You're like, "I don't want to argue with Dr. Drew on national radio." You're like the invited guest. But at the same time, as a thinking person, it's very difficult just to stand by and go, "Yeah, man, it's cool." John Flansburgh More Quotes by John Flansburgh More Quotes From John Flansburgh I wrote a thirty-second song that I couldn't finish for a year. John Flansburgh thirtysongyears In an interview John [Linnell] said, 'At a certain point you just get tired of the way the other person breathes,' and I took that pretty hard because I, personally, am infatuated with the way John breathes. John Flansburgh tiredinterviewsway It's hard to tell a shallow person that they should care more about the feelings of the awkward and the alienated. John Flansburgh shallow-personawkwardfeelings I feel like musicians have such a precarious place in the political discourse, because musicians are, sort of just by nature, people-pleasers. John Flansburgh musicianpolitical Look, up in the sky! It's the sky! John Flansburgh look-upskylooks Worlds going to hell anyway, have a good time. John Flansburgh hellgood-timesworld Have you heard Alanis Morisette trying to play the harmonica? She doesn't know how to play the harmonica. Well guess what, Alanis, I INVENTED the 'don't-know-how-to-play-harmonica-harmonica-solo.' John Flansburgh harmonicasplaytrying I don't lose a lot of sleep worrying about aliens, but I think it seems possible that there's life forms beyond our solar system. John Flansburgh worrysleepthinking That's what I call 'Guiliani Time', my friends. 'We've got a problem. Let's kill it.' John Flansburgh my-friendsproblem There's so many simple things that can be done to change our carbon footprint, and to reduce our carbon footprint. John Flansburgh footprintdonesimple I guess the revival of vinyl records is not helping the environmental problem. Although, in some ways, people don't throw records away - I mean, I still have records from when I was 5. So it doesn't seem quite so wasteful. But maybe I'm just lying to myself. John Flansburgh meanlyingpeople It sucks to think about, honestly, but when you really consider the resources that it takes to press vinyl records, or the amount of gas that it takes to tour, it's really quite scary. John Flansburgh vinylscarythinking I don't think bands should feel compelled to speak out unless they actually have something to say. I think that's a big mistake, where you're turning into a coyote running off the edge of a cliff. Too often, people just feel like something is happening and they want to be part of this thing, and it's just, there's sort of a "me too!" and that's about it. John Flansburgh mistakerunningthinking I think that the most effective social protest that any artist can do would be things that come naturally and feel obvious. I think the Resist movement will continue among people who believe in science, who believe in rights for women, who believe in civil rights. John Flansburgh artistbelievethinking All rock music is fake news. John Flansburgh rock-musicfakemusic-is If you do believe in science, you really have to actually stand up and make a stand for it. You can't just say, the facts aren't in. Science is always looking for better explanations to everything, but that doesn't mean that when we get on a plane we don't know what's supposed to happen next. And if it doesn't go the way that it's planned, that's a big, big problem. The culture wars are very tricky and make me a little sad. John Flansburgh warmeanbelieve People love fact-based songs, which is a very funny idea. John Flansburgh songpeople A lot of times I'll post things on Facebook, and the immediate response will be like, "Stick to the music!" John Flansburgh response We want to be original. To express our most interesting stuff. But you don't see the word "original" come up very often to describe big bands. Our job isn't to pigeonhole ourselves or describe where we fit in. Our goal isn't to fit in. Our goal is to be free of all that stuff. John Flansburgh fitgoalinteresting I think the biggest wrestling match-up I have is how to respond to the word "quirky." Or the alternate, "nerdy." Both are essentially benign to the reader, but if you're a writer just sort of involved in your creative process, they seem like very small motivations. John Flansburgh motivationwrestlingthinking
