Jello Biafra Quotes

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

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

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

When the punk rock thing happened, I thought, 'Right, I have one chance here to be seen as part of some wider social phenomenon.'

It's like our little thing: you can take the girl out of the punk, but you can't take the punk out of the girl.

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.

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.

All punk is is attitude. That's what makes it. The attitude.

Punk was defined by an attitude rather than a musical style.

Punk rock seemed to make sense. I was listening to The Clash and I really loved their social messages and they have a great history of fighting racism.

It's very cliched to go, 'You're not punk.' We don't care if we are, and we don't care if we aren't.

I always said punk was an attitude. It was never about having a Mohican haircut or wearing a ripped T-shirt. It was all about destruction, and the creative potential within that.

I'm a punk rocker. I don't do Christian.

When punk rock came along, the one thing you were not supposed to be was musical.

Punk is not just the sound, the music. Punk is a lifestyle.

I was a punk rocker. A full-bore, 1st-generation punk.

Punk is not really a style of music. It was more like a state of mind.

Punk was more based on social change than on music, so it didn't bother me too much. It wasn't really a musical threat.

I was a punk before it got its name. I had that hairstyle and purple lipstick.

So many big magazines just dissed the whole punk thing as nothing, but really, it was a big thing. It really changed, and that's what we wanted to do - change the system.

Where there is young people and vitality, you're going to find punk rock.

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

It's inspiring to see Black Flag looking like Vietnamese farmers with big beards and those kind of Vietnamese farming hats showing up at a Mohawk-mania club in England and being spat at because they don't sound or look like Exploited; they sound more like Black Sabbath than Black Flag. I love that.

To be involved in the subculture of punk rock puts you in a minority.