Rock And Roll Quotes

“Even so, there were times I saw freshness and beauty. I could smell the air, and I really loved rock 'n' roll. Tears were warm, and girls were beautiful, like dreams. I liked movie theaters, the darkness and intimacy, and I liked the deep, sad summer nights.”
― Haruki Murakami, Dance Dance Dance

“If Music is a Place -- then Jazz is the City, Folk is the Wilderness, Rock is the Road, Classical is a Temple.”
― Vera Nazarian

“I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour, but heaven knows I'm miserable now.”
― Morrissey

“Girls have got balls. They're just a little higher up, that's all.”
― Joan Jett

“Some don’t even watch art with their eyes nor with their mind, but with their ears, ever since they judge art by the sound of money. (
“Money rocking and rolling”)”
― Erik Pevernagie

“And, baby, when you think of me
I hope it ruins rock 'n' roll
Regret me”
― Taylor Jenkins Reid, Daisy Jones & The Six

“Why would you want to be anything else if you're Mick Jagger?”
― Keith Richards, Life

“That's the beautiful thing about innocence; even monsters have a pocketful of childhood memories with which to seek comfort with.”
― Dave Matthes, Sleepeth Not, the Bastard

“There's something beautifully friendly and elevating about a bunch of guys playing music together. This wonderful little world that is unassailable. It's really teamwork, one guy supporting the others, and it's all for one purpose, and there's no flies in the ointment, for a while. And nobody conducting, it's all up to you. It's really jazz__that's the big secret. Rock and roll ain't nothing but jazz with a hard backbeat.”
― Keith Richards, Life

“Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of production and trade...”
― Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

“Shall I tell you what rock and roll is, Johnno, from someone who doesn't perform, but observes?
It's restless and rude. It's defiant and daring. It's a fist shaken at age. It's a voice that often screams out questions because the answers are always changing. The very young play it because they're searching for some way to express their anger or joy, their confusion and their dreams. Once in a while, and only once in a while, someone comes along who truly understands, who has the gift to transfer all those needs and emotions into music.”
― Nora Roberts, Public Secrets

“We feared that the music which had given us sustenance was in danger of spiritual starvation. We feared it losing its sense of purpose, we feared it falling into fattened hands, we feared it floundering in a mire of spectacle, finance, and vapid technical complexity. We would call forth in our minds the image of Paul Revere, riding through the American night, petitioning the people to wake up, to take up arms. We too would take up arms, the arms of our generation, the electric guitar and the microphone.”
― Patti Smith, Just Kids

“From this moment on I'd dedicate my life to rock and roll and take as many drugs as possible. What could possibly go wrong?”
― Craig Ferguson, American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot

“Jazz presumes that it would be nice if the four of us--simpatico dudes that we are--while playing this complicated song together, might somehow be free and autonomous as well. Tragically, this never quite works out. At best, we can only be free one or two at a time--while the other dudes hold onto the wire. Which is not to say that no one has tried to dispense with wires. Many have, and sometimes it works--but it doesn't feel like jazz when it does. The music simply drifts away into the stratosphere of formal dialectic, beyond our social concerns.

Rock-and-roll, on the other hand, presumes that the four of us--as damaged and anti-social as we are--might possibly get it to-fucking-gether, man, and play this simple song. And play it right, okay? Just this once, in tune and on the beat. But we can't. The song's too simple, and we're too complicated and too excited. We try like hell, but the guitars distort, the intonation bends, and the beat just moves, imperceptibly, against our formal expectations, whetehr we want it to or not. Just because we're breathing, man. Thus, in the process of trying to play this very simple song together, we create this hurricane of noise, this infinitely complicated, fractal filigree of delicate distinctions.

And you can thank the wanking eighties, if you wish, and digital sequencers, too, for proving to everyone that technologically "perfect" rock--like "free" jazz--sucks rockets. Because order sucks. I mean, look at the Stones. Keith Richards is always on top of the beat, and Bill Wyman, until he quit, was always behind it, because Richards is leading the band and Charlie Watts is listening to him and Wyman is listening to Watts. So the beat is sliding on those tiny neural lapses, not so you can tell, of course, but so you can feel it in your stomach. And the intonation is wavering, too, with the pulse in the finger on the amplified string. This is the delicacy of rock-and-roll, the bodily rhetoric of tiny increments, necessary imperfections, and contingent community. And it has its virtues, because jazz only works if we're trying to be free and are, in fact, together. Rock-and-roll works because we're all a bunch of flakes. That's something you can depend on, and a good thing too, because in the twentieth century, that's all there is: jazz and rock-and-roll. The rest is term papers and advertising.”
― Dave Hickey, Air Guitar: Essays on Art & Democracy

“We imagined ourselves as the Sons of Liberty with a mission to preserve, protect, and project the revolutionary spirit of rock and roll. We feared that the music which had given us sustenance was in danger of spiritual starvation. We feared it losing its sense of purpose, we feared it falling into fattened hands, we feared it floundering in a mire of spectacle, finance, and vapid technical complexity.”
― Patti Smith, Just Kids

“As soon as you start talking about mystique, you have none.”
― Neil Young

“You can take and nail two sticks together like they've never been nailed together before and some fool will buy it.”
― George Carlin, Watch My Language

“Jane reminds us that God is in his heaven, the monarch on his throne and the pelvis firmly beneath the ribcage. Apparently rock and roll liberated the pelvis and it hasn't been the same since.”
― Emma Thompson, The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries: Bringing Jane Austen's Novel to Film

“If you don't like it, Eat me.”
― Rae Murphy, Reconsider Me: My Life And Times With Warren Zevon

“It's theology. Were you expecting sex, drugs, and rock and roll?"
"One out of the three would be nice.”
― Katie Henry, Heretics Anonymous

“Someone has likened prayer to being on a rough sea in a small boat with no oars. All you have is a rope that, somewhere in the distance, is attached to the port. With that rope you can pull yourself closer to God. Songs are my prayers.”
― Bono, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story

“He recovered quickly, reaching out to touch a few outstretched hands, melting the front row of girls like one long stick of butter as he moved closer toward me.”
― Emme Rollins, Dear Rockstar

“If I've got a Dad, and his name is Wormwood Rot, and he's in some heavy metal rock band called Grave Dirt . . . then I'm definitely meeting him!
She stares at me awkwardly, and I'm about to ask again—maybe even insist—when she says, "Honey, why do you think he's on the news? Wormwood, I mean . . . your father? Becca, he's . . . dead.”
― Rusty Fischer, Becca Bloom and the Drumsticks of Doom: A Heavy Metal Love Story

“The nose can’t help catchin’ what the ears get sick with. Yessir, rock bands just sweat evil. Evil’s been around for a long time, ever since rocks started getting real hot and making a lot of noise as they exploded out o’ the ground and evil spirits wisped out of hell. If a band ever uses a fog machine, hold your breath so you don’t become possessed by one.”
― M.C. Humphreys

“Time collapsed into a delicate dark pencil brushed against our
eyebrows, the emergent rumble of crowds gathering above our heads. We
slid into our costumes. Pirate, outlaw, futuristic rebels. Red,
purple, gold. Chains hanging from our belts, tight black trousers. We
were moved upstairs, closer to the stage. Finally, we heard the
cannon's roar: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome... Tanzar
recording artists... THE MASTER PLANETS!" The world shot forward. We
stepped into the spotlight.”
― Donald Gallinger

“We needed something to nurture, and they needed nurturing. Constant attention made you need it even more. The band never learned to be alone and neither did we. But if they were starved for attention and we were, too, didn't we make a perfect pair?”
― Sarah Priscus, Groupies

“There was a quiet period before the trial, similar to the deadening silence when birds know a raptor is in their midst. At first, the imminent trial was on the horizon; then it disappeared for more than a year.”
― Phillip B. Chute, Rock & Roll Murders

“For me, making a record is like building a ship in a bottle. Playing live music is like being in a rowboat in the ocean.”
― Jerry Garcia, quoted by William Plummer in "The Holy Goof: A Biography of Neal Cassady", p. 144h

“Joan Joyce is the real deal, a fierce competitor and one of the greatest athletes and coaches in sports history. Tony Renzoni’s moving tribute to Joan shows us why she is a champion in sports and in life.
—Billie Jean King, sports icon and equality pioneer

The story is all true. Joan Joyce was a tremendous pitcher, as talented as anyone who ever played. [responding to a newspaper account of his early 1960s match-ups against Joan Joyce]
—Ted Williams, Hall of Famer and Boston Red Sox great, December 30, 1999

Joan Joyce is truly the greatest female athlete in sports history. And a great coach as well. Tony Renzoni’s well-researched book is a touching tribute to this phenomenal athlete. I highly recommend this book!
—Bobby Valentine, former MLB player and manager

Quotes for Historic Connecticut Music Venues: From the Coliseum to the Shaboo:

I would like to thank Tony Renzoni for giving me the opportunity to write the foreword to his wonderful book. I highly recommend Connecticut Music Venues: From the Coliseum to Shaboo to music lovers everywhere!
—Felix Cavaliere, Legendary Hall of Famer (Young Rascals/Rascals, Solo)

As the promoter of the concerts in many of the music venues in this book, I hope you enjoy
living the special memories this book will give you.
—Jim Koplik, Live Nation president, Connecticut and Upstate New York

Tony Renzoni has captured the soul and spirit of decades of the Connecticut live music scene, from the wild and wooly perspective of the music venues that housed it. A great read!
—Christine Ohlman, the “Beehive Queen,” recording artist/songwriter

Tony Renzoni has written a very thoughtful and well-researched tribute to the artists of Connecticut, and we are proud to have Gene included among them.
—Lynne Pitney, wife of Gene Pitney

Our Alice Cooper band recorded the Billion Dollars Babies album in a mansion in Greenwich. Over the years, there have been many great musicians from Connecticut, and the local scene is rich with good music. Tony Renzoni’s book captures all of that and more. Sit back and enjoy the ride.
—Dennis Dunaway, hall of famer and co-founder of the Alice Cooper band.

Rock ’n’ Roll music fans from coast to coast will connect to events in this book. Strongly recommended!
—Judith Fisher Freed, estate of Alan Freed”
― Tony Renzoni

“Always fight for what you believe in, unless it's pop music.”
― Jade Stone, Riot Radio