Quotes by

Ian MacKaye

There are many things that people do happily that I cant imagine why they would do it… But I have to say that even though I am critical or judgmental of society at large, Im not critical of people individually. We are who we are. – Ian MacKaye

My focus is always on the day. What Ive done behind me, I try to have respect for it, and keep an eye on it, and make sure it isnt abused, and obviously be thoughtful about it, because its all real to me. Im basically in every band I ever was in, and the songs, I still mean them all. – Ian MacKaye

Im not a religious person, and Im 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

Im always happy when I hear about people selling records or selling books or selling movies. It makes me proud of them. – Ian MacKaye

I dont dismiss the music that I was involved with, I dont think it was a joke, I dont think it was funny or a phase, I dont think it was just something I was doing back then, to me it was who I am. It connects all the way through. I dont distance myself from any of it. – Ian MacKaye

With Napster and the sharing of music, of course, there are going to be people who exploit it. Greed has no end. But theres a lot of good that could happen. We shouldnt let the economic concerns of the major labels infringe on our freedom to share music. – Ian MacKaye

Im really anti-option, so computers have been my nightmare with recording. I dont want endless tracks I want less tracks. I want decisions to be made. – Ian MacKaye

Major labels didnt start showing up really until they smelled money, and thats all theyre ever going to be attracted to is money-thats the business theyre in- making money. – Ian MacKaye

I do feel like I have always, in my life, been inclined to be on the outside, walk a different path or something. Because of that, and increasingly over the years, my sense of distance from mainstream society or from the way culture works, I have a different kind of perception of it. – Ian MacKaye

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