Quotes from Josh Homme

You got to risk something to be able to give something, you know?

So the thing is to put out music for music's sake.

I got into guitar because no parent will buy their eight-year-old kid drums unless they're divorced and trying to get back at their wife. You know what I mean?

Music's supposed to be real. When it really touches you, it's supposed to be real.

The first record I bought was a Carl Perkins record, because I saw him at The Festival at Sandpoint, Idaho. I loved Elvis and I found out that he wrote 'Blue Suede Shoes'... so connecting that experience of going to see him play was pretty awesome. That's when I realised I wanted to play guitar.

If you wanna be famous, then it's okay if the music is fake, because fame isn't real.

You wanna be there for everybody, but it's just not possible.

I like when people take chances.

I'm in three bands, and I love to produce records of other bands, and I have a family that I love. I wanted to be everything for everybody and do all of that... I think I just really beat myself up until I got really sick and needed surgery, because it was physically manifesting itself.

Sometimes Queens' music is dark, but somehow it's ok to deliver it with a smile on your face because thing's are still going to kick in.

If I was just in one band, I would have a problem with the amount of time between records because I don't want to wave one flag. I just want to be part of something cool.

I don't think it's good to run on anger, but it's really great when that's the first couple of gallons in your tank - when you've had enough, and you're just pissed off enough to go for it. In a lot of ways, that sort of environment can be a catapult for a great situation.

Sometimes you actually get caught in the web of things where people are talking about... what kind of breakfast cereal you like.

I'm not politically correct; I never said I was.

People think that when they're playing it safe, they're trying to preserve what they have, but there is no preservation of what you have in music. There's no safety in music.

I've worked at a deli, I've worked construction, I've worked a few different jobs.

I think people believe I'm some kind of evil dictator sometimes. But I don't much care about that.

I think one of the coolest things you can do is disappear for a while, because it gives you the chance to re-emerge. To sort of pounce out of the jungle.

I think everyone is trying to figure out who they are and their own thing.

When it's time to make music, that's about getting lost for me. To be a control freak is not half as good as being a freak who's casually in control. You're feeling around in the dark for something that feels good.

Music is the only thing I've ever known that doesn't have any rules at all.

Why would you choose being bitter over choosing to make music? Being bitter is gross. It doesn't amount to anything.

Sometimes hard decisions have to be made, and sometimes wonderful decisions have to be made. You've got to be willing to make them all.

I've always considered myself a workaholic... The way I work, I have to turn myself upside down and hang myself by my ankles and wring myself out like a wet sweater, and I have to do that with other people, too, because I think that's where something good comes out.