“I think sometimes my humor is extremely dry, and a lot of times I would say things that I thought were very funny but... I have a reputation of - people think of me as a very fundamentalist, humorless fellow.” PeopleThinkingSometimesFellowsReputationDryThink Of MeFundamentalist Author:Ian MacKaye
“My point of view is, I'm just a person, and there are times when I look at other people and think, 'My God, they spend so much time thinking about things that seem so absurd.' But I'm sure people must think the same thing about me.” PeopleThinkingLooksPersonsSeemsViewsPoint Of ViewAbsurd Author:Ian MacKaye
“I'm always happy when I hear about people selling records or selling books or selling movies. It makes me proud of them.” PeopleBookRecordsProudSellingAlways HappySelling Books Author:Ian MacKaye
“At every election, my vote goes to the candidate less likely to declare war. You're dropping hugely expensive pieces of exploding metal on a population. America deserves the president it gets, whether the country votes for them or allows their vote to be stolen, and the least we can do is to elect someone who won't do that to other people.” PeopleWarCountryAmericaPresidentCan DoPiecesDeserveVoteElectionPopulationCandidatesExpensiveMetalsStolenDroppingExploding Author:Ian MacKaye
“Music is a language and different people who come along are each using that language to do something different, but all coming at it in a similar vein inasmuch as it's always community based and for the most part nonprofit. Most bands don't ever come within a mile of profit - clearly these people are not playing music to make money.” PeopleDifferentLanguageCommunityBandMusic IsProfitMilesMaking MoneyVeinsDifferent PeoplesPlaying MusicNonprofits Author:Ian MacKaye
“The thing is, people can't complain about profit-oriented moves if they're only interested in profit themselves. You can't have it both ways. If they're willing to polish up a gift and sell it to make money, they can't really complain about the fact that somebody above them has sold them down the river. That's the way it goes.” PeopleIfsWayFactsMovingWillingRiversSellsProfitComplainingMaking MoneyPolish Author:Ian MacKaye
“I work so I don't need to make rent through my songs, and I think if more people engaged with music without needing it to provide for their welfare, you're not beholden to anyone.” PeopleIfsThinkingNeedsSongWelfareEngaged Author:Ian MacKaye
“I've had people call me from bands that are very popular, and they're like, "What do we do? We want to do what you do." It's almost impossible to do what I do, because you would have to start in 1980. You can't just do it.” PeopleWantImpossibleBandCall MeJust Do ItVery Popular Author:Ian MacKaye
“With Napster and the sharing of music, of course, there are going to be people who exploit it. Greed has no end. But there's a lot of good that could happen. We shouldn't let the economic concerns of the major labels infringe on our freedom to share music.” PeopleEndsHappensCoursesShareEconomicMajorsConcernGreedLabelsExploitsNapster Author:Ian MacKaye
“The only thing that drives music is the people who are making it.” PeopleMusic Is Author:Ian MacKaye
“People will say "You must miss playing to a thousand people." But I don't. I might miss playing. That's what I would miss, but I don't miss it, because I am playing.” PeopleMightMissingThousand Author:Ian MacKaye
“It's just hard to have a nuanced discussion with like a thousand people, 30 of which are white-power skinheads.” PeopleHardWhiteThousandDiscussionWhite Power Author:Ian MacKaye
“What does bother me is that I have to spend time and energy dealing with the ramifications of what people do think about me.” PeopleThinkingDoeEnergyBotherEnd TimesSpend TimeTime And EnergyRamifications Author:Ian MacKaye
“Let's say for instance people say, "He's a really totalitarian, strict guy, he's hard to work with or whatever." I don't think it's true, but people's perception of me leads that direction, like I'm a fundamentalist person. I end up having to spend extra time saying, "I'm not a fundamentalist." I have other stuff to do.” PeopleThinkingPersonsEndsHardGuyStuffPerceptionInstanceExtrasStrictFundamentalistExtra Time Author:Ian MacKaye
“It doesn't hurt me on a personal level, but it hurts me on a larger level of like, why are people so stupid? Why do we have to go through these unnecessary exercises. Fight crime, don't fight me. If you really want to make a difference don't fight me or Fugazi.” PeopleIfsWantFightingDifferencesHurtLevelsCrimeStupidExerciseMaking A DifferenceUnnecessaryIt HurtsHurt Me Author:Ian MacKaye
“It makes me sad, the way human beings talk smack. It's why I don't like irony. People are too gleeful to put some teeth into something.” PeopleWayHumansHuman BeingsTeethIronySmackSmack Talk Author:Ian MacKaye
“I think about Dischord. There's been a pretty consistent notion that Dischord have been some sort of "overlords" of the scene. Some people have felt 'they are too cool for us,' or 'they won't put this out,' etc. All we're doing is our own work, our own thing. That's all we've ever done. Our work.” PeopleThinkingHas BeensDoneFeltSceneNotionConsistentEtcToo Cool Author:Ian MacKaye
“The fact that the U.S. government spends millions of dollars to send murderous robot planes into other people's land to murder them, into other countries, that's a problem. That's what people should be concerned about. The fact that other people don't understand me is not a problem. I keep things in perspective.” PeopleShouldCountryFactsProblemGovernmentMillionsLandPerspectiveConcernedMurderDollarsPlanesOther CountriesRobotsUnderstand Me Author:Ian MacKaye
“I have stuff from 1979, 1980 in my collection. But I also have things from 2012. So I don't know if it's memorabilia as much as it is holding on to things that I find relevant that most people might not.” PeopleIfsKnowsMightStuffCollectionsRelevantHolding OnMemorabilia Author:Ian MacKaye
“The amount of money that people spend on saving stuff, they try to feed you this idea that it's more important.” PeopleTryingImportantIdeasStuffAmountSaving Author:Ian MacKaye
“For most people who have or who do identify as or with [song] Straight Edge, I feel like for most people, they're just trying to do the right thing.” PeopleFeelsTryingSongEdgesRight ThingStraight Edge Author:Ian MacKaye
“Structures can be manipulated for ill as well, especially when people are dealing with issues of power, or control, or violence.” PeopleWellsIssuesViolenceStructureIll Author:Ian MacKaye
“I mean, why do people fight over sports? Because of the framework, the schematic of sports, those particular people seize upon these opportunities to be violent. And the number one problem using the same framework would be religion.” PeopleMeanProblemWould BeFightingOpportunitySportsNumbersParticularViolentFramework Author:Ian MacKaye
“I'm a fifth generation Washingtonian and I was born and raised here. My kid's a sixth generation Washingtonian. Honestly I wish people didn't move because I love the people of the city.” PeopleKidsMovingWishBornCitiesGenerationsRaisedHonestlyFifthBorn And Raised Author:Ian MacKaye
“Now anyone can move anywhere. I've made deep connections with people around the world since I tour everywhere that I will simply never see again.” PeopleWorldMadeMovingConnectionsAround The WorldDeep Connections Author:Ian MacKaye
“I'm not a sports guy. However it's interesting to be in a place where people have a sporting fever. One time I was in Italy during one of the European soccer cups, and it's interesting because it's so electrifying.” PeopleGuySportsInterestingCupsSoccerOne TimeFever Author:Ian MacKaye
“I don't need any more avenues of communication, and frankly I think people are still working out to realize that it's just a tool[social media] rather than something that you have to do or participate in.” PeopleThinkingNeedsStillsSocialRealizingMediaCommunicationToolsWork OutSocial MediaAvenues Author:Ian MacKaye
“That's a Roman concept where the government can do anything, as long as you give the people "bread and circuses." And I'd say this culture right now is similar, as long as people have money, fun, and food, our government can do heinous, heinous things.” PeopleThinkingGivingLongGovernmentCultureFunCan DoRight NowConceptsBreadCircusBread And Circuses Author:Ian MacKaye
“I had a bartender friend once tell me about a $14.00 shot of vodka, this was years ago it's probably more now. I thought that was crazy. From what I understand, vodka has no taste. I think people like the taste of their money.” PeopleThinkingYearsCrazyTasteShotsYears AgoVodkaBartender Author:Ian MacKaye
“I don't think it's an ethical or moral issue, or even that people are stupid, but I do feel like as a culture things are out of balance, perverted, and inverted. Things that are ridiculous are worshipped, and things that are important are ridiculed. I think that's something worth thinking about.” PeopleThinkingFeelsImportantCultureMoralIssuesStupidBalanceRidiculousEthicalMoral IssuesInverted Author:Ian MacKaye
“All we wanted to do was to make live records all available. For us, the idea is to make it all available and let people decide which ones they like better. It's not for us to decide. We don't care about that. What we're interested in is the idea that we made these recordings, and they're not doing anybody a damn bit of good sitting in a closet.” PeopleCare Author:Ian MacKaye
“I'm all for file sharing. That's great - as long as people are prepared for the significant consequences. One is that music will become completely couched in advertising. That's already happened. And another is that people should be prepared to have fun with the past because the only music that can possibly be free is the music that's from the past. It costs money to make music. And if people are prepared to only have the past to listen to, then let it be free.” PeopleLongPastFunConsequenceSignificantAdvertisingHaving FunBe Prepared Author:Ian MacKaye
“If people want new music then they are going to have to figure out a way to be patrons of the arts. And they will.” PeopleArtPatron Author:Ian MacKaye
“In the 90s, there was a yahoo factor where there would be 50 people crowd surfing at one time! It was insane, and it had nothing to do with the music.” PeopleInsaneSurfing Author:Ian MacKaye
“One aspect of our site that I really appreciate is how I put up as much information as I've been able to keep track of: dates, the venue, the city, the country, the number of people there, the door price, opening bands, that sort of thing. One of the very first comments we had was from a guy who said, "By the way, the opening band in Albany in 1993 was not the Very Nice Neighbors, it was the Very Pleasant Neighbors." That brought a great joy to me.” PeopleCountryJoyGuyNiceAppreciateTrackNeighborCommentVery Nice Author:Ian MacKaye
“I always appreciate when people save, and more importantly, share. As we speak, there are people in this world - mostly men - who have giant collections of recordings that no one will ever hear. And the value of that collection is almost defined by the fact that nobody else can hear it.” PeopleMenWorldValuesSpeakShareAppreciate Author:Ian MacKaye
“You can hear a real shift. You listen to the late 80s recordings, you'll hear us engaging with the audience, dealing with the issues surrounding punk shows at the time. Back then, people thought you had to be a skinhead and beat the crap out of everybody when you went to a punk show. Come the early 90s, when you had this so-called grunge stuff and when videos became so dominant, you had this totally huge shift in the culture of shows.” PeopleRealCultureAudiencePunkCrapGrunge Author:Ian MacKaye
“One of my friends was a stage hand at a Bob Dylan show in the mid-90s and I remember him telling me that somebody crowd surfed during the gig. And this friend of mine was an old punk rock guy - he was totally humiliated by it. But some of Bob's people were there and they said, "Oh, Bob will be so excited! This is the kind of energy we want at his shows." That's where the old school was at.” PeopleKindSchoolRememberGuyEnergyExcitedPunkDylanPunk RockOld SchoolHumiliated Author:Ian MacKaye
“In the late 90s, there was a reverse. Everyone would stand stock still and be so attentive and quiet. But then, it was almost like, "C'mon people! Engage - make a show with us!" You can hear these different eras pass through in the recordings.” PeopleDifferentQuiet Author:Ian MacKaye
“1991 for some people was a significant year in terms of punk rock. It was the year "punk broke".” PeopleTermSignificantBrokePunkPunk Rock Author:Ian MacKaye
“What people don't understand is that the underground that existed was created in the early 80s and was thriving throughout the 80s. Until the industry showed up it was a pretty significant network. It was all happening, but the smell of money had not wafted up high enough for the industry. It wasn't really until they came descending on Seattle that things really got out of control.” PeopleEnoughSignificant Author:Ian MacKaye
“I put my name on that Occupy Musicians list because someone wrote to me and said, "Would you do this?" I said, "Yeah sure, I support this." What artist wouldn't support that? What's the big deal? But then people wrote to me, "Wow! You're on that list!" And I'm like, "Who isn't on that list?" That would be more shocking.” PeopleArtistSupportMusician Author:Ian MacKaye
“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
“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
“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
“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
