Mike Watt Quotes

When punk started, it wasn't subtle.

Punk rock has become another viable art form. It always was. But now it's like everyone's doing it.

When punk rock came along, the one thing you were not supposed to be was musical.

In the early days, myself and my friends were into punk because we had no money, just very basic instruments and skills. It was more about the ethos and the energy.

When someone asks you, 'What's punk?' my reply is, 'If you have to ask, you're never going to know.'

Punk is not dead. Punk will only die when corporations can exploit and mass produce it.

There are a lot of bands who claim to be punk and they only play the music, they have no clue what it's all about. It's a lifestyle. It's not about popularity and all that crap.

I think that what's perceived as punk out in shopping malls or in chain stores or on MTV has almost nothing to do with what punk is about.

The jury had down right contempt for punk rock grass roots ethics.

Punk is not really a style of music. It was more like a state of mind.

Where there is young people and vitality, you're going to find punk rock.

I think, fundamentally, the core of everything I do is punk rock.

When punk really started to happen, it was a reaction against the disco craze of the time.

A lot of people think that punk rock musicians don't know what they're doing.

I do fear for the generations of people who came of age thinking that pop-punk is what punk is, and that all the rebellion you need is just to stick your tongue out in the mirror every once in a while.

Punk is not just the sound, the music. Punk is a lifestyle.

Punk was more based on social change than on music, so it didn't bother me too much. It wasn't really a musical threat.

So many big magazines just dissed the whole punk thing as nothing, but really, it was a big thing. It really changed, and that's what we wanted to do - change the system.

The principles of punk-rock culture, of self-expression and DIY culture, that really spoke to me.

There's an irony about making a film about punk because punk isn't supposed to have feature films made about it.

When things socially and politically get difficult, punk music suddenly comes back again, and there's just a really healthy pivot away from music that's not humanly understandable.

When Punk Rock happened, it created an opening in the culture... it made it ok to think you could play music, even though you had no musical training.

Punk rock isn't something you grow out of Punk rock is an attitude, and the essence of that attitude is 'give us some truth'

When punk began to be a genre, people were going to go out and try to mine it. Some of the better groups, like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols, were very artificial.

Initially, electronic music was anti-establishment, as punk rock and rock n' roll were. The music was shut down; the police were against the parties.