Music is the final piece of filmmaking—the essential element that pulls emotion from an audience and puts the goosebumps on the screen.

I think that their impact is yet to be felt, their full impact. First of all, their music is now listened to as part of the psyche of everybody, day in and day out. It's the most recorded music in the world, the most copied music in the world, the most enviable music in the world. It's inspired thousands and thousands of artists. Culturally they've had a tremendous impact on the entire 20th century.

How many superstars have we had in music that didn't need, and think about this, that didn't need laser lights and an accompanying show of glitter and glamour to be successful? ... The Beatles were four guys with guitars and drums, and their music stands alone.

As much as the R&B people, and the gospel people, and spiritual music, and the country-western people influenced them, I think the Beatles were the bar. And they set the bar, and nobody's quite been able to jump beyond it.

Games have has as much an impact on Hollywood filmmaking as MTV music videos did.

I grew up with the Highwaymen, which was Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. Mom and Dad rode rodeo, so country music was always in the house and the car. They threw in some Dolly Parton, too.