Billy Bragg Quotes

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

I was actually late to the punk movement because I was too young.

In terms of stage presence for me, I'm influenced by a myriad of things. A lot of punk performers, people like Dave Vanian from The Damned and Davey Havok from AFI was a huge influence on me when I was younger.

I was a huge punker growing up.

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'm still secretly a bit of a punk. Love The Clash and a bit of the Pistols. I guess as I've got older I've chilled out a bit. But, my teenage angst is still stirring somewhere!

I used to hang out with a bunch of old punk rockers when I was a little kid.

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

I pretty much grew up when punk was big in the UK. The Sex Pistols were heroes for me. I used to run around like Johnny Rotten. I had a jacket like his.

I first got into punk music at 17, The Adverts, just from being a bored teenager.

I think punk rock needs an 'Amadeus.'

By the '80s, anything to do with punk was perceived as rancid. Me being known as the 'punk poet' meant my work and I plummeted.

When I was running the Troubadour, there was this transition from the classic singer/songwriter Jackson Browne types to bands like Black Flag, the Dead Kennedys, and Fear. Those are just some that come to mind. Oh, and Adam Ant! The Fear fans wanted to 'crush' the Ants. These guys hated each other.

I was the only real punk rock kid in my school, with, like, the plaid pants and the Rancid t-shirt.

I moved to Naples, Florida, and by 15 I was into punk: Green Day, Rancid, NOFX, Operation Ivy. Along with the classic punk bands, like the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Misfits, Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat - all those bands that you get into when you're first getting into punk.

I love punks!

I was into the Ramones, Bad Brains, all of that, when I was in high school.

I was really into punk when I was about 14.

There's a punk-rock attitude, clearly, to 'Hated.' There's even a punk-rock attitude to 'The Hangover,' I think. We start the movie with a Glenn Danzig song.

I love punk rock, The Clash, The Ramones, The Cramps. I love where it all came from, and music for my ears now, it has to have that same electricity, adrenaline and danger.

The Sex Pistols was a part of my life. Just a small part.

I created Punk for this day and age. Do you see Britney walking around wearing ties and singing punk? Hell no. That's what I do. I'm like a Sid Vicious for a new generation.

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

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.'

It's not every day you get to create a band like the Sex Pistols, and what it changed, on a musical level. I love that we've done something that was important.