The best words in music don’t always have to flow forth from painfully constructed song lyrics. Often enough, it’s the peripheral white noise of everyday idle chatter, catty back and forths, out-of-context quotes, musings, ramblings and ill-advised blog postings surrounding the actual music that provides the most fun and enlightenment for the armchair frontman.

Part “they actually said that?” part “wow, that’s fairly interesting” part “no shit dummy” part “Musicians: they’re just like us! (in that they also speak and write?)” and part “oh that quote must belong to Courtney Love”, we offer you a bit of a roundup of the latest words heard round the campfire over the past few days. Turn your thinking caps off…

WE JUST LEARNED SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT THESE PEOPLE - Just when the days of 24/7 media coverage of the media’s coverage seemed to have taken away any remaining mystery about our favorite musicians and critics, these lil’ excerpts prove there’s always more to learn.

“One box, man-sized Kleenex.” – Ted Nugent’s tour rider. (Spinner)

“They build one skyscraper, and skyscrapers get lonely…So then they call their friends and more skyscrapers come, and they throw a party. And the next thing you know there’s a skyscraper blogging about the skyscraper scene in Williamsburg.” – TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek, offering an alternate theory on how gentrification works? (New York Times)

“I can juggle, I can memorize anything (except people’s names), and I almost never vomit.” – Chuck Klosterman discussing his hidden talents. (PopMatters)

“While I lay in the full position of recline my mind wandered off to thinking about how very controlled we are by our emotions and nerves. About if you remove a nerve it completely changes your experience and emotions. That your feelings are just that. Feelings. That nothing is good or bad. But how you respond that makes them good or bad (or how much it hurts). I wonder how I would feel right now if I hadn’t had any anesthetic. It would have been exactly the same procedure but I would be mentally scarred for life. I’m looking forward to my next visit if I’m going to gain such insights on pleasure and pain!” - The Streets (Mike Skinner) on gaining enlightenment during his recent trip to the dentist. (MySpace)

“It was just the only other thing we knew anything about…We started out writing about boy-girl situations and our surfboards. There had to be something else to write about. What else did we know anything about? Cars!” – Jan and Dean’s Dean Torrance gets profound in explaining their muse. (Washington Post)

ON PLAYING NICE WITH OTHERS (including Charles Manson) - Someone is always listening, the microphone is always on; interpersonal skills are a must. Whether you’re downplaying an assault that sent Noel Gallagher to the hospital on your watch or dishing about your BFF pen pal Charlie Manson, choose your words carefully….

“He made references to The Beach Boys stealing his ideas, which sounded like sour grapes, and told me to tell everybody else to take care of wildlife. That must have been the old hippy in him talking…At the time I was very young and having him write me letters made me feel very intense and heavy. I’d always know I’d have a letter in my PO Box from him because the woman behind the counter at the post office would give you this awful look…His letters would always have swastikas on them so they were easy to spot.” – Henry Rollins detailing his pen pal relationship with Charles Manson early in his career. (NME)

“It’s hurtful, but it’s fine if you want to print a picture of me and say how awful I look, how much weight I’ve put on or how terrible my choice of clothes were that day.” - Lily Allen sending mixed messages to the press. (Aversion)

“You can heckle me, I can take it!” - David Berman to the fawning crowd at Bowery Ballroom on Sunday evening.

“(They) understand sometimes these things happen.” – Virgin Chief Marketing Officer Nathan Rosenberg, “these things” a ridiculous understatement referring to the crazed fan who tackled Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher at the V Festival and sent him to the hospital (watch below). (NME)

AND OF COURSE, THE INEVITABLE MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS-RELATED CHATTER - Or, the Paris and Courtney show!

“i didnt go to the “VMAS” as we used to call them but theyve gotten so fucking Urban i dont know[...] in fact hes so fucking mediocre hes the Dave Grohl of the would be Dylans and hey im one, just cos im a little batshit doesnt mean im not going for the prize” - Courtney Love blogging about the VMAs and then changing gears to attack her favorite subject, Ryan Adams. (MySpace)

“I think that they’re all really good kids and that they’re definitely our next generation of kids and they’re all really good so I think that’s awesome” – the ever-elegant Paris Hilton defending the Jonas Brothers decision to remain abstinent. Correct, that’s Paris Hilton talking about abstinence. (US Weekly)

Top image found HERE