Lenny Kravitz Quotes

If you go to Japan, they're still buying vinyl, and they want the education. They know who's playing on what tracks from the '60s and the '70s - who the guitar player is, who the drummer is, who the producer was, what studio it was recorded in. That's how I grew up listening to music. We bought albums. We read the liner notes. It was important to know the whole history behind it.

Beyond [Barack Obama] having made history as the first African-American president, I hope that he gets re-elected for what he does while in office, not for his skin color. I certainly believe he has the capacity.

I went to Paris in 1989 when the Americans didn't quite know what to do with me at first. Now, all those years later, it's kind of the same story. Not the same scenario, but kind of the same story.

My mother passed at the end of the Circus tour. After that I really needed to take some time and just chill out and get my head together.

I've woken up from dreams and the whole song is there. I'm listening to it in my dreams. I consciously have to wake myself up and get a tape recorder because I hear it like a record.

I get a lot of joy from playing instruments, and I have a different personality on each instrument. I like to let that come out. I get kind of selfish.

If you ask a hundred people, they all give you different answers.

If you listen to a lot of old funk records, the drums are really small. But you don't perceive it like that because the groove is so heavy.

Change is growth. For me it has been a very spiritual and musical rebirth.

Nine out of ten groups that came out in '89 are gone. I'm still here.

Love is the most powerful energy there is.

Later on in life I was like, "Wow!" because that's exactly how it was. They don't care that you're mixed. They see you as one color.

God gave me the gift to be able to play instruments and I have to play.

I'm definitely happy with everything I've done. I stand behind it. You'll always be saying, "Well, I could change that, or I would do that differently." But you have to let it be what it is.

I feel like my best work is in front of me. I'm in the studio now, and I'm having an amazing time making this new album. It's something I can't help.

For the last few years, it's been so chic for everybody to be miserable. Like if you're in with the cool crowd, you can't be happy.

I bought [John Lennon's] 'Plastic Ono Band,' and I listened to it over and over for months. It's a monumental work of genius ...

It doesn't take a lot to get me motivated. I'm a studio rat. When I was in high school and I would walk into a recording studio, it felt like this magical place, this temple, this womb that I could escape into.

I enjoy what people at the concert give me and I can't do it without them, so it's really an exchange of energy that snowballs back and forth and becomes something that's very satisfying and very magical.

I was taught by my grandfather that anything that your mind can conceive, you can have. It's a reality.

I never sit down to write or say, "Today, I have to record something." I wait to hear it and then I go for it.

My mother always told me to embrace both sides of my background. And she also taught me one very useful thing when I was going to first grade. She said, "You're Bahamian and African-American on one side, and Russian-Jewish on the other. You're no more one than the other, and it's beautiful that you have all this. It makes your life all the more rich. But society will see you only as black."

I'm experiencing the mood to go out and share the music. I don't look at these concerts as a platform for people to watch me, look at me. No, a tour is about an interaction. A thing, myself, a band, and the people who support what I do and enjoy what I do.

I just live my life and try to be present.

I mean, there are only so many notes. What makes something original is how you put it together.

If you heard my records and no one told you, I don't think you'd know whether it's a band or one guy.

Oasis are not just influenced by the Beatles; they actually take stuff. Then they get praised.

I didn't really listen to rock 'n' roll until I moved to LA. We would ditch school, go get high, put on Zeppelin IV and just bug out.

It's a good time for me to pursue acting, I suppose since I'm enjoying having another medium in which to express myself. I've been getting a great response to my work.

I basically camped out for a year and a half in an Airstream trailer on the beach out in front of the studio. I had no idea what I was gonna do, what kind of album I was gonna make - all I knew was that I wanted to sit there and just take in whatever came.

People always accuse me of being motivational in a way, like it was a bad thing, but that's just how I was raised. My mom raised me in a positive environment, with lots of love in my heart, and that reflects in my music.

I think kids in Europe have developed a deeper knowledge of music and of black music in particular. You go to Europe, and these kids know about all this obscure funk and soul that kids over here wouldn't know. I think it's getting better in the States, though, with the age of the Internet.

I'm more hungry now than I was 11 years ago. Which is great because I see a lot of artists that have been out for a long period of time. They get kind of fat.

I've always had to deal with being biracial, even in music. When I came on the scene, I'd go to these record labels, and they'd say things like, "Lenny Kravitz. That's a weird name." I'm brown-skinned and I've got these dreadlocks and I've got this Jewish last name.

Race in this country is still the elephant in the room that no one wants to discuss.

I just feel so good; it feels like a very creative time for me. As far as my mind, spirit, and body, I've never felt better.

I am not trying to change the world. I am just offering my gift that God gave me, and if somebody is moved by it, that's beautiful.

I was watching an interview with Martin Scorcese concerning Raging Bull, which is one of my favorite films, and he was talking about how he'd worked with a lot of guys who weren't quote-unquote "actors," like Joe Pesce and Frank Vincent. Scorcese was very smart in the way that he cast, because you don't know where you're going to find the right person who can carry a role and summon that emotion you're looking for.

Let's look at human interactions. I really believe that there is a way for us to settle disputes nonviolently, using our minds, using all of that was given to us.

One day we're going to watch people fight to the death, like Roman times. Instead of being in a coliseum, we're going to watch it on TV.

Life, the moment. Where the magic is. That's what really keeps me motivated, alive, hungry. I'm still as excited and motivated now as I was twenty-five years ago, and that's because I really live for those moments. And that's where the art comes from, that's where the music is born, that's where it all appears. I love it.

When I was a kid and I bought a record, I ripped that thing open, I wanted to know who was playing what, what studio it was cut at, who was the string arranger, who was the engineer.

A lot of my songs deal with spirituality and God, and I guess if you're in tune with that, you'll read into it.

To let go of the illusion that I'm in control is an important lesson, because I tend to be a person who likes to be in control, not only of my art but of my life and things around me, and it can be healthy up to a certain point, but at the end of the day, we have to go on faith and learn to let go and ride the wave.

I was an actor when I was a teenager and it could have been the direction that I headed in. But music and my relationship with music is quite deep, and it really is the nucleus of my creativity. So I gave up acting so I could pursue music fully, and I never thought about really going back. And then [director] Lee Daniels met me and wanted to work with me, and that's how it started.

The story that I wanna tell is pretty much about the way I grew up. Being bi-racial, growing up in a big city and being an artist.

A lot of people pretty much only listen to the chorus.

We've always just gotten up there and played. We don't have any dancers, we don't have all that stuff going on, we just get up there and play.

Things that would shock us years ago are like nothing now.

I feel like I'm only in the beginning of my career. I've only made five albums. It's not a lot.

You can start something, do it, and believe that that's what you're doing, but then the inspiration comes and it's like, "Nope, this is what it is."

None of those material possessions do anything to make your life any better ... I know a lot of people who have a lot of everything, and they're absolutely the most miserable people in the world. So it won't do anything for you unless you're a happy person and can have peace with yourself.

God said, Here. Have it. Enjoy it. I'm gonna be miserable?

When I hear music, it's visual; I see things,

I'm so happy. I am able to see the world just by making music, just by doing the thing that I loved doing when I was five years old.

If I had to associate myself with one song, it would probably be Let Love Rule. It's so simple and to the point. It speaks for itself.

It's a trip to have a Greatest Hits record. It's a trip.

I fell in love with Paris the first time I went.

I found it a really refreshing change of pace to suddenly be completely directed. It was a type of collaboration that I don't normally have.

I was in Paris last year, where there's a great appreciation of many different aspects of African culture and of black culture. The music ... the art ... whatever ... And I kind of went with that.

The fans of 'The Hunger Games,' of the book, are very passionate. It's funny: Even at my concerts there are people holding up 'Cinna' signs.

I come in with this rock 'n' roll-oriented music, and it's not black enough ... I've always had to deal with this black-white thing.

I am still into the people I listened to growing up, so I completely remember what is like to be a fan, I haven't changed.

It's like a dream to come to Spain and stay for a couple of years and get somebody to teach me Spanish music.

What motivates it is life. Life is everything. Life influences my music and brings it forth. Life is always changing, so I'm always hearing new music.

I knew what I wanted to do from the time I was 5.

Every night is different, you never know what it's going to be like. I remember every night. I don't like to compare them.

The image that the public gets is whatever they perceive it to be. Everybody has an opinion, everybody has their own vision, so I don't know what my public image is. I have no idea.

I'm sure great scripts are hard to find, but I'm definitely open, and waiting to see what comes my way.

People don't realize it, but no one lives that rock and roll life 24-7. They think it's hundreds of bottles of champagne flowing and private jets and money. But there's a lot of time when you're traveling - time to think, time to be lonely. Sometimes it gets to you.

When it comes to acting, it's about creating a character and bringing forth a director's vision. It's a weird feeling, because with acting, it's just not about me. I love being in that position, because with the music, it's always about me.

We should take time out to really love; we should take time out to find out who we are.

So that's why you've got to try, you got to breath and have some fun. Though I'm not paid, I play this game, and I won't stop until I'm done. But what I really want to know is - Are you gonna go my way?

Tape machines are effects boxes as well because each tape machine has its own sound. You can over-load a tape machine or you can bump it a certain way so it compresses or makes a sound, tape saturation.

Where I'm at in life, the women have got to come with something else, not just the body, but the mind and spirit. It usually trips them out, but that's the way it's going to be. I'm looking at the big picture.

My dream is to become a farmer. Just a Bohemian guy pulling up his own sweet potatoes for dinner.

When I'm making my music, I'm writing it, I'm producing it, I'm playing all the instruments, I'm performing. It's my own world where I do what I feel, and nobody tells me anything.

All of my life
Where have you been
I wonder if I'll ever see you again
And if that day comes
I know we could win
I wonder if I'll ever see you again

I was always talking about peace and love, even when I was a kid. That's how I grew up in my family.

I haven't thought about making a music film, but if I did, that would be a very interesting idea.

I honestly don't remember how I wrote or did the songs. Or the sessions. They all become very much a blur. And each album is like that. It may be that there are different locations, it may take longer, shorter, or whatever, but it's always something that just happened.

It was amazing to me that, all of a sudden, I was hearing my music on the radio and coming out of cars.

After listening to "Machine Gun" I have to take a nap.

I've had to work very hard, and I don't really have a category or fit into any niche, so each time I come out with a new record, it's like, I'm a new guy.

Are things getting better with each generation? Yes. It's quite interesting to be living in these times, for me to witness an African-American being elected president. It's quite extraordinary.

I made the record that my life had me make. Each one is like a diary.

Me being in my grandmother's yard in Brooklyn. I must have been about 3. I had this red balloon. I let go of it, and it went up into the sky and just kept going and going. I completely flipped out, because I didn't understand why.

I never sit down to write. When I'm moved, I do it. I just wait for it to come. You just hear it. I can't really describe writing. It's in my head.

I've lived my life dealing with everybody. And that's how it's always been for me.

You can't even sing or play an instrument, so you just scream instead. You're living for an image, so you got five hundred women in your bed.

I had no idea 'The Hunger Games' was so big. I didn't even know the book. I had been living under my own rock.

I'm looking forward to going out at the concert with a clear head, with a clear mind, with a clear spirit and experiencing whatever it is. It's great.

I find cooking to be the one thing that relaxes me. I don't get to do it often ...

Working with Gabby [Sidibe], I realized immediately that she was amazingly talented. I could tell just by the way she'd get into the role.

My mom and dad would take me all over. One night we'd be at the Apollo watching James Brown, and then I'd be at the Joffrey Ballet. It was that kind of scene.

I'm not one of those artists who refuses to play their hits. I find that ridiculous. Hits are a blessing.

The way I was raised and the people that I grew up around for the most part were very humble people, and I appreciate all that they taught me, and their energy and their magnanimity help keep me grounded.

Music is my life, it is a reflection of what I go through.

You can be around 100 people and be completely alone. People don't realize what it's really like.

I'm always sort of reflecting on what I do on what I've done. Usually before I make a new album, I'll listen to the previous albums just to see where I've been.