When I think of 'influence', I think of 'influenza', like somebody's picked up a germ. Tom Verlaine More Quotes by Tom Verlaine More Quotes From Tom Verlaine I like thinking of myself as invisible. I find it a very advantageous way to live. Tom Verlaine invisible way-to-live thinking You can't get so interested in just making sounds. The point of it all is some kind of expression. Tom Verlaine kind expression sound I've got a quote for you, a good quote to describe Television...In madness there is order. Tom Verlaine madness order television Everybody's out trying to be commercial. I'm not trying to be anything, really. Tom Verlaine trying Practice? I never practice. I just write songs and take solos. Tom Verlaine practice writing song It's like first grade where you make all your mistakes and people see it and yet some people see that there's something there that's really valuable. That's the way it went for more than 2 years almost 3 years of playing. Tom Verlaine mistake people years I just don't like people coming up to me and saying something. It immediately makes you become insincere. There is no way you can react to it sincerely. Tom Verlaine sincerely people way I think almost every woman artist I've ever met has this ideal of being in a partnership working situation with a man, that men don't seem to share. They seem to want this ideal thing, that we'll always be together and work together. Tom Verlaine artist men thinking There were a lot of things I listened to, but so-called pop music never killed me, you know, the type of stuff that always seems to make it on the radio. The whole radio thing seems so... it's like they've accepted the whole "new wave" thing only because this kind of pop element came into it. In Europe they really love emotion, but here it's like, "let's stay away from it because we might cry or something". Tom Verlaine elements radio europe The first time I met Patti Smith was in a laundromat. We knew some of the same people, including Richard Hell. Tom Verlaine hell people firsts In Old English they don't say I had a dream, but there's another usage of the word - "life is but a dream," to be corny about it. It's implied with eyes wide open, rather than asleep. But I'm not a philosopher to explain myself. I wish I could. Maybe that's why I'm a musician. Tom Verlaine eye wish dream I really don't have that much interest in stardom. Tom Verlaine stardom interest I like thinking of myself as invisible. I find it a very advantageous way to live. Unfortunately, its not the way the music business works. If you don't create some kind of public image, it gets created for you. Tom Verlaine way-to-live business thinking I'm not even sure who my audience is. Tom Verlaine audience You know, there is something I'm looking for when I'm writing. But I couldn't tell you what that is. Tom Verlaine knows writing I grew up taking piano lessons and liking Wagner when I was in second grade. Tom Verlaine piano lessons grew-up With my records, it's just a matter of trying to create something fresh for myself in a very finite context, which is the pop song. I don't know anything about the people who buy my records, and what, if anything, they get out of them. Tom Verlaine what-if song people I always like junkyards. All this metal piled up - they're filled with pathos, those places. Much more pathos than most of the music I've heard. You look at it, and there's more feeling, even though it's depressing, than there is in a lot of music I hear these days. A junkyard is what it is, whereas listening to a record by, say, Styx, is something else. Tom Verlaine depressing listening feelings I've seen a lot of people getting into Jazzmasters because of me, and, well, people don't know what they're in for. I mean if you're looking for endless sustain, you're going to have to get it out of your hands (laughs). Because a saxophonist gets it out of his breath. You've got to work for it on the guitar - it means you have to pull it out of yourself, otherwise, what are you doing? You end up playing a lot of noise or scale exercises. Tom Verlaine guitar exercise mean I recently realized that Television has influenced a lot of English bands. Echo and the Bunnymen, U2, Teardrop Explodes - it's obvious what they've listened to and what they're going for. When I was sixteen I listened to Yardbirds records and thought, "God, this is great." It's gratifying to think that people listened to Television albums and felt the same. Tom Verlaine echoes people thinking
