Ariel Pink
Ariel Marcus Rosenberg, known professionally as Ariel Pink, was born on June 24, 1978, in Los Angeles, California. Growing up in one of the United States' largest cities, he attended Beverly Hills High School before going on to study at the California Institute of the Arts, where he received a formal grounding in the arts.
Pink works across multiple roles in music — singer, songwriter, guitarist, drummer, and composer. That range of craft feeds into his work as a singer-songwriter, allowing him to take on many aspects of creating and performing music himself. His output falls within the indie rock genre, and he records and performs in English.
As an American citizen, Pink has carried his career under the professional name Ariel Pink, a name he uses distinctly from his full legal name, Ariel Marcus Rosenberg. The Library of Congress catalogs his work under the authorized label "Pink, Ariel," reflecting the professional identity he has maintained throughout his recording life.
Pink's path from Beverly Hills High School through the California Institute of the Arts and into a career spanning performance, instrumentation, and composition marks out a trajectory rooted in his home state. His roles as musician, singer, and composer together define a body of work produced under the Ariel Pink name, with indie rock serving as the genre frame for his recorded output.
Quotes by Ariel Pink
I don't think I threw myself into music because I had the best intentions; it was because I was really angry.
In the years between 2000 and 2004, I always got the feeling that people were just starting to hear about me, and they were all late to the game. I'd be out playing shows for records that I recorded back in 1999 that were just coming out.
I was definitely a thespian of sorts in elementary school. I went to a real small private school, and every year, I participated in the talent shows and the school plays - all of 'em.
You marry your friends when you stay with your friends. It's hard enough to find a good roommate, let alone a good person you can live with and fall in love with at the same time. You might as well just take your roommate, if you can find one, and marry them.
The ideal is to live forever, right? Or to live right now and just be grateful that I feel good. I'm definitely grateful for every second that I'm alive. At this point in my life, I definitely take time out throughout the day to just stop and be like, "Everything is cool." It's as good as it's gonna be, because it only gets worse.
I backed up all my pictures on my iCloud so you can’t see me when I die / I left my body somewhere down in Mexico / Give ‘Find My iPhone’ app a try.
It’s not illegal to be an asshole. It’s not illegal to be racist, even. It’s not illegal to do anything.
That's really what keeps me playing live - appreciation. And I guess I've made a lot of wiggle room for myself to try different things and discover what I'm doing, and the audience accepts it.
My music already has this oldish kind of quality to it, like you don't necessarily know what era it was recorded in, so it all kind of felt surreal and weird. Night after night when I played live, I was really trying to figure it out in real time, and I still don't know what effect I'm going for or what effect I actually achieve. Looking back, I feel like it would be arrogant of me not to appreciate the fact that I've been able to do whatever I want and still have an audience come see me.