GREIL

'Complete assimilation really means complete acceptance. The immigrant who is completely assimilated into America has lost the faculty of adding whatever is special about himself to his country; for any artist, complete assimilation means the adoption of an aesthetic where no lines are drawn and no choices are made. That quality of selection, which is what is at stake when an artist comes across with his or her version of anything, is missing. When an artist gives an all encompassing Yes to his audience... there is nothing more he can tell his audience, nothing he can really do for them, except maybe throw them a kiss.' - Greil Marcus on Elvis.

Though hard to keep in head and heart, there are many reasons why it is both the healthiest and most productive mode of being for an artist to remain an outsider. Excluding financial reasons naturally...