Rock Music Quotes
"Animal. He was pure primitive orange insanity, and he was my hero. He would go buck wild, play an awesome drum solo, and then eat his cymbals. The first time I saw Animal on The Muppet Show, I wanted to eat my cymbals. I wanted to be a drummer. I was four years old." - Travis Barker, Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums, Drums, Drums (2015)
Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums, Drums, Drums (2015) Review - Blink-182’s Travis Barker on Life, Loss, and Survival
There are rock memoirs that feel carefully edited, smoothed down, and sanded clean. This book doesn’t sand anything. It leaves the edges sharp and the wounds open. It’s the story of a kid from California who grew up and found salvation behind a drum kit, and somehow lived
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"I spent so much time in my room listening to my dubbed cassette tapes of the Monkees, the Beatles, and whatever other classic rock tapes my parents gave me. I loved all the early classics. In the eighties, Shell ran a promo where if you spent a certain dollar amount on gas, you would get a free cassette from a collection called 50s & 60s Solid Gold Hits. My parents always made sure to fill up enough to get me another tape from the collection." -Deryck Whibley, Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell (2024)
Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell (2024) Review - Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley and Surviving Pop-Punk Rock
There’s a moment in Walking Disaster where pop-punk rock band Sum 41’s frontman Deryck Whibley casually mentions that he nearly died — not in a “rock bottom” kind of way, but physically, clinically, repeatedly. And he doesn’t dress it up. No dramatic pause. Just the blunt reality of a
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"In the living room of his apartment, my Uncle Shant had a stereo with a bad-ass vinyl collection. Up until that point in my life, most of the music I’d heard had been from the records my dad played back in Beirut, which were predominantly Armenian and Arabic music. My uncle, though, was really into soul and R&B, so he had records by Stevie Wonder, the Jackson Five, Marvin Gaye, and Earth, Wind & Fire..." - Serj Tankian, Down with the System
Down with the System: A Memoir (of Sorts) Review: Serj Tankian’s Restless Mind Behind System of a Down
Serj Tankian has never fit into the standard rock-star mold. As the frontman of System of a Down, he helped create one of the most politically aggressive and musically unpredictable rock bands to break into the mainstream during the late 1990s and early 2000s. If you come to this book
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"I did like the Stones, but they were never anywhere near the Beatles – not for humour, not for originality, not for songs, not for presentation. All they had was Mick Jagger dancing about. Fair enough, the Stones made great records, but they were always shit on stage, whereas the Beatles were the gear." – Lemmy, White Line Fever
White Line Fever Review: Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister - A Life With No Apologies
White Line Fever delivered exactly what I expected. Chaotic, defiant, and unapologetically authentic. Lemmy Kilmister’s autobiography doesn’t bend toward redemption or reflection. It barrels forward with the same relentless velocity that defined his music. Founding and forging speed-metal into a cultural force, Lemmy tells his story the same
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"the music I was listening to, which was everything in my father’s collection from Roxy Music to Led Zeppelin to David Bowie, Alice Cooper, and the Who." - Anthony Kiedis, Scar Tissue
Scar Tissue Review: Anthony Kiedis, Addiction, and the Price of RHCP Fame
Few rock memoirs are as raw, unsettling, and unforgettable as Scar Tissue.
Anthony Kiedis’ autobiography strips away the mythology of rock stardom and replaces it with something far more uncomfortable—and maybe a little too honest. Like the band’s music, Scar Tissue is chaotic, vulnerable, and impossible to ignore.
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"When I was seven years old, my older stoner cousin gave me his copy of Rush’s magnum opus, 2112, to take back with me to Virginia after our yearly vacation in Chicago. At this point, I was pretty much sticking to my Beatles and KISS records, so Rush’s prog rock musicianship and mastery was a whole new world to my virgin ears."- Dave Grohl, The Storyteller
The Storyteller Review: Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters, and a Life Lived Loud
Some rock stars burn out. Some fade away.
Dave Grohl did neither. In The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music, Grohl doesn’t write a traditional rock memoir filled with a big ego, trying to settle a score or re-write history. Instead, he invites you to sit down, crack a
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"Our living room cabinet held a turntable and a big stack of records. I used to lie on the thick shag carpet for hours, listening to albums by the Beatles, Neil Diamond, Diana Ross, John Denver, and Michael Jackson (I can say that, right?). Elton John and Simon and Garfunkel. Stevie Wonder, Olivia Newton-John, and the Bee Gees. Donna Summer, Barry Manilow, and Kenny Rogers." - Mark Hoppus, Fahrenheit-182
Fahrenheit-182 Review: Mark Hoppus Grows Up, Looks Back on Blink-182, and Tells the Truth
I think for a lot of people, Blink-182 were a phase of life. For me, they were burned CDs, house parties, guitars, basements, garages, and hanging out with my friends. I see now, they were a band I blasted when I was too young to fully understand what adulthood would
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"It’s funny, people think ’cos I’m the Prince of Darkness, I must only listen to organ music while hanging upside down from the ceiling or something. But I love all kinds of music, me. When I was growing up, I was crazy about The Beatles." - Ozzy Osbourne, Last Rites
Last Rites Review: Ozzy Osbourne’s Quietest, Most Honest Book
When you pick up a book by Ozzy Osbourne, you kind of brace yourself. I expect some chaos. Some wild stories. That sense that he somehow survived things that most people don’t. This isn’t that book. Last Rites reads like Ozzy has finally stopped performing—even on the page.
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