119 Alternative Music Quotes

Following is our list of alternative music quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about independent music.

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Famous Alternative Music Quotes

Yeah, I always listen to both classic and newer folk-influenced music. Singer-songwriter, alternative music. I also listen to more experimental dance music. — Brad Delson

Placebo is music for outsiders, by outsiders and our gigs are like conventions of outcasts, which is cool. — Brian Molko

You gotta look beyond the mainstream... the mainstream'll drown you, you know? There's always a pulse in the underground that I love. And the pulse in the underground is what keeps heavy metal alive. — Phil Anselmo

Underground dance music - in the nicest way possible - it's amateur. — Axwell

Latin music has many international influences - pop, rock, country, Brazilian sounds, and alternative styles. — Ednita Nazario

Music is a safe kind of high. - Jimi Hendrix

Music is a safe kind of high. — Jimi Hendrix

I liked anything that was a little bit weird, a little bit different. I always went for the psychotic, weird, 'dingey' bands. — Kurt Cobain

Rap music is the only vital form of music introduced since punk rock. - Kurt Cobain

Rap music is the only vital form of music introduced since punk rock. — Kurt Cobain

Pop music, disco music, and heavy metal music is about shutting out the tensions of life, putting it away. — Peter Tork

Independent artists and labels have always been the trendsetters in music and the music business. — Shawn Fanning

I was looking for something a lot heavier, yet melodic at the same time. Something different from heavy metal, a different attitude. — Kurt Cobain

Music is music; you can't change rock and say well this is punk rock and this is acid rock or rockabilly. — Chuck Berry

Music is always changing and the changes are unpredictable. - Billy Sheehan

Music is always changing and the changes are unpredictable. — Billy Sheehan

Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting. — Brian Eno

We are living in a cultural dark age of musical pollution. You put the radio on, and five minutes later you need an aspirin. — Vangelis

Short Alternative Music Quotes

  • Music is my religion. — Jimi Hendrix
  • Music never leaves you alone, and punk rock will always be there when nothing else will. — Pete Wentz
  • We were like psychedelic folk combined with Sonic Youth's noise. — Scott Putesky
  • We were like psychedelic folk combined with Sonic Youth's noise. — Daisy Berkowitz
  • There are basically two categories of music: Metal and bullshit. — Bruce Dickinson
  • Music should be your escape. — Missy Elliot
  • Modern music is as dangerous as narcotics. — Pietro Mascagni
  • Music can change the world. — Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Pop changes week to week, month to month. But great music is like literature. — Ravi Shankar
  • Music should always be an adventure. — Coleman Hawkins

Alternative Music Image Quotes

Alternative music quote Life is like a piano, the white keys represent happiness and the black shows sadness, but as you go
Life is like a piano, the white keys represent happiness and the black shows sadness, but as you go through life's journey, remember that the black keys also makes music.

Alternative Rock Quotes

Every piece has its own identity which we develop by the rule 'We know no limits.' We follow the inspiration of the moment and don't worry if what we're playing is alternative, progressive or fusion rock. — Page McConnell

I'm sure there are a few things in my CD collection that might surprise people. I like classical music, the blues, and I'm a big fan of alternative rock. — Brad Paisley

I just got exposed to electronica, and I really liked it. I am also good with alternative rock. I like Lana Del Rey, Adele, Dido, Jack Johnson, and I love the Beatles and the Beach Boys. — Anushka Sharma

Alternative music quote Behind every girl's favorite song there is an untold story.
Behind every girl's favorite song there is an untold story.

I listen to all those kinds of music, from classic soul to hip-hop to Brazilian music to, you know, jazz to indie to alternative. So whatever. I listen to all if it. Classic rock and classic pop, all of that. — John Legend

Like the song "Stereo", to me that's like, kind of hip-hop in that slacker way. There's some slackerisms mixed in with that stuff, but it wasn't really conscious, I guess. When things would get more typical rock'n'roll that was my fallback to go to those kind of lyrics instead of the alternatives. — Stephen Malkmus

I love things that are very broad. I love alternative, rock, hip hop, rap, and I'll go to classical or jazz. — Corbin Bleu

Alternative music quote The earth has music for those who listen.
The earth has music for those who listen.

I don't want to pooh-pooh modern pop. I appreciate that as well, but my personal favorite kind of music is guitar-based rock. I like grunge and garage bands and alternative music, but that's more my personal taste. — Al Yankovic

When alternative music - which is supposed to be the standard-bearer of where white rock is headed - becomes either too cute or too manufactured, that's just really not good. — Billy Corgan

I was into alternative stuff, but I was also open to a little bit of hard rock and metal, like Guns N' Roses, Metallica. — Girl Talk

I THINK ITS COOL THAT OTHER CROWDS LIKE WHAT I DO. HOWEVER IVE ALWAYS HAD A GOOD MIX OF PEOPLE AT MY SHOWS. I STARTED DOING THINGS ON RADIO ON ROCK MARKETS AND ALTERNATIVE MARKETS. IVE ALWAYS BEEN A COUNTRY TYPE ACT HOWEVER I STARTED WITH THE ROCK MARKET. IM VERY INTERCHANGEABLE. — Larry the Cable Guy

Independent Music Quotes

Better to die fighting for freedom then be a prisoner all the days of your life. — Bob Marley

Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers. You can fill your life up with ideas and still go home lonely. All you really have that really matters are feelings. That's what music is to me.” – Janis Joplin — Janis Joplin

Sometimes I observe with curiosity that uninterrupted activity which, independent of the subject of any conversation I may be carrying on, continues its course in that department of my brain that is devoted to music. — Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Alternative music quote A real leader faces the music, even when he doesn't like the tune.
A real leader faces the music, even when he doesn't like the tune.

I’ve always tried to be independent. It’s just my personality. I’ve always been the type to motivate the camp. I’ve always wanted to be the fuel for something—for music, the fuel for my family, the fuel for my best friend. Helping someone with what I’m doing. — Rita Ora

Digital technology has eaten classic radio as we know it. Independent stations with disc jockeys who chose their own music have all gone; it's these huge parent companies that own a hundred stations and then decide what we should hear. — Joe Walsh

When I hear the word independent I reach for my revolver. At this point, what the hell does that mean? The English Patient is an independent film... Hootie and the Blowfish are alternative music. I'm the Queen of Denmark. I don't know what it means anymore. — Jim Jarmusch

Alternative music quote Art is how we decorate space; Music is how we decorate time.
Art is how we decorate space; Music is how we decorate time.

Independence has been key to the success and sustained growth of electronic music over the past 25 years. — Richie Hawtin

Appalachia is still, for American musicians, a kind of fountain of youth we always go back to, the old home place to a group of artists who represent the quintessence of American independence, fortitude, genius, and madness. — Paul Burch

He didn't say nothing. He would just do things. He never said nothing or explained nothing. He just would do it and that was it. You were on your own. You had to be very independent being around John [Coltrane]. — Pharoah Sanders

Being independent gives me freedom to creatively be great. Standing on your own doesn't always get major exposure or support, but because I make music from a pure place, I am more so excited and relieved that it actually gets out into the universe. — Mya

Indie Music Quotes

It's important to keep indie record stores alive because their unique environments introduce music lovers to things in a very personal way. — Norah Jones

Generally I try to read anything but indie rock journalism or anything about music at all, especially in the summer. — Emily Haines

Indie rock is just as susceptible - if not more susceptible - to all the gross things about people becoming total ass clowns in music, and only worrying about money and image. I'm not interested in being a part of that. — Justin Vernon

Alternative music quote A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.
A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.

I'm into indie music. I think indie is going to bring back the spirit in music. There was a time when it was all about accommodating the music business, the music was getting tasteless, but the spirit is back. — Yoko Ono

I really do listen to all types of music, not only rock, but everything from good pop music - which is usually older pop music - to RB and indie rock. I love indie rock more than a lot of the commercial stuff that you'd expect. — Amy Lee

You really think all of those indie music dorks go to SXSW every year to check out music? They go there to wear their laminates and act important and try to get laid. — Mark Kozelek

Alternative music quote People are like Music, some speak the truth and other are just noise
People are like Music, some speak the truth and other are just noise

Now that the generation that grew up on '80s indie-rock has attained influential positions in the culture, that music is the new yardstick. And that will shift yet again some day. — Michael Azerrad

The American indie underground made music for like-minded people who thought for themselves. Thinking for yourself is intrinsically subversive. — Michael Azerrad

I've always seen myself as the person listening to alternative music and all that - generic indie person. I always tried to be the least pretty I could be. — Jenny Hval

I have friends with deals, both major and indie, and the ones on majors never seem as happy, and quite frankly aren't making music as strong as those on independents. — Raheem Jarbo

Contemporary Music Quotes

Hip hop music is important precisely because it sheds light on contemporary politics, history, and race. At its best, hip hop gives voice to marginal black youth we are not used to hearing from on such topics. — Michael Eric Dyson

The whole rise of new adult contemporary music and smooth jazz was a nice surprise. — Kenny G

Do I think all contemporary Christian music is good? No. - Amy Grant

Do I think all contemporary Christian music is good? No. — Amy Grant

Alternative music quote Music is the emotional life of most people.
Music is the emotional life of most people.

Writing songs is about trying to connect with people on a deeper spiritual level - but I'm not a fan of contemporary Christian music. — Ryan Tedder

I always like to play very contemporary concepts of swing right next to New Orleans music because it highlights continuum. — Wynton Marsalis

I am a classical music lover - not necessarily the contemporary stuff, but the old stuff. — Eberhard Weber

Alternative music quote One good thing about music. When it hits you, you feel no pain.
One good thing about music. When it hits you, you feel no pain.

All great music is contemporary. If it's still alive and kicking, then it's contemporary. If it fades away, it was a period piece. It had its moment, and that was it. — Steve Reich

Words that in their everyday surrealism have no parallel in contemporary writing... Music that mines the deep veins of fatalism in the Appalachian voice — Greil Marcus

I mean, people listen to music, and they like that, but I think in England, a lot of people don't like contemporary art. — Damien Hirst

I've never had any feeling of disconnection between the classical theater, or the contemporary theater, or musical theater, or the thing that we call opera. — Trevor Nunn

Rock Music Quotes

Religion is for people who fear hell, spirituality is for people who have been there. — David Bowie

People don't run out of dreams - people just run out of time. - Glenn Frey

People don't run out of dreams - people just run out of time. — Glenn Frey

Don’t you love the Oxford Dictionary? When I first read it, I thought it was a really really long poem about everything. — David Bowie

Alternative music quote Without music, life would be a mistake.
Without music, life would be a mistake.

A kid once said to me "Do you get hangovers?" I said, "To get hangovers you have to stop drinking. — Lemmy Kilmister

But life is just a party, and parties weren't meant to last. — Prince

When you talk like an asshole and look like an asshole, you're an asshole — John Lydon

Alternative music quote One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain
One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain

Everybody started calling my music rock and roll, but it wasn't anything but the same rhythm and blues I'd been playing down in New Orleans. — Fats Domino

Rock and roll is about having a good time, so no matter where you are right now blast some music and forget about lifes problems. — Andy Biersack

It's gotta be rock and roll music, if you wanna dance with me. - Chuck Berry

It's gotta be rock and roll music, if you wanna dance with me. — Chuck Berry

Trying to explain music is like trying to dance architecture. — Thelonious Monk

People Writing About Alternative Music

Name Quotes Likes
Read quotes by Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain
quotes on love, life and being different

214 3211
Read quotes by Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix
quotes on love, war and peace

210 3811
Read quotes by Brad Delson

Brad Delson
quotes on life, leadership and music

11 66
Read quotes by Brian Molko

Brian Molko
quotes on life, leadership and love

54 526
Read quotes by Phil Anselmo

Phil Anselmo
quotes on leadership, life and education

28 267
Read quotes by Ednita Nazario

Ednita Nazario
quotes on education, life and love

13 106

More Alternative Music Quotes

I think I fall into a lot of cracks in terms of I'm too something. I'm too this, I'm too that. And my music has never really had a home. I've been this floating alternative. I'm too mainstream for alternative. I'm too alternative for mainstream. And I'm just kind of wandering. — K. D. Lang

Every now and again, the alternative culture is cherished by the mainstream for what it is, rather than how it should be, like the mainstream popular music. — Thurston Moore

Nirvana was pop. You can have distorted guitars and people say it's alternative, but you can't break out of pop music's constructs and still get extensive radio play and media coverage. — Kristin Hersh

I listen to a lot of alternative types of music: I listen to a lot of Chinese music, I listen to a lot of Asian music. It might surprise you, but I listen to a lot of Arabic music. And I don't care - music is music. — Timbaland

The thing about me is, coming from an alternative music background and singing for nine years, being basically invisible, I'm so used to writing for myself - and at the end of the day, I do it because I feel like I have to. So when I'm recording or writing, I don't have other people in mind. — Lana Del Rey

I don't think the Bonzo Dog could have evolved in America, nor could the old Nice: because of their musical discipline. This is one thing that British groups do have, a sort of discipline. Sometimes it can get a bit soulless, but on the whole I think it's preferable to the American alternative. — Jon Lord

Economics is a study of cause-and-effect relationships in an economy. It's purpose is to discern the consequences of various ways of allocating resources which have alternative uses. It has nothing to say about philosophy or values, anymore than it has to say about music or literature. — Thomas Sowell

I get a thrill meeting kids who are into alternative music. — Kurt Cobain

I like the idea that you would participate in mainstream culture, especially for young girls and young kids who are looking for an alternative. It's not that I'm superior, but I know that my heart is in it more than people who get into music for other reasons. — Emily Haines

I love everything from country to alternative to Blink-182 and 90s music to Dave Matthews. — Spencer Boldman

Alternative music is no longer alternative once it’s in the mainstream. — Kurt Cobain

The futility of everything that comes to us from the media is the inescapable consequence of the absolute inability of that particular stage to remain silent. Music, commercial breaks, news flashes, adverts, news broadcasts, movies, presenters -- there is no alternative but to fill the screen; otherwise there would be an irremediable void. That's why the slightest technical hitch, the slightest slip on the part of the presenter becomes so exciting, for it reveals the depth of the emptiness squinting out at us through this little window. — Jean Baudrillard

I just try to play music from my heart and bring as much beauty as I can to as many people as I can. Just give them other alternatives, especially people who aren't exposed to creative music. — Charlie Haden

Hip-hop music, in my opinion, is still very closed-minded, and if you're trying to do something that's too different, you get categorized as trying to do some kind of "alternative hipster" thing. — Alexander Spit

The formats have changed so much, and even if you look at alternative music today, most of it isn't really that alternative. It's just good, strong, modern music. — Perry Farrell

The advancement of style is the cornerstone of hip hop. There is no correct or conservative way to make rap music. Rap is and must remain the answer, the alternative, to the conservative approach of making music. — El-P

Many of us would probably not be in the music business - or never would have been in the music business - had The Beatles not demonstrated that this kind of music, or this kind of performance, was actually viable as a career alternative. — Todd Rundgren

With all of the people in the world and all of the suffering and all of the things that people are forced to do for lack of other alternative, the fact that I had a subsidized education and got to go right into a life of playing music for a living, what a stupidly fortunate place to be. — Dan Mangan

I knew about Heatmiser, and I saw them one time at Pine Street [later changed to La Luna], which was the center of a lot of alternative bands during the 80s. But I didn't really know too much about their music. — Gus Van Sant

I've never been into alternative, hipster rap music. — Harmony Korine

Sometimes it's binge eating as a method to handle emotional pain. I'll also write very sporadically - music, lyrics - to identify the problem. There are a few cathartic processes I've alternated randomly. There's no default. Each emotional experience elicits a different, possibly new response. — Brendan Dooling

When I was in seventh grade, I totally had a crush on a guy who was older than me, and he listened to alternative music. So he was into Days of the New and stuff like that, and more poppy stuff, too, like Matchbox Twenty. — Carrie Underwood

There is no alternative. A Democrat is a Republican is a big businessman, and we're all consumers instead of citizens. It just manifests in the culture, in the music, in the art. I feel a little panicky about it. — Ani Difranco

The hounding of a dog pursuing a fox or other animal in the horizon may have first suggested the notes of the hunting-horn to alternate with and relieve the lungs of the dog. This natural bugle long resounded in the woods of the ancient world before the horn was invented. — Henry David Thoreau

I listen to all those kinds of music, from classic soul to hip-hop to Brazilian music to, you know, jazz to indie to alternative... And for me, when I'm making music, it's all in my head, and all those influences in my head. So if something comes to me that's a reference from a different genre then people are used to hearing from me, I'm not afraid to go there with it. — John Legend

I've gotten a little superstitious about listening to music when I write. Once a story is going somewhere, I keep listening to the same music whenever I work on that story. It seems to help me keep in voice, and alternatively, if I need to make some kind of dramatic shift, I'll go and put on something different to shake myself awake... — Kelly Link

Shakespeare alternated between musical surrenders to social prestige and magnificent fits of poetic remorse. — Laura Riding

I have been long associated with British music. I have favoured it as my alternate music next to American. — Leonard Slatkin

Thank you to BBC6 Music and Something Else for the opportunity to broadcast my corner of electronic and alternative music across the airwaves for the last 6 years. #‎ RIP6MIX — Erol Alkan

The best user experiences are enchanting. They help the user enter an alternate reality, whether it's the world of making music, writing, sharing photos, coding, or managing a project. — Kathy Sierra

Musicals don't get enough credit for being so surreal. It's like an alternate universe. — Ezra Koenig

The thing that pleases me the most about it is that young people like it. It's given kids from 6 to 16 an alternate view of music to what's been available for the past 20 years. — George Harrison

I have periods where I listen to regular rap, Jay-Z, Eminem and Lil Wayne. The next day I might have some Christian alternative music. The next day I have on some dance music. It all varies what I listen to. — Steve Blake

In the presence of great music we have no alternative but to live nobly. — Sean O Faolain

With the bass it's another thing. I don't need to use alternate thumb-picking as much. Even though Jack says he loves it. My thought is that it might irritate him somewhat. — Jorma Kaukonen

Music is pleasing not only because of the sound but because of the silence that is in it: without the alternation of sound and silence there would be no rhythm. — Thomas Merton

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