Ian MacKaye Quotes

I'm not a critic. I'm not a journalist. I'm not a philosopher. Arguing that punk has run its course is like saying painting ran its course after the Renaissance. Punk is an idea. It's freedom. And it'll be around 200 years from now for the people who want it.

It wasn't just music in The Ramones: it was an idea. It was bringing back a whole feel that was missing in rock music – it was a whole push outwards to say something new and different. Originally it was just an artistic type of thing; finally I felt it was something that was good enough for everybody.

The whole point of the punk-rock thing was that "We're not special. We just have a voice."

It meant a kind of real liberation of expression. It embraced amateurism in a way that I still am inspired by. It was not about trying to get, you know, stadium gigs or even commercial radio play or even record deals for that matter. It was about saying something 'cause you meant it, and expressing something that you felt. And that was primary for that - whatever the scene, whatever punk rock means, it was very, very important to me, very formative.

Soccer is like punk rock: The product is not necessarily terrible. The problem is the fan base.

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'

By the time I was 19, punk had occurred. It had a completely different cultural dynamic to it which rejected everything and started again from the year zero.

I don't think punk ever really dies, because punk rock attitude can never die.

To me punk rock is thinking outside of the box, outside of the program, outside the establishment.

Punk rock is just another word for freedom.

After ten years of toiling away in Hollywood, I realized that there's no better place for new ideas than comics.

They're afraid of change, and we must change. They're afraid of the young, and we are the young. They're afraid of music, and music is our life. They're afraid of books, and knowledge, and ideas. They're most afraid of our magic.

To me, the punk rock kids I grew up with were really, really smart, and to me, respecting those kids was a really big deal.

The American indie underground made music for like-minded people who thought for themselves. Thinking for yourself is intrinsically subversive.

The punk-rock ethos was "Do it yourself. Anyone can do this. We're not sent from the heavens."

Punk rock isn't supposed to be for everyone. There is that sort of private club mentality, which is necessary. It keeps things from getting watered down and boring.

I identified very much with punk, not only in the fashion sector, but in every other sector. The very nature of doing something new and free meant something that was against authority.

The whole idea of punk rock is that you're dressing yourself in a crazy leather jacket with safety pins and a Mohawk. The idea of being the rebel is a boring societal idea. It's such a type. And that's what I was, without knowing it.

I've never had a good game plan. At a certain point, making independent films became more and more appealing to me because I like freshness and originality.

Never let money get in the way of an idea

I love the idea of messing around with different mediums.

Punk rock will never die, until something more dangerous replaces it.

As a songwriter there's nothing more exciting than the unknown, the new and different.

Metallica lives in a little bubble. We just do our own thing. We're not part of any trends or waves or fads. We can just do our own thing, all the time. It's a great luxury. I don't think we were really appreciative of it until recently, and really understood that it is what keeps us alive. It's great to be able to have the freedom to run around and do all this crazy stuff, and at all cost, avoid making another record, just to piss our managers off.