Rock and roll isn't a career or hobby - it's a life force ... it's just something I have to do.
The EdgeRead
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.
Interpretation
Embracing spontaneity in creativity can lead to unexpected breakthroughs.
In this quote, The Edge reflects on the creative process of writing music. He suggests that when he faces challenges in composing a guitar piece, he experiments with effects like echo to push boundaries and explore new sonic territories. This approach reveals the limitless potential within creativity, emphasizing that sometimes chaos can lead to innovation and inspiration in art.
In practice
In a music workshop, when discussing creative blocks, one might share this quote to illustrate the value of experimentation.
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.
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.
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.
An actor must interpret life, and in order to do so he must be willing to accept all experiences that life can offer.
The newspaper is, in fact, very bad for one's prose style. That's why I gravitated towards feature stories where you get a little more leeway in the writing style.
I work as an artist, and I think the audience of one, which is the self, and I have to satisfy myself as an artist. So I always say that I write for the same people that Picasso painted for. I think he painted for himself.
A man writes because he is tormented, because he doubts. He needs to constantly prove to himself and the others that he’s worth something. And if I know for sure that I’m a genius? Why write then? What the hell for?
I'd like to think I am taking people on a journey; I am not just entertaining people, but giving them something to think about when they leave.
I would have to think about it for two or three months before I decided to do something which would have meaning. And it would have to be more than just an impression or pleasure. I would need an objective, a meaning. That is the only thing that could help me.
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