Quotes About Nonconformity

I don't have any desire to rebel and be something totally different from what I am.

Coaches are okay, I guess, but I prefer to do things my own way.

Don't worry so much about 'not supposed to'.

If you're going to play it out of tune, then play it out of tune properly.

To hell with the rules. If it sounds right, then it is.

I never set out to be part of a genre, because I listen to all types of music.

The world today doesn't make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do?

The idea of having to conform to someone else's ideal is unacceptable. I'm gonna be me. And if I can't be me, then I'd rather not do it.

I don't care who likes it or buys it. Because if you use that criterion, Mozart would never have written Don Giovanni, Charlie Parker would have never played anything but swing music.

We need to restore the spirit of irreverence in music.

I don't write music for sissy ears.

I think Depeche Mode music somehow appeals to the oddball, to the person who is looking for something a little bit different.

I never do what anyone else is doing. I could walk away from music and become a farmer or do some crochet. The worst thing in life for me is to do something I'm not happy doing.

When Punk Rock happened, it created an opening in the culture... it made it ok to think you could play music, even though you had no musical training.

I never do anything to strictly satisfy a fickle, ever-changing commercial world. I do the music I like to play. It's the only way I feel comfortable existing in the industry.

I already feel that I am making a political statement by sticking around in music, when I am doing it so differently to everyone else.

I found a certain kind of music congenial to me; it never occurred to me to write music that was academically acceptable.

Rock music was never written for or performed for conservative tastes.

Rock'n'roll is not red carpets and MySpace friends, rock'n'roll is dangerous and should piss people off

I have no education, I have no academic background in painting or in music, but I write music and I compose music and I write and I sell paintings, and my rule is, well, they can't arrest me.

I think there needs to be people that are doing something different in music. There's a need for that as much as there's a need for a scene.

I think one of the most important things punk brought back was the whole concept of staying independent and doing things yourself. It made music a lot less boring in any category you can name.

Pop music allows you to be who you are without having to wear a social uniform or to conform, which some people find impossible to do.

I don't feel bound by the ebbs and flows of musical trends, or what's happening with new music in general.