- Wynton Marsalis: The Soundies is just a film history of musicians and songs and what we felt was important.
- Leonard Maltin: Sex sells. Always has, I guess, always will. The Soundies were pushing the envelope just a little bit with what now seems like fairly innocent cheesecake. But, those girls were always hiking up their dresses. They did what they could under the limits of propriety to make them as sexy as they could.
- Host: The 1981 debut of MTV is still remembered as a unique musical phenomenon, a breakthrough cultural event, marking the beginning of the music video era. But, what many people don't know is that MTV and the music video were neither unique nor a breakthrough that came to marketing musical acts. An amazing 40 years before MTV made its debut, came a revolution in sight and sound. They were three minute treasures called: the Soundies.
- Mark Cantor: The appeal of sex was not lost on Soundies producers and directors. To take a chance of just showing a band, square on, doing a great musical performance made them nervous and this emphasis on cheesecake was a way of ensuring more dimes placed in the machine.
- Wynton Marsalis: Music has always got to have some connection to something sexual. That's of, in this interest, romance, love, sex. When we run out of that, I hope I'm dead when that happens.