Jake Epstein Quotes

'American Idiot' is not only one of my favorite albums of all time, it's become an anthem of a generation.

The Clash were the first big love of my life. Lyrically, they inspired me to get out, explore life, and maybe kick some doors down.

We read our own political content into The Clash, and they accepted it.

I hope Green Day write more for the theater. They're brilliant at it.

Green Day is a band that you always felt had something to say, whether it was about the times or love or heartache.

Everybody else was quoting 2Pac, and I was running around with Green Day in my Walkman. Racially speaking, I wasn't cool or appropriate for any group.

My generation probably didn't connect with 'The Wiz' the way that other generations did.

Seeing Wolf Eyes for the first time - I was fifteen. I had this crazy feeling that this my generation's Stooges. I got infected by that energy.

I think Green Day's 'American Idiot' is probably the best comeback or mid-career record that any band has done.

What Public Enemy and Underground Resistance had in common was a rejection of the idea of music as entertainment.

We were all 16 and 17. When you're that age, you're just daydreaming all day. We had bands we loved - Green Day, Weezer, a lot of bands in the '90s - and we just wanted to have fun. We didn't overthink it too much.

When the punk rock thing happened, I thought, 'Right, I have one chance here to be seen as part of some wider social phenomenon.'

The only person out there worthy of mixing political views and music is Jello Biafra.

The truth is I do take drag really seriously, and I think that there's kind of a place for that - to see it as this political and historical art form, and to want to continue pushing it in new directions. And also honor the old directions as well. So I'm sort of like a drag intellectual/drag queen.

We are millennials, and we love complaining more than any other generation.

A lot of people in my generation, we use hip-hop as a tool to compose.

The entertainment industry is always targeted at young people. Understandably so, as they are the key consumers. The young are the ones who are falling in love, starting out in life; older people aren't. Nobody thinks, 'Now I'm going to write a film about an older person.'

It's only shocking to the uninitiated that 'Teen Vogue' would have the audacity to be political and style-focused.

I moved to Naples, Florida, and by 15 I was into punk: Green Day, Rancid, NOFX, Operation Ivy. Along with the classic punk bands, like the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Misfits, Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat - all those bands that you get into when you're first getting into punk.

From my perspective, I'm trying to stand for a generation. You know, each generation has designers who go along with it.

We need punk now; we need it more than ever. We need rebellion by youth.

When I was in 4th, 5th, and 6th grade, Green Day was my formative entry to punk. I wish I could say I was listening to Minor Threat and Black Flag, but I wasn't. Bay Area punk bands were doing it right.

I think the word 'woke' is now over. The first time I heard my mature, white dad use that term, I was like 'OK, this is done.'

Most of my interviews have been with millennials, and it's been a fascinating window into my kids' world. It's been so wonderful to see a generation that seems so savvy in so many ways - and so much cooler than we were.

I think Pearl Jam, greatly inspired by The Who, really did become a sort of musical conscience of a generation. I love such passionate songs as 'Not for You,' 'Wishlist,' and 'Long Road.'