List of Greil Marcus Quotes

Elvis Transcends His Talent To The Point Of Dispensing With It Altogether.

You're Going To React To A Painting In A Way That The Painting Demands You React.

Van Morrison Remains A Singer Who Can Be Compared To No Other In The History Of Modern Popular Music.

I Learned That When Something Just Has To Be Said To Move The Discussion Along, Or Broaden It Or Deepen It, If I Can Just Keep My Mouth Shut For Five Minutes A Student Will Say It. So For Me A Lot Of Teaching Is About Keeping My Mouth Shut.

I Was The First Records Editor At Rolling Stone, And There Were No Rules. There Was Nothing To Fall Back On As To How Do You Write About This Kind Of Music, So People Were Trying Absolutely Everything With A Great Sense Of Freedom And Experimentation And Success And Failure, And A Feeling Of, “my God, People Are Actually Paying Attention To This. Let’s Pretend They Aren’t Because We Don’t Want To Be Intimidated By What Somebody Might Think Of What We’re Saying.

Hearing Things Like 'wake Up' By Lora Logic, Or The Raincoats' 'in Love' - That Was Something I Wasn't Prepared For. I Couldn't Hear Anything That Came Before It In The Music, And I Didn't Want To. I Was Absolutely In Love With Its Out-of-nowhereness.

If 'mystery Train' Is My Nixon Book And 'lipstick Traces' My Reagan Book, 'invisible Republic' Is My Bill Clinton Book. I Really Liked Clinton. He Made Me Proud To Be Part Of This Country Again. For All Of His Failings, The Way He Put All That He'd Done In Jeopardy, I Supported Him From Beginning To End.

Bob Dylan Continues To Release Odd And Unsettling Records, And To Do Odd And Unsettling Things On Stage. So The Term "still" Seems Meaningless To Me. But The Real Answer Is Simple: I Listen To Bob Dylan For Pleasure More Than I Listen To Anyone Else For Pleasure.

I Never Find Myself Even Catching Lyrics Until Something In The Sound Has Taken Me Captive. Thinking About Anything Else Is Just The Pleasurable Byproduct Of Wow.

I Never Could Understand - It Was Impossible For Me To Get My Head Around - What The Furor Was, What The Sense Of Betrayal And Anger And Rage Was About Bob Dylan's Beginning To Perform With A Band, To Play Rock-and-roll, To Get On The Radio.

As I Write, Johnny Rotten's First Moments In "anarchy In The U.k." - A Rolling Earthquake Of A Laugh, A Buried Shout, Then Hoary Words Somehow Stripped Of All Claptrap And Set Down In The City Streets - I Am An Antichrist - Remain As Powerful As Anything I Know. Listening To The Record Today - Listening To The Way Johnny Rotten Tears At His Lines, And Then Hurls The Pieces At The World; Recalling The All-consuming Smile He Produced As He Sang - My Back Stiffens; I Pull Away Even As My Scalp Begins To Sweat.

Elvis' Early Music Has Drama Because As He Sang He Was Escaping Limits.