Dave Sitek Quotations

Pop belonged to more musical people in earlier times, but we've sort of gotten away from that. Now it's software people. I kind of feel like reclaiming it is in order.

I work very closely with my publisher and just give them tons and tons of music, and then they link that with different songwriters and stuff. I'm basically a workaholic. So, I figured I might as well just start working outside.

I think I tried on the hardcore scene's outfits maybe once, and then I just figured I'd stick to Hawaiian shirts.

I think that there's something really powerful about the sun and its effect on the human psyche. I lived in a place with no windows for twelve years.

There are so many people in the world with so many different perspectives. But ultimately, at the heart of it, they're people.

I want to make hand-held music, undiminished by the need to make everybody in the world listen at once. The goal is to ride into the sunset, stereo blasting, and all of what's got you worried will disappear in the rear view mirror!

My records don't go platinum or gold. I think they go cedar.

I spent more time at the library than anyone my age when I was a kid.

I make music to bring the dead to life for a couple minutes and then let it go.

Under the spell of the right song, passion is within reach... love is close by... and you are not alone! With such potency, music should be treated with care. The sound, the feel, the presentation... everything! It is a medicine. It is a teacher!

If youre going to reach for it, reach all the way for it. Albums like Purple Rain and Thriller and those kind of records, you had to reach far above the din of cynicism and modern living to get to that place, against all the odds.

I believe in the power of song. Under the spell of the right song, passion is within reach, love is close by, and you are not alone!

If we can move together as a species, I think that there is a possibility that we can make the world a better place.

Being in L.A. has definitely given me the opportunity to experience how my music sounds in real life because I can drive around and listen to the mixes, which I couldnt do in New York. I get to feel how a song works in combination with a sunset and a drive through the mountains.

Somewhere along the line, music became 'content'... It's my full intention to bring it back to music again! I believe in the power of song.

I'm a behind-the-scenes guy. I've got a face for radio.

I'm not a big equipment guy; I think that people are a little bit shocked by that. I really don't care about gear in general. I care about people and their intentions to make music - it doesn't matter what equipment you have.

I moved to L.A. after my landlord in Brooklyn tripled my rent. I spent months looking for other places to move to in New York, then one day I was in California eating a grapefruit, and I was like, 'This is what they taste like?' So I decided to move to L.A. and build a studio in my house.

If you're going to reach for it, reach all the way for it. Albums like 'Purple Rain' and 'Thriller' and those kind of records, you had to reach far above the din of cynicism and modern living to get to that place, against all the odds.

Being in L.A. has definitely given me the opportunity to experience how my music sounds in real life because I can drive around and listen to the mixes, which I couldn't do in New York. I get to feel how a song works in combination with a sunset and a drive through the mountains.

I don't think that TV on the Radio is some dark mysterious band that no one can know about. We write music because it's an immediate form of communication. We're able to put on record what's happening in our times, and we want that message to be heard by the most amount of people.