Rock stars did not invent burning out. They just do it louder.

I realize that I will never fully understand the millions of bizarre ways that music brings people together.

Celebrity despicability is a precious thing.

When you stick a song on a tape, you set it free.

Our lives were just beginning, our favorite moment was right now, our favorite songs were unwritten.

Seeing Taylor Swift live in 2013 is seeing a maestro at the top of her or anyone's game. No other pop auteur can touch her right now for emotional excess or musical reach - her punk is so punk, her disco is so disco. The red sequins on her guitar match the ones on her microphone, her shoes and 80 percent of the crowd.

At an incredibly divisive point in pop history, Donna Summer managed to create an undeniable across-the-board experience of mass pleasure - after 'Bad Girls,' nobody ever tried claiming disco sucked again. It set the template for what Michael Jackson would do a few months later with 'Off The Wall.'