A lot of political music to me can be rather pedantic and corny, and when it's done right - like Bruce Springsteen or Jackson Browne or great satire from Randy Newman, there's nothing better.
And that's why, you know, it's players like Randy Moss that unfortunately put a stain on the entire league.
The first real gig I went to was Randy Crawford in 1980. Seeing a big star like that was just fantastic.
If I were Goldberg or Brock Lesnar, I wouldn't want to have to go on after me and Randy. From their standpoint, I wouldn't want to be them and have to go on after us.
Music-wise, I listen to everything. Leonard Cohen, Randy Newman - I guess I like a lot of '70s music.
Back in the day, I was a Royce Gracie fan and a fan of Tank Abbott. It's always the different-looking guys that you want to root for. Then there were guys like Mark Coleman and Randy Couture, so for me to get in there and fight against guys like that is pretty cool.
All of us growing up, if you're a professional player or a college player, you're molding your game after guys. You see guys, you see things guys do. Like Randy Moss, I'm a Randy Moss guy.
I think Alison Krauss is one of the most amazing singers ever. As a songwriter - this is gonna sound cheesy - I love Randy Newman. And my mom passed on a love of Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. At one point I was so into the Indigo Girls, just like I was so into the Dixie Chicks, those female harmonies.
The first time I arrived in Hollywood for the Grammy Awards, I thought I'd bump into people who mattered, such as Ry Cooder or Randy Newman. I was disappointed to see the people I'd always thought of as pop stars. They would charge around the stage rather than enjoy the music.
The writers that I aspire to, like Joni Mitchell and Randy Newman, they'll tell you that the work gets harder, not easier. And they set that bar for us where we're always striving to do something better than the last time, whether it's the next song or just the next line.
