Rock and roll isn't a career or hobby - it's a life force ... it's just something I have to do.
The EdgeRead
Music is such a great communicator. It breaks down linguistic barriers, cultural barriers, it basically reaches out. That's when rock n' roll succeeds, and that's what virtuosity is all about.
Interpretation
Music transcends language and culture, allowing for universal communication and connection.
In this quote, The Edge emphasizes the power of music as a medium that surpasses linguistic and cultural divides. He suggests that the true essence of rock n' roll, as well as musical virtuosity, lies in its ability to resonate with people on a profound, emotional level, enabling a shared experience that fosters understanding and connection among diverse audiences.
In practice
During a cultural exchange program, this quote can be used to highlight the importance of music in uniting different backgrounds.
Rock and roll isn't a career or hobby - it's a life force ... it's just something I have to do.
Starting a band is the easy part. Once you've formed the band, you have to tell a story, and that story requires songs. And not just good songs, but great songs. After a while, great songs won't do - they have to be the best. Success doesn't make it any easier. Each time I start a new record, it's a brand-new search.
Weirdly enough, if I'm having trouble with a guitar part - not the playing of it but the writing - I'll mess around with echo and other effects, just turn everything up and make it as crazy as can be, and it winds up taking me somewhere. I've found so many guitar parts from echo. It's limitless.
The big cop-out would be to accept popularity rather than opting to try to create potent work. It's so easy to do the popular thing, the expected thing, and that's where you start to cheat yourself - and your fans, in the end - because there's an inherent dishonesty in pandering and dishing up what everyone's expecting.
We read five words on the first page of a really good novel and we begin to forget that we are reading printed words on a page; we begin to see images.
I listen to everything - from Sarah McLachlan and Alanis Morissette all the way down to rap like Scarface, UGK and Lauryn Hill.
The writing life requires courage, patience, persistence, empathy, openness, and the ability to deal with rejection. It requires the willingness to be alone with oneself. To be gentle with oneself. To look at the world without blinders on. To observe and withstand what one sees. To be disciplined, and at the same time, take risks. To be willing to fail - not just once, but again and again, over the course of a lifetime.
The way to see what looks good and understand the reasons it looks good, and to be at one with this goodness as the work proceeds, is to cultivate an inner quietness, a peace of mind so that goodness can shine through.
Mediocre writers borrow; great writers steal.
Visual ideas combined with technology combined with personal interpretation equals photography. Each must hold it's own; if it doesn't, the thing collapses.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.