Jello Biafra Quotes

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

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.

I think punk rock, especially for me, was a big middle finger to this whole talent thing.

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.

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

When punk started, it wasn't subtle.

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 rock really came out of N.Y. as a philosophy before the groups were ever recorded. I had a kind-of intellectual interest in the idea of creating a new scene that could be a grassroots thing.

I can't think of anything I hate more than a former punk - they are the most self-righteous people in the world.

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.

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

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.

I enjoy punk, the attitude as well as the music, but I don't feel like I have to be a carbon copy of it and invite all this controversy just to be punk rock.

There is something familial about punk. There is something positive. Even though some punk is destructive, nihilistic, explosive.

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

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

Will punk rock ever die? Pal, if you have to ask it's dead to you.

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.

To me, punk is about being an individual and going against the grain and standing up and saying 'This is who I am'.

Punk will never be dead to me. It's my life. I can never just drop this lifestyle. It embodies me.

All punk rockers hate Christmas.

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