I know my own limitations. And if somebody says, "I need songs for a cartoon garage band - they look like this and they should sound like this," it gives you a direction. I like having that kind of assignment.

Most of my early records were not cohesive at all, just collections of demos recorded in different years. 'Odelay' was the first time I actually got to go in the studio and record a piece of music in a continuous linear fashion, although that was written over a year.

My whole generation's mission is to kill the cliche...it's one of the reasons a lot of my generation are always on the fence about things. They're afraid to commit to anything for fear of seeming like a cliche. They're afraid to commit to their lives because they see so much of the world as a cliche.

The only way I was allowed to play was by convincing bands to let me do a few songs while they set up. That went on for years.

[Early on,] the attitude was that what I was doing wasn't music.

Somebody else is satisfied by five Bentleys. I'm satisfied by a beautiful string arrangement.

No one should drive a hard bargain with an artist.