When things get so absurd and so stupid and so ridiculous that you just can't bear it, you cannot help but turn everything into a joke.
David ByrneRead
Forces that you might think are utterly unrelated to creativity can have a big impact. Technology, obviously, but environment, too. Even financial structures can affect the actual content of a song. The making of music is profoundly affected by the market.
Interpretation
External factors such as technology and environment significantly influence creativity.
David Byrne highlights the interconnectedness of creativity and external influences, suggesting that elements like technology, the environment, and financial systems play a crucial role in shaping artistic expression, particularly in music. The quote underscores the idea that creativity is not just an internal process but also a response to various external conditions that can enhance or restrict artistic output.
In practice
In a discussion about how music evolves with technology, you can use this quote to emphasize the influence of external factors.
When things get so absurd and so stupid and so ridiculous that you just can't bear it, you cannot help but turn everything into a joke.
I certainly agree that putting everything into little genres is counterproductive. You're not going to get too many surprises if you only focus on the stuff that fits inside the box that you know.
You create a community with music, not just at concerts but by talking about it with your friends.
Real sadness is such an all-encompassing intense thing that it takes you out of your humdrum existence. If you can still function, you want to show it while it's peaking. So when people tell you to cheer up, it's not always the best thing.
I find rebellion packaged by a major corporation a little hard to take seriously.
We don't make music, it makes us
No matter how many times you do it, you don't get used to the sadness - for me at least - of coming to the end of a film.
When I listen to music these days, and I hear Pro Tools and drums that sound like a machine - it kinda sucks the life out of music.
I have a predilection for painting that lends joyousness to a wall.
The writer concerned more with technique than truth becomes a technician, not an artist.
I feel blessed that I found not just a profession, but a 24/7 way of life that I purely love. That curiosity to be current, to listen to the Hozier album, to be early in recognition of a Lorde and spending time with her and Miguel, the pleasure of seeing new talent erupt... I love it.
For the canons of good society are, or should be, the same as the canons of art. Form is absolutely essential to it.
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