Robert Hilburn Quotes

If you want to do rock and roll, forget about those who've come after '65.

My mom listened to the Beatles and Elvis, a lot of different types of music.

Back when I was working with the Stones and with Joe Cocker and Neil Young and Neil Diamond and all of those - 'the boys,' I call them - it was fun.

As I said to Ringo, I was in a successful Rock N Roll band. He was in a band that changed the world. That's the difference.

Not to be mean about it, but some great rock and rollers, like Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry, are pretty one-dimensional.

I love 'Crazy Horse,' and Neil Young is one of my favorite guitar players.

I'm John Lee Hooker in the sense that he was a blues man and he played blues his whole life. I'm a rock guy and I'm going to play rock music my whole life.

It's a big shame, because 'Trixter' in my mind were what a real rock n' roll band is all about.

One summer I remember, I got exposed to Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly and Buddy Holly was a very very big, made a very big impression on me. Because of a lot of things, you know, the way he looked and his charisma.

Rock n' roll means so much more to people; it enriches the culture. Also, it inspires people; there's no half-feeling. When I first got into it, I was inspired by people who had come before me, and I found myself in the position of handing that on.

I've been blessed. I grew up and played and worked and created with the Freddie Mercury, the Jimi Hendrix, the Keith Richards, the John Paul Jones of my generation.

I always felt rock and roll was very, very wholesome music.

I'm the kind of guy who grew up listening to Three Dog Night and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

All the people with whom I was very close at one point in my life - Stockhausen, Berio, Ligeti, Nono, Bernd Alois Zimmermann - they are all gone.

I think we're right up there with Herman's Hermits and the other greats. Maybe somewhere between Herman's Hermits and the Gershwins.

The other guys in Hootie were into rock. I brought the country influence.

Obviously, any living musician born after 1960 has been touched by rock and roll. It's the music of our time, and it's 'in the air,' as Steve Reich would say. My experience of it is just really direct because I'm actually playing in a collaborative band.

I've always really been a big fan of rock music. I wanted to record rock music when I was 14 or 15, but I was too young; it would have been ridiculous.

Everybody is always raving about the Rolling Stones, saying, 'The Stones this, and the Stones that.' I've never cared for the Stones. They never had anything to offer me musically, especially in the drumming department.

In the beginning, we were a real good, straight rock 'n' roll band. We were writing quality tunes.

God bless classic rock. It's been very good to me; I'll tell you that.

My first band, we wanted to be like Foreigner and Journey.

We loved Neil Young and all the music he's given the world.

It's rooted in things that maybe older people or people my age remember as being rock music. But at the same time, I don't think we're stuck in the past or retro. I think we've tried to push ourselves and experiment with what we can call Wilco music.

My my, hey hey... Rock and roll is here to stay. Hey hey, my my... Rock and roll will never die.