Well technology has changed a lot of things, making it possible for just about anyone to make music. But not everybody is a songwriter, so that puts me in a completely different ballpark than the other DJs out here that are writing and producing tracks. I don't stop at tracks, I try to complete the whole package with the song. So working at that level has put me in a completely different place.

Frankie Knuckles

Categorized in : Song Writing Technology

The minute you think you're greater than the music, you're finished

Frankie Knuckles

minutes greater thinking

House Music isn't black or white.

Frankie Knuckles

feel-good white house

I think dancing is one of the best things anyone can do for themselves. And it doesn't cost anything.

Frankie Knuckles

cost dancing thinking

I'm always looking for just the right song that has something to say.

Frankie Knuckles

song

There is always a point in the party where I wouldn't say I have people in the palm of my hands, but when there is a point in the evening... if you have been to any great party, you know when the whole room becomes one.

Frankie Knuckles

party hands people

When you create something out of nothing it's the most thrilling thing.

Frankie Knuckles

thrilling

Timing is everything. It is not so much about who you know, especially now with the Internet, because anybody can become a superstar overnight.

Frankie Knuckles

who-you-know timing superstar

I learned to trust women's ears when it comes to hearing music a lot more than other men.

Frankie Knuckles

hearing ears men

I am definitely in the right place doing the right thing. These are the rewards.

Frankie Knuckles

doing-the-right-thing right-place rewards

The music is everything to me.

Frankie Knuckles

music-is

I'm a lot more sensitive about music, I think, than most other guys in this particular side of the business. Most of them are beat crazy and beat heavy. I'm more melody. I'm more musical than most of the other ones.

Frankie Knuckles

guy crazy thinking

There are two people that probably influenced me more than anybody out of all the artists out here: that's Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson.

Frankie Knuckles

artist two people

I refused to be disrespected. So, at 16, of course, I was a gentleman about it, but I told them and it cost me my job.

Frankie Knuckles

cost gentleman jobs

I think women's ears are a lot more sensitive. Men are going to follow whatever appeals to women.

Frankie Knuckles

sensitive-man men thinking

The lack of quality dance music and the fact that here in the United States, house music is not seen as anything viable by the music industry. I figured that this might be another shot at the industry looking at the possibilities of house music and giving it a little bit more legitimacy than what they give it. It's a host of different things, but it's something that I needed to say musically.

Frankie Knuckles

quality house giving

I used to tell myself when I was much younger that I didn't want to wake up one day and be 32 years old and still playing records. It's just not going to happen. Well, the joke is on me, because I'm 56 years old now.

Frankie Knuckles

wake-up one-day years

I have worked with a lot of different great people. One of the things my partner, my manager Judy Weinstein, instilled in [David] Morales and myself is that the quality goes in before the name goes home.

Frankie Knuckles

names home people

I'm of the mind that your private life is private and you don't need to put everything out there about yourself - but on there, I describe myself as a citizen of the world, a man of music.

Frankie Knuckles

mind men needs

I believe it also says that I am a friend to everyone and enemy to no one.

Frankie Knuckles

i-believe believe enemy

It's not easy staying relevant in the marketplace.

Frankie Knuckles

marketplace relevant easy