happy to produce groups, like John Cale - he was in the Velvet Underground, and then he went on to produce these bands.

I'm a fan of the Grateful Dead.

I am good at just looking in the kitchen and getting stuff on the table and keeping the mess minimal. There's an art to the drudgery.

I hate being tan.

I really do think everybody can sing.

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.

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

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

Pop music catches on like a meme. It just takes a little bit of tinder, and it can become a phenomenon. You have to break through that wall a little bit. Why it happens, I don't really know.

With Pavement, we had no managers and never had a lawyer. We got lucky with not signing any bad deals.

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

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.

I think the focus of the media changes. At the moment the more electronic stuff like trip-hop was the flavor of the month, just a little while ago. It all depends on the angle, from which point of view you see it.

If you want to be negative about the whole thing you can say all guitar bands after the Beatles were just a waste of time because the Beatles were the best. I think it's far better to give new records a try.

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.

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.