“I wasn’t planning on being a guitar player; I was going to be a singer. And I was for a little bit in the Sex Pistols – that is, until we got John Lydon. And then I realised I wasn’t really suited as a front guy.”
Steve Jones
“The whole punk scene is, of course, responsible for the Go-Go’s ever getting created. Because before punk rock happened, you couldn’t start a band if you didn’t know how to play an instrument. But when punk happened it was like, ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter if you can play.”
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Jane Wiedlin
“When you talk like an asshole and look like an asshole, you’re an asshole.” John Lydon
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“Politically at that time, with Thatcher in Britain and Reagan in the White House, it wasn’t looking too great for the Left. And we were always on the left.”
Joe Strummer
“My Nirvana experience was much different than the other three guys. For me, it was really new and exciting. I was just a guy from a punk rock band, thrown into this huge thing. There were dark periods, too. But there wasn’t a dark cloud over the whole thing.”Pat Smear
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“To me, John Lennon and Elvis Presley were punks, because they made music that evoked those emotions in people.”
Joey Ramone
“I started an all-girl punk band when I was 14, and I was the drummer, not the singer.” Bjork
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“It’s a repressive society where you can’t be horrible, I’m not horrible, they made me horrible, I’m just honest.” John Lydon
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“I don’t blame the average seventeen-year-old punk-rock kid for calling me a sellout. I understand that. And maybe when they grow up a little bit, they’ll realize there’s more things to life than living out your rock & roll identity so righteously.”
Kurt Cobain
“Punk was such an exciting time because there were no rules. You could go and knock on Sun Ra’s door – and he was in the phonebook, under Ra!” Viv Albertine
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“Were it not for the Clash, punk would have been just a sneer, a safety pin and a pair of bondage trousers.”
Billy Bragg
“In fact, punk rock means exemplary manners to your fellow human beings.” Joe Strummer
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“Punk helped musical fringes get attention. Stuff like Nirvana could never have happened without it.”Toyah Willcox
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“The Ruts were a great punk rock band from England whose songs were as excellent as their time together was short.”
Henry Rollins
“People always said that I hated punk, and that really wasn’t true. It was glossed over for many years that I was the guy who found the Tubes and signed them to A&M. English punk was a revolution.” Rick Wakeman
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“When I was growing up I never babysat. I was considered too ‘punk rock’ to be trusted with kids.”
Angelina Jolie
“I got tired of the Ramones around the time I quit and I really got into rap. I thought it was the new punk rock. LL Cool J was my biggest idol.” Dee Dee Ramone
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“Punk allowed women to stop looking feminine. Oh, the relief.”Jo Brand
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“The thing about punk is that there are purists. Once you start going outside of that, they don’t think what you’re doing is punk rock.”
Billie Joe Armstrong
“The one thing I got right was that I already looked like a punk when punk arrived.”John Cooper Clarke
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