De-aia s-a ofticat Bodi si a zis ca n-a pus Crimson, dar tocmai, eu cred ca Crimson fusese, si chestia cu Alan Parson's o zisese doar de faza. Si noi crezusem, pentru ca Mimi venise chitit sa ascultam Crimson, RED, dar la inceput Bodi cam strambase din nas, cica: RED? Ce an? '70 sau '71, zisese Mimi, da' ce conteaza? Muzica sa fie!

(Muzici si faze, Ovidiu Verdes)

What we hear is the quality of our listening. (Robert Fripp)

Muzica permite pasiunilor sa se bucure de ele insele. (Friedrich Nietzsche)

Years ago, I played Atom heart mother by Pink Floyd for a friend. In the middle of the piece, he looked at me worriedly and said I don't get it. What's this about? What am I supposed to think? My friend was simply unable to appreciate a piece of music that wasn't like anything else he had heard. A literalist, he needed musical and cultural "facts" to which he could relate the sounds he was hearing. Atom heart mother, a piece of abstract, progressive music, was not accessible to him.

Most popular forms of music are designed for people like my friend. Both lyrics and musical accompaniment are meant to have a specific, literal meaning that would be hard to miss by the target audience - people in pursuit of a collective experience. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But it becomes impossible for many listeners to appreciate any other kind of music. Upon encountering abstraction (usually instrumental), those versed only in the literal modes of expression search desperately for the intended meaning, waiting to be told what the music is supposed to "mean", what the intended "message" is. Since they can't figure it out, and when no one tells them, they dismiss the music as too "intellectual", too "elitist", too "serious". But abstraction doesn't offer literal messages, or facts, or answers. It poses questions. And each individual's reactions will be complex, and totally different from anyone else's. In the sense that abstract music suggests many possibilities, rather than offering one or two clear messages that the listener is supposed to understand, is not just antiliteral but anti-authority.

Active listening music is the part of the popular music world which best represents and promotes abstraction. Its overall goal is to expand the palette of expressions to include abstraction, and to promote understanding and tolerance of that expanded expression.

(The Billboard guide to progressive music, Bradley Smith)

One of the ideas that was important to me was that you could be a rock musician without censoring your intelligence. Rock music has a very anti-intellectual stance, and I didn't see why I should act dumb in order to be a rock musician. Rock is the most malleable musical form we have. Within the rock framework you can play jazz, classical, trance music, Urubu drumming. Anything you like can come under the banner of rock. It's a remarkable musical form. 

(Interview by Vic Garbani, 1981, Robert Fripp)

Unora muzica le apare drept o arta primitiva, cu putinele ei tonuri si ritmuri. Dar simpla este doar suprafata ei, in timp ce corpul, care face posibila interpretarea acestui continut manifest, detine intreaga complexitate nesfarsita pe care o gasim sugerata in forma exterioara a celorlalte arte, si pe care muzica o trece sub tacere. Ea este, intr-un anumit sens, cea mai rafinata dintre toate artele.

(Despre certitudine, Ludwig Wittgenstein)

You often affirm that music can be reduced to one thing: showing emotions such as sadness, joy, silence, tension.

I  often affirm?  What is "affirm", wait...ah, yes. Now I understand! It's not that I "often" say such a thing. The above statement was "borrowed" from Leonard Bernstein who said this in one of his famous public lectures for children. And as Bernstein, I also meant it to correct some people who think that music can illustrate many things. Yes, it can. But the same music can be used to illustrate EVERYTHING, hence: nothing. What is left, are just the few fundamental things: joy, sadness, tension, silence...

And about the latest album, it's not me who should tell the listeners what it is, in which category they should put it. A music that must be explained by the artist, this is absolutely not my cup of tea. Just look around what kind of music needs plenty of explanation. General rule: The more words, the more unpleasant the music. In my case: The music is there! As an offer! The listener can listen and decide. Not me.

(Klaus Schulze, interviewed by Muzici si Faze, 2006)