Stephen Malkmus

“Lou Reed is something like a personal favorite of mine, but you could always put me into that drawer of singers who can't really sing, who speak their songs.”

“I had another version of 'We Dance' that was kind of glam-rock. It was a little 'Taking Care of Business' mixed with Simon and Garfunkel. But on the album, I did it in a down-and-out way, like the Frogs or David Bowie or something - a little torch song thing.”

“I'm not saying I look at those pictures all the time and think, 'Wow, I was hot.' Just, you know, I think everybody deserves to be objectified at least once in their life.”

“What producers did was mostly recording in the studio, so it never changed our sound just that much.”

“I guess the majority of people who want to ban certain musicians are the ones who are so proud of everything America stands for.”

“There's no point that an album should sound like a watered down version of another album.”

“I really do think everybody can sing.”

“Freddie Gray was a story I followed closer than others, for whatever reason, in this larger narrative of police brutality.”

“I have a thing for Baltimore: the word itself, the place - I don't know where it comes from; it's just a weird city. I have a song called 'Baltimore,' but I'm not from there. I've driven through there a lot. We've played a couple of shows there, but it's not a big market. Some good bands come from there, though. Animal Collective and Beach House.”

“'Summer Babe' is the start of Pavement front-loading their albums with the catchiest song first.”

“'Silence Kid' starts with a broken classic-rock intro. It's funny to hear us do that. Obviously, we weren't skillful rock stars. Then it's spinning through a lot of hooks really fast, and all of a sudden, it's over.”

“I'm a junior - like Dinosaur Jr.”

“We always did our own mixing.”

“I'm not sure if you can blame everything on the American way of life, but the United States are big. So, if you have a lot of people there, the percentage of stupid people is bound to be higher.”

“I don't even think my voice is really good.”

“I listen to things that are popular and try to think about it in a mathematical way.”

“I'll cover just about anything - except for a Kid Rock song.”

“John Waters is a genius.”

“If a voice is just too nice, without an edge, it kinda all flows by. You forget it. You don't listen to the lyrics.”

“I would be happy to produce groups, like John Cale - he was in the Velvet Underground, and then he went on to produce these bands.”