We make music for a living. Like I've always said, if you like what you're doing, you're halfway there; if someone else likes it, that's even better. If they don't like it, at least you like it. Not to be selfish, but you kind of have to be.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of passion in one's work and the value of individual enjoyment over public approval.
Eddie Van Halen expresses that making music is not just a profession, but a passion. He suggests that enjoying what you do is crucial for success, and while external validation is appreciated, the primary motivation should stem from personal satisfaction. This highlights a balance between self-fulfillment and external reception in creative endeavors.
In practice
In a speech at a music festival encouraging young artists to follow their passion.
When I'm home on a break, I lock myself in my room and play guitar. After two or three hours, I start getting into this total meditation. It's a feeling few people experience, and that's usually when I come up with weird stuff. It just flows. I can't force myself. I don't sit down and say I've got to practice.
Music is for people. The word 'pop' is simply short for popular. It means that people like it. I'm just a normal jerk who happens to make music. As long as my brain and fingers work, I'm cool.
There's a plaque on our wall that says we've sold over 65 million albums, and I don't feel I've accomplished anything. I feel like I'm just getting started.
And if I would have taken lessons I probably wouldn't have done it, and what forced me to do all this weird stuff on the guitar was I couldn't afford effects pedals, I didn't have all this stuff when I was a kid so I just tried to squeeze all the weird noises I could out of the guitar, which brings me to building guitars.
If you want to be a rock star or just be famous, then run down the street naked, you'll make the news or something. But if you want music to be your livelihood, then play, play, play and play! And eventually you'll get to where you want to be.
Music kept me off the streets and out of trouble and gave me something that was mine that no one could take away from me.
Everybody was wearing rhinestones, all those sparkly clothes, and cowboy boots. I decided to wear a black shirt and pants and see if I could get by with it. I did and I've worn black clothes ever since.
Well, all the plays that I was trying to write were plays that would grab an audience by the throat and not release them, rather than presenting an emotion which you could observe and walk away from.
Relating a person to the whole world: that is the meaning of cinema.
A story is like something you wind out of yourself. Like a spider, it is a web you weave, and you love your story like a child.
No, there's not much competition between puppeteers in general because everybody's working their own style.
Artists are the antennae of the race.
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