Ian MacKaye Quotes

Nobody is going to hand you a music career.

Session musicians kind of respected me because what I was talking about made sense. That all came from an education. Believe me, education does you more good. Maybe that's the reason I've been around so long.

To come out in the music business, you only really get one shot. A lot of people get to play small gigs first, and build up that way, without anyone really seeing them.

An artist don't make you bigger than life - being that person that can break artists can make you bigger than life.

I came to California and got signed at a young age. And it's not like you see in the movies, where you start rubbing shoulders with Timbaland and Pharrell, and you become a giant pop star.

And I just pray that god gives me longevity in the music industry.

I think - I honestly think that my story is not 100 percent that unique. I think that I'm - just the whole rock star part kind of throws an interesting twist on it.

I don't know if it's my music, my lyrics, my sound, and knowing the music business the way I do-all I can say is, my career has lasted way longer than I expected.

I think the first thing you should know is that nobody in country music 'made it' the same way. It's all different. There's no blueprint for success, and sometimes you just have to work at it.

I always knew, that in some way, I'd be connected to, and involved in, the music business.

I have very much enjoyed being in the music business in different roles through five different decades.

All of them had so much to offer us as far as, you know, knowledge in the music industry, and especially Randy and Paula because, you know, they've been artists.

So there was a way for you to get promoted and survive as an artist without worrying about AM radio hits.

Like every artist that comes out, you want to make a mark; you want to be a household name and you want to be someone that people are going to look back in ten years/fifteen years' time and go, 'I love this guy Olly Murs. He was brilliant back in the day; he was someone I really, really liked.'

I was kicked off a record label and didn't get picked up again. It was devastating at first because I thought, 'Oh my God. My career is over. What's gonna happen? What am I going to do?' Once I got that I could have a career, a very good career, without having a hit record, then I changed.

I knew what I wanted to be, but I didn't know exactly how to get there. I thought you move to Nashville, you sing downtown, and someone discovers you, and you become a country music star. I had no idea.

Nobody's going to sell 10 million records by not working hard.

Coming into the music industry, even when I was a kid, one thing I learned is timing is everything. You being prepared is everything.

I've been working in the music industry since I was 15 years old, and I feel like I've always been ahead of my time.

Anything I do has to have integrity, so if you just want to make music, it's not difficult finding support. The hard part for a publicist or manager is making a star.

Bad Religion took a long time to develop into gold-record-status artists. Along the way we learned and applied our knowledge, and Atlantic helped us every step of the way, since 1993.

It was hard to work and work and work and not get your music played on the radio.

I started The McCoys in 1962, so I'm approaching my 40th year in the entertainment business.

Good bands won't get famous anymore unless they get really lucky.

I made a dollar a day sweeping a laundry out. Then we made a record that was number two in Los Angeles. We got so excited hearing it on the radio that Carl threw up.