"From Tangiers into the Rif Mountains to hear the piping and drumming and singing of the Master Musicians of Joujouka: 'The World’s Oldest Rock and Roll Band' ”
"Little Richard epitomized everything parents feared about rock and roll. His music was brash and deviate, a screaming rush of inchoate frenzy guaranteed to get teenage blood boiling."
"the self-proclaimed 'Queen of Rock 'n' Roll' who changed everything. The first musical icon to exclaim/proclaim the persona of ''bad nigger'' (greasy skin, greasy hair, loud), Richard was a sexual menace too (faggot in eyeliner; big faggot in stretch pants)"
“Dylan was afraid, that was for sure. But he wasn’t afraid of us, the audience. It was himself he feared — the process or going back over those songs which bore the pain of becoming Bob Dylan, the highs, the lows, all of that life.”
“Hendrix is unerring, his authority absolute. He had an off-night of his own Friday, but his off-nights are better than the best moments of most contemporary musicians. If he did make a mistake it would probably be the most exciting musical mistake of our time.”
"The Beasties are still bad — they get laid, they do drugs, they break laws, they laze around. But this time they know the difference between bad and evil.”
“Like other forms of ghetto street culture — graffiti, verbal dueling, rapping — breaking is a public arena for the flamboyant triumph of virility, wit, and skill. In short, of style.”
“When the celestial mood grips Prine the sky is thick with black angels, Jesus covers the waterfront, and God’s not in his heaven — he’s on the phone and won’t let well enough alone.”
