Rock music Quotes: Rock music has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, a style heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music. It also drew strongly from a number of other genres such as electric blues and folk, incorporating elements of jazz, classical, and other musical styles.
20 quotes about rock music from musicians, critics, celebrities and other figures
- “Rock ‘n’ roll is about music. Music. Music. Music. It’s not about you, it’s not about me, it’s not about Oasis. It’s about the tunes.” – Noel Gallagher, Oasis
- “Rock and roll music, if you like it, if you feel it, you can’t help but move to it. That’s what happens to me. I can’t help it.” – Elvis Presley
- “Rock ‘n’ roll might not solve your problems, but it does let you dance all over them.” – Pete Townshend, The Who
- “Rock music is important to people because it allows them to escape this crazy world. It allows them not to run away from the problems that are there, but to face up to them, but at the same time sort of dance all over them. That’s what rock ‘n’ roll is about.” – Pete Townshend, The Who
- “Rock ‘n’ Roll: Music for the neck downwards.” – Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones
- “I believe every guitar player inherently has something unique about their playing. They just have to identify what makes them different and develop it.” – Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin
- “That’s what rock music is all about – people shouldn’t forget that.” – Angus Young, AC/DC
- “Rock and roll is about having a good time, so no matter where you are right now, blast some music and forget about life’s problems.” – Axl Rose, Guns N’ Roses
- “My goal is to be one with the music. I just dedicate my whole life to this art.” – Jimi Hendrix
- “I’d rather be dead than cool.” – Kurt Cobain, Nirvana
- “We believed that anything that was worth doing was worth overdoing.” – Steven Tyler, Aerosmith
- “Rock and roll is the soundtrack to our lives.” – Dick Clark
- “As they say, you have to love the dance of rock and roll. If you don’t love it, you don’t breathe. It’s as simple as that.” – Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones
- “Rock and roll started out as dance music, but somewhere along the way it lost its hips and became rhythmically simplistic.” – David Byrne, Talking Heads
- “Rock ‘n’ roll is a lifestyle and a way of thinking… and it’s not about money and popularity. Although, some money would be nice.” – Joan Jett
- “I believe in the power of rock and roll. It’s an important art form. It’s a science. It heals. It communicates.” – Lou Reed
- “All rock musicians are deaf… Or insensitive to mellow sounds.” – Marc Bolan
- “If rock ‘n’ roll is illegal, throw my ass in jail!” – Kurt Cobain, Nirvana
- “Rock music pays off. Rock music takes me on a joyride. Rock music keeps me off the hell city trail. Rock music will always look out for me.” – Tom Petty
- “Rock and roll keeps you in a constant state of juvenile delinquency.” – Eddie Spaghetti, The Supersuckers
- “Rock music is electronic music, dependent entirely on electronic circuitry and amplification.” – John Frusciante, Red Hot Chili Peppers
- “Rock and roll ain’t noise pollution. Rock and roll ain’t gonna die.” – AC/DC
- “Rock and Roll: Music for the body, the mind, and the soul.” – Sammy Hagar
- “If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry’.” – John Lennon, The Beatles
- “I love rock ‘n’ roll. I think it’s an exciting art form. It’s revolutionary.” – Lou Reed
- “In the high school halls, in the shopping malls, conform or be cast out.” – Rush
- “The great thing about rock and roll is that someone like me can be a star.” – Elton John
- “Rock and roll smells phony and false. It is sung, played, and written for the most part by cretinous goons.” – Frank Sinatra
- “To me, John Lennon and Elvis Presley were punks, because they made music that evoked those emotions in people.” – Joey Ramone, The Ramones
- “Rock and Roll is here to stay.” – Neil Young
- “I want to remind people that it’s fun to have a soul and to embody that which is you.” – Jack White, The White Stripes
- “You can’t stop rock and roll!” – Dee Snider, Twisted Sister
- “That’s the amazing thing about music: there’s a song for every emotion. Can you imagine a world with no music? It would suck.” – Eddie Van Halen, Van Halen
- “Rock and roll music – the music of freedom frightens people and unleashes all manner of conservative defense mechanisms.” – Salman Rushdie
- “The blues is the roots, the rest is the fruits.” – Willie Dixon
- “Music is for every single person that walks the planet.” – Robert Plant, Led Zeppelin
- “Rock and roll is an attitude, it’s not a musical form of a strict sort. It’s a way of doing things, of approaching things.” – Ice-T
- “For me, punk is about real feelings. It’s not about, ‘Yeah, I am a punk and I’m angry.’ That’s a lot of crap. It’s about loving the things that really matter: passion, heart, and soul.” – Joey Ramone, The Ramones
- “I like rock and roll. I don’t like much else.” – John Lennon, The Beatles
- “I think rock and roll is really the blues. They just forgot to mention that at the classes when I went to school for it.” – Bob Seger
- “I just go where the guitar takes me.” – Angus Young, AC/DC
- “Rock and roll is fun, it’s exciting, it’s thrilling. It’s the thing that makes you feel the most alive.” – Mick Jagger, The Rolling Stones
- “If it’s illegal to rock and roll, throw my ass in jail!” – Kurt Cobain, Nirvana
- “Music is the strongest form of magic.” – Marilyn Manson
- “I never practice my guitar… from time to time I just open the case and throw in a piece of raw meat.” – Wes Montgomery
- “Rock and roll is a nuclear blast of reality in a mundane world where no-one is allowed to be magnificent.” – Kim Fowley
- “We need role models who are going to break the mold.” – Courtney Love, Hole
- “If you don’t know the blues… there’s no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock and roll or any other form of popular music.” – Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones
- “Music is everybody’s possession. It’s only publishers who think that people own it.” – John Lennon, The Beatles
- “The blues is the roots, everything else is the fruits.” – Willie Dixon
- “Music doesn’t lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music.” – Jimi Hendrix
- “I just want to be a part of great stories that are told and for them to be relevant.” – Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam
- “People today are still living off the table scraps of the sixties. They are still being passed around – the music and the ideas.” – Bob Dylan
- “Rock and roll music is the main thing that helped shape our world today.” – Johnny Ramone, The Ramones
- “Rock and roll is freedom, it’s about as close as you can get to flying without wings.” – Joe Strummer, The Clash
- “Music should be your escape.” – Missy Elliott
- “If you think you are too old to rock ‘n roll, then you are.” – Lemmy Kilmister, Motörhead
- “The one thing that kept our family together was the music. The only thing that our family would share emotionally was to have our dad cry over something the kids did with music.” – Dennis Wilson, The Beach Boys
- “Music is the soundtrack to every good and bad time we will ever have.” – Alex Turner, Arctic Monkeys
- “Music is everybody’s business. It’s only the records that count.” – John Lennon, The Beatles
- “Rock ‘n’ roll accepted me and paid me, even though I loved the big bands… I went that way because I wanted a home of my own. I had a family. I had to raise them. Let’s don’t leave out the economics. No way.” – Chuck Berry
- “For me, the punk movement was actually a very important part of my life. Not so much the music but the punk ethos of DIY, do it yourself. There are no rules.” – Alan McGee
- “I love the way Pharell is, the way he is a rock star, whatever that is. And he’s a rapper. And he’s a drummer. You are what you say you are, and you are what you consistently prove to be.” – Lupe Fiasco
- “Rock ‘n’ Roll is a combination of good ideas dried up by fads, terrible junk, hideous failings in taste and judgment, gullibility and manipulation, moments of unbelievable clarity and invention, pleasure, fun, vulgarity, excess, novelty and utter enervation.” – Greil Marcus
- “Rock and roll is the hamburger that ate the world.” – Peter York
- “I don’t want to be a rock star. I don’t believe in rock stars. If you really examine what goes with being a rock star, I’ve avoided that really well.” – Bonnie Raitt
- “Punk rock should mean freedom, liking and accepting anything that you like. Playing whatever you want. As sloppy as you want. As long as it’s good and it has passion.” – Kurt Cobain, Nirvana
- “My definition of rock is that it’s a form of music that deals with a variety of subjects: personal experiences, political views, drug addiction, sex, school, spirits, … anything. The more variety of topics, the more you can relate to the music.” – Layne Staley, Alice In Chains
- “Rock music is the best form of art to influence people. It’s the best way to spread love. Hatred, too, unfortunately, but it’s usually about spreading love and good vibes.” – Caleb Followill, Kings of Leon
- “You have the sun, you have the moon, you have the air that you breathe – and you have the Rolling Stones!” – Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones
- “Rock ‘n’ roll is an attitude, it’s not a musical form of a strict sort. It’s a way of doing things, of approaching things.” – Lester Bangs
- “People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people – and that social norm is just something that has evolved over time.” – Mark Zuckerberg
- “Life sucks, but in a beautiful kind of way.” – Axl Rose, Guns N’ Roses
- “People love the electric music especially because of the beats. I mean, the beats are great, but the lyrics are important too.” – John Lydon, Sex Pistols
- “Music is moonlight in the gloomy night of life.” – Jean Paul
- “Rock and roll keeps you in a constant state of juvenile delinquency.” – Eddie Spaghetti
- “Every bad situation is a blues song waiting to happen.” – Amy Winehouse
- “Rock and roll is about attitude. You don’t have to play the best to be the best.” – Dave Mustaine, Megadeth
