Ian MacKaye Quotes

An unlocked door means that, occasionally, you might get a devil come in, but a locked door means you have thousands of angels just walk by.

If You Want To Rebel Against Society, Don’t Dull The Blade

I just have work to do; I just do it.

It's so interesting that humanity has to be defined by emotional strife or something. I don't buy into that.

I never imagine myself as anything. I've never had a goal or any future vision at all. I just do what's in front of me.

The American underground punk scene, though, is a story worth remembering.

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

I'd much rather talk to a 30-year old that survived rough times in their lives [practicing Straight Edge] rather than someone that was harmed by a culture of violence.

Major labels didn't start showing up really until they smelled money, and that's all they're ever going to be attracted to is money-that's the business they're in- making money.

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

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.

Record labels have enjoyed a 100-year monopoly of selling plastic and now they're up against a different format.

The only thing that drives music is the people who are making it.

People will say "You must miss playing to a thousand people." But I don't. I might miss playing. That's what I would miss, but I don't miss it, because I am playing.

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.

I jump from one thing to the next but try and strike a balance. But it's not nostalgic in the sense of 'those were the good old days and now we're not there'. I don't think like that. Not my way.

I've always been a bit of a documentarian.

What does bother me is that I have to spend time and energy dealing with the ramifications of what people do think about me.

Bars are meeting places and places to unwind. But at some point, what is culture unwinding from, and why can't they meet anywhere else?

1991 for some people was a significant year in terms of punk rock. It was the year "punk broke".

I think it's my nature to engage in things that are more difficult.

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.

I do not consider myself a teddybear. Just to be clear, I don't feel sorry for myself.

It's just hard to have a nuanced discussion with like a thousand people, 30 of which are white-power skinheads.

I have other projects to do. I try not to let that documentation interfere with my present day.

As far as the bands that are reforming now, it's always nice to see old friends and hear some of those great songs, but it's just not our thing.

In the 90s, there was a yahoo factor where there would be 50 people crowd surfing at one time! It was insane, and it had nothing to do with the music.

As hard as you try and create narratives about sports, once the ball is in the air, there's not a damn thing you can do about it, it's just very real.

Ultimately, if circumstances line-up in a way that makes it possible for Fugazi to play and the desire was there, we would do that.

I stand behind all the lyrics I've ever written; I don't have a problem with that.

I'm basically in every band I ever was in, and the songs, I still mean them all. I don't take anything back, so I do look after them to some degree. But my main focus is on what I'm doing now.

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.

For most people who have or who do identify as or with [song] Straight Edge, I feel like for most people, they're just trying to do the right thing.

I don't watch TV but occasionally I'll read the Washington Post. I will say that sports are the only "real thing" on television.

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.

Now anyone can move anywhere. I've made deep connections with people around the world since I tour everywhere that I will simply never see again.

You had bands like D.O.A., or Black Flag, and a whole network opened up to trailblazer a counter culture movement. I'm more interested in the less sensational type of stories.

There's also a lot of skateboard stuff, because I was a skateboarder. Somewhere around here I have one of my original boards.

The archiving industry, much like the funeral industry and the wedding industry, these industries can be very exploitative.

I consider the piano my 'main' instrument and have been playing for as long as I can remember. It seems to me that I might have come up with something resembling a song as early as 4 or 5 years old.

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.

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.

I appreciate the past, but I want to make new things. That's the problem with the sack on the back - if you carry it around with you, it's like you get hobbled.

It makes me sad, the way human beings talk smack. It's why I don't like irony. People are too gleeful to put some teeth into something.

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.

I have thousands of tapes, and photos and fliers, letters, posters, artwork - basically everything that ever happened, I kept. I'm not a hoarder, though. I'm sort of a librarian.

Ultimately, I know what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. I'm trying to be a construction worker. I'm trying to make things. If people are not interested in that, fine. I just don't give a damn.

Why do we celebrate the opening of a bar so much?

My humor is very dry. To me it doesn't make sense.

Structures can be manipulated for ill as well, especially when people are dealing with issues of power, or control, or violence.