“Ultimately, I know what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. I'm trying to be a construction worker. I'm trying to make things. If people are not interested in that, fine. I just don't give a damn.” PeopleGivingTryingConstructionNot Interested Author:Ian MacKaye
“Truth is, right now two bombs could drop out of the sky and blow up this house and whatever building you're in and just obliterate Dischord and Pitchfork. And there'll be some people crying, there'll be some slow singing, but for 99% of the world, it won't even affect the fly on their soup. Most of the world never have, or ever will hear of me, Fugazi, or Pitchfork. Right now, someone just got killed in Ukraine. Do you feel any different?” PeopleWorldDifferentHouseCryBuildingTruth IsSingingBlow Author:Ian MacKaye
“There are many things that people do happily that I can't imagine why they would do it... But I have to say that even though I am critical or judgmental of society at large, I'm not critical of people individually. We are who we are.” PeopleI CanImagineCriticalWho We AreJudgmentalJudgmental Person Author:Ian MacKaye
“An unlocked door means that, occasionally, you might get a devil come in, but a locked door means you have thousands of angels just walk by.” MeanMightWalksDoorsDevilAngelLockedLocked Doors Author:Ian MacKaye
“I never, ever had it in my mind that I wanted to be in the record industry, because I still contend that the record industry is an insidious affair. It's this terrible collision between art and commerce, and it will always be that way.” WayMindArtStillsWantedRecordsIndustryTerribleAffairCommerceCollisionInsidious Author:Ian MacKaye
“I do feel like I have always, in my life, been inclined to be on the outside, walk a different path or something. Because of that, and increasingly over the years, my sense of distance from mainstream society or from the way culture works, I have a different kind of perception of it.” WayFeelsYearsKindDifferentCultureWalksPathPerceptionDistanceDifferent KindsMainstreamDifferent PathsMainstream Society Author:Ian MacKaye
“I was into Ted Nugent, I was a Nugent guy. I was a skateboarder listening to Ted Nugent.” GuyListeningSkateboarder Author:Ian MacKaye
“I have thousands of tapes, and photos and fliers, letters, posters, artwork - basically everything that ever happened, I kept. I'm not a hoarder, though. I'm sort of a librarian.” HappenedLettersTapeLibrarianPostersArtwork Author:Ian MacKaye
“Part of the way the work world works is not so much creating a separation between your work and your free time, but creating the illusion of a separation between your work and your free time. Every day is the weekend for me, which means I'm always busy.” WorldWayMeanCreatingIllusionBusySeparationWeekendFree Time Author:Ian MacKaye
“When people who are songwriters say 'That's my property and if you give it away for free then I'll lose my incentive,' then, well, good riddance.” PeopleIfsGivingWellsLosesPropertySongwritersIncentivesRiddanceGood Riddance Author:Ian MacKaye
“I'm not a religious person, and I'm not too interested in being a part of a religion, but I do like having some sort of communal gathering, and having some sense of peoples.” PersonsReligiousGatheringReligious Person Author:Ian MacKaye
“Skateboarding is not a hobby. And it is not a sport. Skateboarding is a way of learning how to redefine the world around you. For most people, when they saw a swimming pool, they thought, ‘Let's take a swim.' But I thought, ‘Let's ride it.' When they saw the curb or a street, they would think about driving on it. I would think about the texture. I slowly developed the ability to look at the world through totally different means.” PeopleThinkingWorldWayLooksMeanDifferentSportsAbilitySawsStreetsDrivingSwimSwimmingPoolHobbiesTextureCurbSwimming PoolSkateboardingDriving On Author:Ian MacKaye
“I think that people are constantly thinking about capturing things that they're not actually present for the moment they're trying to capture. I'm quite sure of this. I think it's insane how many pictures have to be taken these days. We have to realize there's a level of documentation that's just chatter, it's noise, and beyond that, people who are truly documenting are going to have to find a way to puncture that.” PeopleThinkingWayTryingMomentsRealizingLevelsTakenNoiseInsaneThese DaysCaptureChatterDocumentationPunctureConstantly Thinking Author:Ian MacKaye
“I think that the idea of straight edge, the song that I wrote, and the way people have related it it, there's some people who have abused it, they've allowed their fundamentalism to interfere with the real message, which in my mind, was that people should be allowed to live their lives the way they want to.” PeopleThinkingWayWantShouldMindIdeasRealSongMessagesEdgesRelatedInterfereFundamentalismStraight Edge Author:Ian MacKaye
“Every song I ever wrote, I wrote to be heard. So, if I was given a choice that 50 years from now I could either have a dollar or knowing that some kid was listening to my song, I'd go with the kid listening to my song.” IfsYearsKidsSongChoicesGivenKnowingHeardListeningDollars Author:Ian MacKaye
“People ask me: ‘What is punk? How do you define punk?' Here's how I define punk: It's a free space. It could be called jazz. It could be called hip-hop. It could be called blues, or rock, or beat. It could be called techno. It's just a new idea. For me, it was punk rock. That was my entrance to this idea of the new ideas being able to be presented in an environment that wasn't being dictated by a profit motive.” PeopleIdeasAbleAsksSpaceEnvironmentRocksBeatsJazzProfitHip HopHipsAsk MeMotiveHopsPunkNew IdeasEntrancesPunk RockTechnoProfit Motive Author:Ian MacKaye
“American business at this point is really about developing an idea, making it profitable, selling it while it's profitable and then getting out or diversifying. It's just about sucking everything up. My idea was: Enjoy baking, sell your bread, people like it, sell more. Keep the bakery going because you're making good food and people are happy.” PeopleIdeasEnjoySellsBreadSellingDevelopingProfitableBakingGood FoodAmerican BusinessBakeries Author:Ian MacKaye
“Major labels didn't start showing up really until they smelled money, and that's all they're ever going to be attracted to is money-that's the business they're in- making money.” MajorsLabelsMaking MoneyShowing Up Author:Ian MacKaye
“Yeah, if someone's selling downloads and collecting money for our songs I would be unhappy about that but if they're trading it I don't mind, obviously if I make a thousand records or CDs or whatever, I like to sell a thousand.” IfsMindWould BeSongRecordsThousandYeahSellsUnhappySellingTradingCollectingCdsDownloads Author:Ian MacKaye
“If You Want To Rebel Against Society, Don’t Dull The Blade” IfsWantDullRebelBlades Author:Ian MacKaye
“We play loud electric guitar music, and we'd hope that that doesn't mean you have to act like an asshole.” MeanPlayGuitarLoudElectricElectric GuitarGuitar Music Author:Ian MacKaye
