Quote Of The Day By Todd Rundgren: 'There Is No Way To Change Anything Else In The World If ...'

If anyone knows how to bend the world to their whim, it would have to be singer, songwriter, and producer Todd Rundgren. Born near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 22, 1948, a young Rundgren had a pretty unconventional musical upbringing. Besides his home city being a hotbed for dance music in the '50s and '60s — such as Chubby Checker's crazed hit "The Twist" and Dee Dee Sharp's "Mashed Potato Time" – Rundgren's father was avidly against any rock 'n' roll within earshot, preferring classical music and movie soundtracks instead.

Influenced by R&B, jazz, early electronic music, the blues, and groups like the Beatles and Jefferson Airplane, his first band out of high school, the Nazz, released their first self-titled album in 1968 before quickly becoming a cult-classic group. He ultimately left the band a year later, wanting to get into production and experimental solo projects. In 1972, he fully produced and performed his most consequential solo album, "Something/Anything?," earning him the title of "Rock's New Wunderkind." In 1974, he would release "Todd Rundgren's Utopia," establishing his new band as the pioneers of progressive rock.

Alongside his own work, he would become one of the rock producers with the most Billboard hits of the '70s, working with the likes of Meatloaf, the Patti Smith Group, and countless other hit acts (despite never landing his own No. 1 hit). Having shaped the industry with his own work, as well as through his influence on some of the 20th century's top artists, it's clear Rundgren knows a thing or two about changing the world — and that's why he is today's quote of the day.

"My whole philosophy has always been that there is no way to change anything else in the world if you don't have the capacity to change yourself. Therefore, if you're not satisfied with the way the world is, or if you think the world can be better, you have to figure out a way to know yourself and better yourself," said Todd Rundgren in a 2003 interview with The A.V. Club. In addition to discussing the Beatles' influence on his own music (despite a public feud with John Lennon in the '70s), his inspiration for producing, and the cost of fame, he had also been asked about the philosophy he believed his music articulated.

This quote comes as an elaboration on his initial claim that "I've always said, rather glibly, that the message of my career has been about individualism, about getting to know yourself and taking responsibility, not just for what you do, but what you think." Although he's worked in several bands over the years and collaborated with countless other artists, it's evident that his strong conviction for his own work has helped to shape the world beyond his own sense of style and taste.

Todd Rundgren's quote reflects the level of self-mastery required to chase your dreams. The world comprises all of us, and the only way to change it is to prove to ourselves, and each other, that it has the capacity to change — and we're our most concrete examples. 

Besides shapeshifting through several genres over his career, one thing that Rundgren has never shied away from is making the decision to leave. Whether it was departing from the Nazz a year after dropping their first record, taking a chance on self-produced music videos before MTV, or almost ruining an iconic '70s rock band by replacing their frontman, risk or reward rarely ever seem to factor into his decision-making. His main goal has always orbited around the idea of himself, and his capacity to push himself past what older versions of him had been. It can feel counterintuitive to change (even when you simply have), especially when you're an artist whose audience has become accustomed to a certain sound or era. However, Rundgren's consistent pursuit of something different has conditioned all of us to never know what to expect – but love every step of the way.

His quote teaches us that while we become so fixed on ideas of ourselves, whether it's who we think we want to be, who we've been in the past, and who other people have made us, we are ultimately the ones who have the power to change that. Only once we've proved it's possible can we see the potential for that same change in everything else.

• "The ultimate crime, the ultimate crime / Is not to care."

• "... I made this crazy record, 'A Wizard, a True Star,' in which I threw out all the rules of record making and decided that I would try to imprint as much as possible, the chaos in my head, right onto a record without trying to clean it up for everyone else's benefit. The end result was I immediately lost half my audience."

• "Look upon yourself / Only with compassion."

• "People have always said that I could have been a highly successful pop artist, if only that were my intention. It never was."

• "Too many people are afraid to call themselves philosophical as opposed to political, as if that predisposed some cowardice, that you're unwilling to go to the mat for your beliefs. But the problem is that people believe too firmly things they haven't actually considered very seriously."