Band Quote by Jello Biafra

In the beginning, the punk scene was so full of promise. All the bands were different, and all the sounds were different. The common…

— David Vanian

Overnight, punk had become as stupid as everything else. This wonderful vital force that was articulated by the music was really about corrupting every…

— Legs McNeil

I guess, for me, what started me getting real excited about music was the New York punk and new-wave scene. All those bands looked…

— Dean Wareham

Starting out really punk came from not knowing any better and listening to music like that, not knowing how to play music - well,…

— Beth Ditto

In the early days, myself and my friends were into punk because we had no money, just very basic instruments and skills. It was…

— Alison Moyet

You know there was always a confusion that punk was a style of music.

— Mike Watt

Punk was originally about creating new, important, energetic music that would hopefully threaten the status quo and the stupidity of the 1970s.

— Jello Biafra

I don't think that the punk sound really became the punk sound until much later. The punk era wasn't really just one musical sound.…

— Debbie Harry

I got out of that immediately was that now, all of a sudden, rock music had become a spectator sport, that corporate labels and…

— Jello Biafra

In San Francisco, most of the older activists, especially at Berkeley, were very hostile towards punks. The music, certainly, wasn't nice and mellow for…

— Jello Biafra

Punk helped musical fringes get attention. Stuff like Nirvana could never have happened without it.

— Toyah Willcox

“Punk has been portrayed as music by and for angry white males, but in its inception, it was a rebellion against all rock cliches.…

— Alice Bag