Quote

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.

Ian MacKaye

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Ian MacKaye
Age: 62
Born: 1962
Born: April 16
Composer
Guitarist
Singer
Washington
District of Columbia
Knowing
Dollar
Song
Wrote
Given
Dollars
Kids
Choice
Ever
Listening
Every
Either
Years
Heard
Choices

More quotes by Ian MacKaye

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Trenchmouth, really great band. Here's a photo of them in 1979 playing the Valley Green projects. It was an incredible, unusual experience. We ran a cord through the window and plugged the PA and amps into that and played right in the courtyard. It was an incredible experience. It was just local kids.
Ian MacKaye
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The first time I ever recorded, which was into my boom-box, I was like, 'Wow, check that out.' It sounded great. The narcotic of it was so intense - it was pleasurable. I was like, 'You sound like a band.' Then I ended up spending the rest of my life trying to chase that initial high again.
Ian MacKaye
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Record labels have enjoyed a 100-year monopoly of selling plastic and now they're up against a different format.
Ian MacKaye
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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.
Ian MacKaye
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Why do we celebrate the opening of a bar so much?
Ian MacKaye
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When you're in a band and write a song on your own, it isn't fully realized until it goes into somebody else's ears.
Ian MacKaye
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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.
Ian MacKaye
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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.
Ian MacKaye
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We were not a band that typically would say, Hello, Whatever Town!
Ian MacKaye
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First of all, [St. Stephen's] is a radical church. It was one of the first DC churches to have gay ceremonies. A woman said mass there, which almost got a priest excommunicated there Black Panthers spoke at the church it was a sanctuary for civil rights protesters and anti-war protesters.
Ian MacKaye
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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.
Ian MacKaye
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I was into Ted Nugent, I was a Nugent guy. I was a skateboarder listening to Ted Nugent.
Ian MacKaye
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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.
Ian MacKaye
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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.
Ian MacKaye
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We had punks literally protesting Fugazi. I respect a boycott. I respect a conscionable boycott, but of all bands to boycott? Fight crime. If you really want to get out there, go fight crime.
Ian MacKaye
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We play loud electric guitar music, and we'd hope that that doesn't mean you have to act like an asshole.
Ian MacKaye
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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.
Ian MacKaye
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There's also a lot of skateboard stuff, because I was a skateboarder. Somewhere around here I have one of my original boards.
Ian MacKaye
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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.
Ian MacKaye
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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.
Ian MacKaye