Mike Katz - The Little Book of Rock and Roll Wisdom

An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Blvd., Ste. 200
Lanham, MD 20706
www.rowman.com

Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK

Copyright 2018 Mike Katz and Crispin Kott

Illustrations 2018 Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Katz, Mike, 1962- author. | Kott, Crispin, author. | Malmberg, Jason, illustrator.
Title: The little book of rock and roll wisdom / Mike Katz and Crispin Kott;
illustrations by Jason Malmberg.
Description: Guilford, Connecticut : Lyons Press, 2018.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018017589 | ISBN 9781493035618 (hardcover)
ISBN 9781493035625 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Rock music--Miscellanea. | Rock musicians--Quotations, maxims, etc. | Rock music--Humor.
Classification: LCC ML3534 .K38 2018 | DDC 781.66--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018017589

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

chapter one

Rock & Roll has a long association with the idea of rebellion, offending at various times parents, squares, older generations, and, perhaps most famously, the man. But while rebellion and revolution are through lines in Rock & Roll, rock stars rarely agree on how to fight the power, who the power even is, or where to draw inspiration from as they fight the good fightwhatever that is.

The Rock & Roll Wisdom Playlist

The BeatlesRevolution
The ClashKnow Your Rights
Jarvis CockerRunning the World
The Rolling StonesStreet Fighting Man
The Special A.K.A.Racist Friend

FRANK ZAPPA

PEOPLE ARE STUPID. THEY NEVER STOP TO QUESTION THINGS. THEY JUST ACCEPT. CAN YOU IMAGINE A NATION WHO NEVER QUESTIONS THE VALIDITY OF CHEERLEADERS AND POM-POMS?

Rolling Stone , October 12, 1968

MICK JAGGER THE ROLLING STONES

THE ONLY HANG UP IS THE FUZZ. NOW THATS A DRAG. ONCE YOU GET IN TROUBLE WITH THE POLICE, YOURE ALWAYS IN TROUBLE AND THATS IT. BEFORE, WE WERE NEVER IN TROUBLE AND THEY WERE ALWAYS VERY NICE TO US. THEY SHOULD BE LOOKING AFTER PEOPLE AND TURNING AMERICAN TOURISTS AWAY FROM PICCADILLY CIRCUS.

Rolling Stone , October 12, 1968

I AINT GONNA BE ANY CELLOPHANE SOCIALITE. THEY DONT GET ME IN ANY CELLOPHANE CAGE. NOBODY CAGES ME.

JIMI
HENDRIX

Hit Parader , November 1969

I THINK EVERYBODY WHO HAS A BRAIN SHOULD GET INVOLVED IN POLITICS. WORKING WITHIN. NOT CRITICIZING IT FROM THE OUTSIDE. BECOME AN ACTIVE PARTICIPANT, NO MATTER HOW FEEBLE YOU THINK THE EFFORT IS.

CASS ELLIOTT
THE MAMAS AND THE PAPAS

Rolling Stone , October 26, 1968

Pitchfork , March 16, 2017

I DONT BELIEVE IN FUCKING SHIT UP FROM THE INSIDE. THAT MEANS YOU HAVE ENOUGH FAITH IN THE SYSTEM THAT IT CAN BE PERFECTED IN SOME WAY. I DONT BELIEVE IN THAT SYSTEM, SO I DONT HAVE ANY PETULANT DESIRE TO TOY WITH OR ANTAGONIZE IT.

FATHER JOHN MISTY

Creem , September 1975

ESSENTIALLY, CITY ADMINISTRATIONS DONT LIKE ROCK & ROLL. AND THEY DONT LIKE ROCK & ROLL IN THEIR PARKS. AND THEY DONT LIKE PEOPLE CONGREGATING IN GROUPS OF MORE THAN THREE. THE WHOLE THING SCARES EM. THEYRE SCARED OF EIGHT MILLION PEOPLE AND ANOTHER ALTAMONT. THATS A CONVENIENT EXCUSE NOW. THEY START OFF SAYING NO, YOU CANT DO ONE AND YOU WORK IT FROM THERE.

PAUL KANTNER
JEFFERSON STARSHIP

JIM MORRISON
THE DOORS

I THINK YOUR POLITICS, YOUR RELIGION, YOUR PHILOSOPHY ARE NOT SO MUCH WHAT YOU SMOKE, WHAT YOU DRINK, WHAT YOU WEAR ... YOUR HAIR, YOUR FACE, WHAT YOUVE DONE. YOUR RELIGION OR YOUR POLITICS IS WHAT YOU DEVOTE THE MAJORITY OF YOUR TIME TO. NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS.

Rolling Stone , July 26, 1969

PAUL
SIMON

ALL THE MAIL THAT CAME INTO US WAS SCREAMING AT US: JUST SING WE LOVE THE WAY YOU SING BUT WERE NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR POLITICAL OPINION OR YOUR VIEW OF SOCIETY JUST SING. I USED TO SAY TO ARTIE ITS LIKE IF YOU DECIDED TO GO TO THE BATHROOM AND SOMEBODY SAID, DONT GO TO THE BATHROOM. JUST SING, THATS WHAT YOU DO. DONT DO ANYTHING ELSE. DONT MAKE BACON IN THE MORNING. YOURE NOT A BACON MAKER, YOU SING.

Rolling Stone , May 28, 1970

IVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING SOLVED BY VIOLENCE. HISTORY USUALLY COMES BACK TO WHERE IT ALL BEGAN; YOU EITHER LEARN TO ASSIMILATE OR EXTERMINATE, AND NOT JUST YOUR ENEMY, BUT YOURSELF.

JOHN
LYDON

Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs ,
St. Martins Press, 1993

I REALLY DONT LIKE VIOLENCE. I HATE FIGHTS, I AVOID THEM. IT JUST SEEMS SO STUPID IT REPELS ME. I UNDERSTAND BREAKING GUITARS ONSTAGE, I EVEN KICKED AN AMP TO DEATH MYSELF ONE NIGHT, BUT I DONT GET ANY THRILL OUT OF WITNESSING DESTRUCTION. ID RATHER SEE A GUY DO IT AS A JOKE THAN DO IT BECAUSE OF AN INABILITY TO CONTROL HIS TEMPER. A FRIEND OF MINE AND I TORE A TYPEWRITER TO BITS ONE NIGHT, BUT IT WAS OUT OF FUN. LIKE, WANNA SEE A KEY? ..RIP!