Ian MacKaye Quotes

• I was into Ted Nugent, I was a Nugent guy. I was a skateboarder listening to Ted Nugent.

  Ian MacKaye

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Listening, Guy

• 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.

  Ian MacKaye

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Think

• I’m always happy when I hear about people selling records or selling books or selling movies. It makes me proud of them.

  Ian MacKaye

  Topics in Movies

  Tags in People, Happy, Proud

• I’m not a religious person, and I’m not too interested in being a part of a religion, but I do like having some sort of communal gathering, and having some sense of peoples.

  Ian MacKaye

  Topics in Religion

  Tags in Interested, Religions

• I’m really anti-option, so computers have been my nightmare with recording. I don’t want endless tracks; I want less tracks. I want decisions to be made.

  Ian MacKaye

  Topics in Decisions

  Tags in Endless, Made

• I’ve always been a bit of a documentarian.

  Ian MacKaye

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Been, Always

• I’ve done thousands of interviews in my life, and it’s a format that I quite enjoy, because I think of questions in interviews as an opportunity to sort of gauge my growth in a way. It gives me an idea of how I’m navigating this world that I’m in.

  Ian MacKaye

  Topics in Opportunity

  Tags in Think, Questions, Idea

• 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.

  Ian MacKaye

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in People, Popular, Impossible

• Minor Threat was an important band, believe me that it was important it in my life, but it belongs to an era that no longer exists. I’m not nostalgic. I think music today is much more important, because something can be done about it.

  Ian MacKaye

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Music, Important, Something

• My focus is always on the day. What I’ve done behind me, I try to have respect for it, and keep an eye on it, and make sure it isn’t abused, and obviously be thoughtful about it, because it’s all real to me. I’m basically in every band I ever was in, and the songs, I still mean them all.

  Ian MacKaye

  Topics in Respect

  Tags in Thoughtful, Obviously

• 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.

  Ian MacKaye

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in People, Person, Things, Thinking

• Part of the way the work world works is not so much creating a separation between your work and your free time, but creating the illusion of a separation between your work and your free time. Every day is the weekend for me, which means I’m always busy.

  Ian MacKaye

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Creating, Illusion, Means

• 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

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Great, Recorded, Again, Trying

• 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.

  Ian MacKaye

  Topics in Money

  Tags in People, Fact, Gifts

• To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.

  Ian MacKaye

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Music, Sale

• Ultimately, I’m not the most prolific person, but I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I keep on putting out music. The only thing that drives music is the people who are making it.

  Ian MacKaye

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Music, Person, Making

• What I find interesting as a 40-year-old is the idea of trying to be a part of a pronounced, continuing independent culture. The basic tenet of America is that you rebel and then you get real.

  Ian MacKaye

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Interesting, Independent

• When children start to speak they find their own voice by imitating the sounds around them. It would follow that bands do the same. Bands will find their own voice at some point.

  Ian MacKaye

  Topics in Children

  Tags in Find, Sound

• 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

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in People, Good, Free

• 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.

  Ian MacKaye

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Music, Freedom, Happen

Ian MacKaye (40)

Birth:	16th April, 1962
Nationality:	American
Profession:	Musician

About

Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, label owner, and producer. Active since 1979, MacKaye is best known for being the frontman of the influential hardcore punk bands Minor Threat, the post-hardcore bands Embrace and Fugazi, as well as The Evens, and member of The Teen Idles, . He is a co-founder and owner of Dischord Records, a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label.

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