Gallagher Quotes

Our album 'Show No Mercy' came out in late '83, and we did three or four shows in San Francisco after the release. That was our first experience with stage-divers, crowd-surfing, people walking on people across an entire crowd.

A punk concert isn't fun without a pit.

Growing up, I always wanted to be in punk bands, so I'm really enjoying the harder, heavier element. It's always been my dream to have people moshing at my gig, kind of that really feral element of the music coming out more. I love crowd-surfing.

But anytime at a metal show, fans are going to be going crazy.

There was a show at the Mayan in Los Angeles where I got overly enthusiastic and jumped into the crowd, and I know they weren't thrilled about that. When I got offstage the manager told me not to do that again. I said, 'Really, for my own safety?' And he said, 'No, because the Pixies don't do that.'

I'm the first to admit that we were totally dependent on a particular place and time... for us, seeing Minor Threat at the CBGB hardcore matinee was just as necessary a force in our lives as the Treacherous Three at Club Negril or the Funky Four + One More at the Rock Lounge.

I saw the Clash in '79 at the Paramount in Seattle, and it changed my whole life.

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.

I discovered the Clash, the Pistols, obviously the Ramones, Blondie.

I never met Johnny Rotten, and I didn't want to meet Johnny Rotten.

All of the punk-rock bands of the era would come in and play, and my job on Punk Rock Night was that I would go into the slam pit, and... I was 24 or 25, and I'd slam dance in the pit.

I went to UC Berkeley for college, and it was during the period when the whole punk movement was happening.

I discovered after going to music festivals that I am a rock fan. I love the guitars, the phrasing, and the abandon of rock fans.

Triple 6 Mafia and Mystikal in Atlanta was one of my first shows. I remember how sweaty and smashed up everybody was, and it was so punk rock.

When punk came along, I found my generation's music. I grew up listening to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd, 'cause that was what got played in the house. But when I first saw the Stranglers, I thought, 'This is it.'

I think people are too hard on the Pistols. The Pistols started the whole punk thing and never saw much money.

There are several books out on punk history, but I haven't read any of them. I was there.

We were watching bands like the Ramones and Blondie and other bands beginning to ignite.

The first Decline I did was out of sheer love and appreciation for the music. In 1977, it was more about bands, because punk was a new form of music. It was groundbreaking and political.

I didn't really see the British punk movement, if that's what it was, as wildly original, because I had been listening so intently to all the New York music since 1973, really.

I mean, gosh, my first tours I ever did were with the Ramones and Iggy Pop and Love & Rockets.

People called me the godmother of punk, but I never name myself anything.

I still have dreams about CBGB's. I still miss the place.

I don't think any punk bands really ever got their due.