the shadowlands

14

"You’re not seriously mad that I played that, are you? Who are you, Pete-fucking-Townshend? Who is this? I actually like that song, that’s a good fucking song! No, it really is, man! If you fucking played that song in dropped D with Marshall stacks and the pedals, it would be so Melvins, dude, it would be amazing! You can’t tell me it’s not good! I’m not kidding, it’s really, I mean, THEY suck, but that’s a good song ‘cause they didn’t write the, you think the guys are going like, ‘After I do my dance lessons, I’m gonna go write this song!’? They didn’t fucking write that song! Some asshole wrote that song! God!"

- Ryan Adams, after an impromptu live performance of “I Want It That Way”.

3

"Maybe I provoked them. I was playing the same game they were playing with me. Some of the stuff was so harsh that it deserved a response though - just to say, ‘Ryan, why don’t you be like your hero Gram Parsons and die. Think about what it could do for your career.’ It was so mean-spirited. It’s not like I was making records that had mail bombs in them"

- Ryan Adams

"They both wore their shit backwards, didn’t they? I’m not talking shit about Kris Kross because I don’t know what those guys look like now, and I’m not going to get my ass beat. They might be, like, DMX or some shit."

- Ryan Adams

"The world these days is pretty much designed to trash people straight on. And I guess it’s about insecurity, but I guarantee you that at a concert hall, 95% of the time the people onstage feel some kind of anxiety. It’s like dropping in on a big half pipe, every time. But once I’m up there playing music with my pals, I can really get into my groove. But each night is different. There are a lot of different people out there in different moods, and you never know what you’re going to get - whether it’s going to be a nice, sunny day or a fucking tsunami. I’ve played some shows that are just frightening. It can be intimidating. It’s strange to get shit from your quote-unquote fans. We don’t play anything remotely political or controversial, but people get so damn strung out about it…when all we’re looking to do is have some fun."

- Ryan Adams

Reblogged from All we need is love.

simplybehappy:

I wish you would come pick me up

Take me out
Fuck me up
Steal my records
Screw all my friends
They’re all full of shit
With a smile on your face
And then do it again
I wish you would

-Ryan Adams

2

"The first thing I learned to play was the intro to ‘Somewhere in Time’ by Iron Maiden, but a really bad one-note version of it. But I fucking loved music. I was always really overexcited about it because you could write or listen to music any hour. Play guitar any hour. And I was always a 24-hour personality since I was a kid. I never had a regular sleep schedule - I’ve always been way to hyperactive, so it fit my personality."

- Ryan Adams

"You can’t escape it. Elton [John], when the shit hit the fan with me, he reached out and told me that, ‘You won’t know why or how, and all you’ll know is the whole thing becomes ridiculous.’ Boy, was he right. You have to become water and get very Zen about it. You don’t try to take it on. You empathize. It’s like, ‘Oh, Ryan Adams murders people in his sleep,’ and there’s no way to change somebody’s view if they believe that. See this? It’s a guitar. I make songs. Fine if you don’t like them…I never said I was any good."

- Ryan Adams

1

"Holy dammit, my legs feel funny."

- Ryan Adams, on the topic of Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”.

"I’ve even seen Eminem’s entourage at a Grammy party. We had to go to the restroom at the same time, and there was a big guy who stood there making sure Eminem didn’t get popped. I don’t think I’m gonna die for making sad music. I did, however, get strangled in Newcastle, England, by some drunk dude for not being Randy Newman."

- Ryan Adams

5

"Star Wars is a huge escape for me. I like the idea of there being interplanetary troubles, and I really like the spaceships. Carrie Fisher was also superbabed-out. Another funny thing about it is that all the evil people are English. It’s strange - do they come from planet England?"

- Ryan Adams

"Most flea markets, yard sales, and antique deals usually have a stack of comics that have been thumbed through only once or twice. You never know, you might find a jewel like Batman No. 68 and go, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to buy a mansion!’"

- Ryan Adams

"[Ryan Adams] is just a rough diamond – sharp, witty, and a brilliant songwriter."

- Elton John

"Ryan Adams can do just about everything, okay?"

- Stephen King

"When I was making Heartbreaker, I expected really small records for a really small career. People were totally prepared to say that by Heartbreaker, my career was more or less over. I felt that those were endnotes. But a totally different reaction happened."

- Ryan Adams