I'm the only choice to make a record. And that's the only way I would do it. We'd have to make some new music. The fans deserve it. Van Halen's got some of the best fans on the planet.
That song ["Don't Tell Me"] didn't take us anywhere, and I know why now. It wasn't what Van Halen fans wanted. It showed the darkness of Van Halen, and basically the end of the band.
Every time I make a new record, some of my existing fans are going to like it, and some are not. It's inevitable, and it's part of the deal. It's part of the job description.
At some point I decided I didn't want to learn any more guitar technique. I was at that level where the next mountain there was to climb was Van Halen and I didn't really like Van Halen.
The dream was to not only make a good-looking film that engaged, but also had the DNA of the show so the fans would love it and also as important had the opportunity to cross over out of the fans because of the price-point. You make a film that's 60 million dollars you can't just appeal to musical theater fans.
For some reason, the fans got behind me, and I don't know exactly why that is. I wasn't supposed to main event WrestleMania XXX, but the fans were so vocal about it that the fans had no choice but to put me in the match. I've had a lot of lucky breaks.
I didn't understand NASCAR until I met some NASCAR fans. You talk to a couple of NASCAR fans and you'll see where a shiny car driving in a circle would fascinate them all day. And I can make fun of NASCAR fans, because if they chase me, I just turn right.
Artists make art for themselves. Art is an honest expression. Artists who pander to their fans by trying to make music "for" their fans make empty, transparent art. The true fan does not want you to make music for them, they want you to make music for you, because that's the whole reason they fell in love with you in the first place.
The fans reaction to the record (Red) is incredible. Taylor has been reading many tweets lately and wanted to thank her fans with what they ask for the most.
We're planning to record the 10 Minute Version of All Too Well and a music video. She's busy with touring right now but we will find some time.
I got a lot of fans, like core fans, that love me. I ain't one of the dudes that sell five or 10 million brackets, but my followers are stern. They're there. My fans - Jadakiss fans, LOX fans, D-Block fans - they loyal.
I hope that they learn who I am today and embrace that as well. I think that's the biggest thing of really introducing myself to them. Hopefully that creates a stronger connection with the fans that I already have and hopefully helps me make some new fans.
My fans are so funny, they make me laugh so much. I've got some really, really, funny, clever fans.
And for REO - they get to play for some Styx fans and then we get to play in front of some REO fans. It helps spread the new music to the following of other bands.
The one constant in this ever changing music business is the heartfelt and “ear to the ground” Indie Record Stores that avid music fans and artists alike know they can count on to keep music thriving locally. I tour all over the world, and it's these Indie Record Stores that many times make or break a market. People will always want an “album” to hold, not just have downloaded, and Indies fill that need and then some.
I don't worry about alienating fans. I don't think most people these days think of artists as sellouts if they license their music for a commercial or a movie trailer. If anything, fans get psyched when they hear Sleigh Bells on TV or at the movies. As a band who doesn't make money off of record sales it's a great way for us to pay the bills!
I definitely had to do some soul searching, and there would be a lot of times where I would sit back and look at the Internet and say to myself, 'This is a way of being able to communicate with all my fans all over the world, other than just being in New York and only hearing the New York side of things.'
If you only ever heard "Valley Girl," or "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow," or a song that has a comedic narrative, you would get some impression that that was novelty music, but that's the only stuff that ever got on the radio. You can make the argument that that's what has confused generations as to what his music's about.