Quotes About Rock

Duff McKagen's been a dear friend of mind for a long time, and he's a Seattlelite.

Folk-rock hasn't changed much over the decades since the Byrds started it.

I also know for a fact of at least two other ascents of the Delicate Arch. But when 'Outside' did their research, the other two climbers wouldn't admit to it, and I admit to it because I don't see anything wrong with a man climbing a rock.

You literally cannot deny the fact that rock and roll was born because of blues, and blues is black man's music.

In fact, many rock critics look askance at explicitly political lyrics, which I think is pretty stupid, without denying that some political lyrics are also pretty stupid.

Detroit: Cars and rock 'n' roll. Not a bad combo.

You got to look the part. You have to look like all the successful rock bands look. This is what they do. That's never been us. You know, it's a hard game to play: at the end of the day, we are just a rock band and have so many different cultures of music that we have grown up on, because we are fans of all different kinds of music.

I'm a happy member of the church. I'm proud of it and defend it. It makes me bold and gives me confidence. I feel I know the answer to life - that it's all about. If you're not searching for the answer to life, you have more time to make art. It's a rock for me upon which I can tap dance.

I was in the pilot for Spinal Tap before it was a movie.

I saw 'Purple Rain' in the summer of '84, and, 'Spinal Tap' notwithstanding, it's the greatest rock & roll film of all time. There's so much Prince coming at you that you have to remind yourself he's also a breathtaking guitar player.

I do believe that a poet would possess a stronger intuitive sense of phrasing with a rock song. There is a way to tap into the emotions of an audience simply by the cross of a certain phrase, even a single word, against a certain chord.

'Spinal Tap' began as a mock rock band that we four - Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and myself - developed for an appearance on a TV pilot at the end of the 1970s. On our own initiative, we wrote and recorded most of the songs and performed them live in several music clubs around L.A. before any cameras rolled.

There are bands that make parodies of being in a band, like Spinal Tap. That's a big influence. They're making fun of a rock band, but they write lyrics that are better than real rock bands.

I'd always envisioned 'The Big Beat' leading off 'The Tale of the Tape' with the biggest drumbeat the rock world had ever heard. I knew I had something good... but I had no idea just how good.

Just from the beginning, I really liked playing around with tape recorders. And then, when I got into punk rock, I only really liked - the rawer it was, the more I was into it.

It often seemed like we had become a nation where the only heroes were rock singers and ball players and that there were no large men of probity who could be called upon for the task.

I guess my music taste is pretty predictable: I like new indie rock stuff, older stuff.

I'll tell you sort of an odd story: My music taste changed on 9/11. And it's very strange. I actually intellectually find this very curious. But on 9/11, I didn't like how rock music responded. And country music collectively, the way they responded, it resonated with me.

If you are AC/DC, you don't get credit for slow songs. And if you are doing a show about food with a blond dude with crazy blond hair and tattoos who drives a hot rod, of course everyone is going to think everything you eat is deep-fried.

I have always been a big rock fan and remember dressing up as Guns N' Roses' Axl Rose for my high school Halloween disco when I was 17. My teacher painted tattoos on, and I wore a small leather waistcoat and not much else.

Mick Jagger has been an idol of mine since I was 10 years old. Through his music, he has taught me so much about rock n' roll, but also about the blues and about the experience of live music, going to several Rolling Stones shows, growing up.

James Taylor may be an all-American boy but he isn't Horatio Alger, and the lionizing of many rock stars by the rock press has as much to do with old fashioned rags-to-riches stories as does the straight culture's deification of its idols.

This rock thing got in the way of my teaching career.

I know some people will be surprised to hear it, but I've found that my music, whether its blues or rock, or whatever you want to call it, can be channeled into a positive direction that actually helps people.