A Quote by Marcus Miller

Luther Vandross was doing fine, but he said, "Man, I want to do my own project." So he got us all to do a demo, and that demo was "Never Too Much." It took him a year and a half to get signed, because he didn't have a gimmick. The record companies were looking for his gimmick. They said, "What's your gimmick?" He said, "I sing. That's my gimmick." Anyway, he finally got signed and the record was released, and the rest was history.
Rule No. 1 is you can't be fake. If you're fake, you become a gimmick and you're selling a gimmick; a little gimmick is cool, this is entertainment. But when you base your stuff on mostly real stuff, you never run out of it because every day is a different adventure.
I did have a constituent four or five years ago - she never liked me. So, she called, I returned her call, and she was complaining about something, and she said: 'And why do you always use green? I think it's narcissistic.' And I said, 'Well, ma'am, everyone has to have a gimmick, and that's my gimmick.'
I brought the music out to L.A., and the producer Tommy LaPuma heard it and he said - "Man, I love it. Let's do it. Let's record it." I said, "Okay, where's the band?" He said, "We don't have a band. We want it to sound exactly like your demo." I said, "Well, I played all the instruments on the demo." You do that when you're making demos. You got your guitar, you got your sax. He said, "Well, I want it to sound just like that, so get all your instruments out here." So I ended up playing all the instruments.
[Death is] a gimmick. It's the time-birth-death gimmick. Can't go on much longer, too many people are wising up.
All my songs were solo voices. Just me singing. In fact, that was the gimmick - no gimmick. Just singing straight with not too much background.
One match that really sticks out for me, there's a bunch of matches with all the guys that I worked with. For me, when I got in the ring, I approached it as being real because I was a real character. I didn't have a gimmick name; I didn't have a gimmick finish.
For me, I was really struggling because I was Scott Hall in the gym and Scott Hall in the grocery store and in the ring. Until I got a gimmick, a look, and got to be a character, that's when I started making strides. As Scott Hall, I didn't have a gimmick, so I didn't know what to do.
There is nothing to keeping a band together. You simply have to have a gimmick, and the gimmick I use is to pay them money!
You got to have a gimmick in this got-to-have-a-gimmick world.
With The Brood, it was cool because it had the music, it had the different look and at the time reality-based characters were really starting to take the forefront as opposed to the cartoon character stuff that you'd seen in the past. We were already into the Attitude era. It was kind of a gimmick, but it was a cool gimmick. It wasn't corny.
I entered a songwriting competition, I didn't win, and one of the judges on the panel was an A&R man at a record label that had no other acts and I signed to them. We sent my demo out to five people and David Kahne got back to me that day, and said I think you're amazing I want to start with you tomorrow. He was like my Harvard reach school, I couldn't believe it. I was really excited. It was the first time anyone of any importance said I was good and I ran with that validation for a long time.
A great gimmick is a great gimmick, but on a dud, it just doesn't work. It comes down to talent.
I think you can say anybody uses anything as a gimmick. Is Adele's not having gimmicks her gimmick? It's hard to say, isn't it? Really, I think that everybody has something that people like or that's great about them.
You've got to have a gimmick if your band sucks.
When we recorded the song I Just Can't Stop Loving You, my vocal range is a little higher than Michael's range. He had me re-sing the demo in the new key. Then doing that he filmed me singing this demo in the new key. I actually said, "What are you doing? Why are you filming this?" He said to me, "Because I want to sing it like you. You sound so great and I want to sing it just like you." I said, "Oh, great, Mike, my friends are really going to believe me when I tell them that Michael Jackson wanted to sing this song just like me." We laughed about that.
John Kerry's newfound interest in fiscal discipline is a political gimmick that defies his 20-year record in the Senate and stands in stark contrast to his reckless and expansive promises of new government spending on the campaign trail.
This site uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience. More info...
Got it!