They Said...What?
The Top 19 Rock Quotes of 2002!
by Gail Worley
You have to be dead from the neck up to ignore the blatant fact that commercial radio these days is nothing more than a shitload of "modern rock" cliches. Even worse, it's a shitload of modern rock cliches assembled in cliche ways! But this article has nothing to do with modern rock radio or even my favorite records of 2002 -- none of which, by they way, got any modern rock radio airplay. No, instead, as I did last year, I’m all about sharing with you some bright spots of the thousands of interviews I did this year with many fabulous Rock Stars. Because Rock Stars rule and we should all emulate them and heed their advice and words of wisdom. And fewer than half of these quotes are from drummers, so don't even start with me on that one, OK?
1. Gavin Harrison
"The first night I ever saw Iggy Pop play live was when I was sitting on the drums behind him. The first show we played, he went to the front of the stage, turned around and looked at me, and ran straight towards the kit. I thought,"Oh shit!" He put his foot on the front of my bass drum and went straight over my head! I spent the first few gigs just laughing and giggling at how amazing he is on stage. Even back then he must have been quite old, but he’s running around like he’s 15 years old ! I sort of became a fan as the gigs went on and I was watching him. He was different every night."
-- Porcupine Tree drummer recalls what it was like playing with Iggy Pop on the Blah Blah Blah tour.
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| courtesy www.porcupinetree.com |
| Porcupine Tree |
2. Bill Rieflin
"I’m not really candid, but I’m good at giving the appearance of being candid."
-- Beloved Drum Mercenary (KMFDM, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails) gives one of his typical smart ass answers.
3. Brian Levy
"I love Keith Moon and I didn’t really start to appreciate The Who until just a couple of years ago. We actually do a really cool version of 'Baba O’Reilly' live. It’s probably the highlight of the show, for me. If The Who was on Earth, Keith Moon was on another planet. He sounds like he was just going for it. He was awesome."
-- Portable drummer on heavy influences.
4. Titiyo
"When I was small they were, you know, taking up my whole head."
-- Swedish R&B singer responds to the statement that she has "The hugest brown eyes."
5. Mark Zonder
"Seven or eight years ago, Fates Warning did this Christmas Metalfest in Europe with Manowar. I’ve seen a lot of concerts in my day, and I have to say I’ve never seen a band play where the actual arena sweats. I swear to god, I put my hand on a handrail, and it was wet. I’ve seen all the big bands, and I have never seen a band have such frenzied audience in that way. As much as there were five bands on the bill or whatever, people were there to see Manowar."
-- Fates Warning drummer ponders the fact that, while "other bands play, Manowar kills."
6. Joey Jordison
"I wrote that whole song -- all the music -- by myself while I was watching "Bugs Bunny." It just came to me. It’s one riff throughout the whole song. That song -- the title track -- is my favorite on Iowa."
-- Slipknot’s drummer reveals his source of inspiration.
7. Al Jourgenson
"Finally it came time for the introduction, OK? I got a little bit of the devil, or something, in me. After the basic, 'Steven Spielberg, this is Al Jourgenson. Hi how, ya doin’?' I was like, 'Look Mr. Spielberg, we can’t do this movie. We were under the impression that this AI was a porno movie and it’s short for Anal Intruder and... we can’t do this.' He didn’t get the joke at first. He went running off with his handlers pretty fast, with me chasing after him going, 'Joke! Joke! Just a joke...' Everyday there was a new [thing that] AI [stood for], like, Anal Incest or Animal Indecency. AI became many things to us."
-- Ministry’s puckish front man is such a joker!
8. Neal Smith
"That was when, I think, anything we’d ever dreamed about was surpassed. You can have dreams, you can be focused and you can do things, but when you go beyond that dream, that’s what happened on the Billion Dollar Babies tour."
-- Alice Cooper drummer remembers the glory days of Rock & Roll!
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| Jen Lato | |
| Sum 41 |
"When people ask you, ‘So, do you like Rush?'"
-- Sum 41 drummer reveals the worst thing about being a Canadian rock band.
10. Dave "Brownsound" Baksh
"I like the color red. The first time I ever masturbated was to Madonna’s 'Material Girl' video. There’s a lot of red in that."
-- Sum 41 guitarist reveals his secret fetish.
11. Deryck "Bizzy D" Whibley
"It was a rash."
-- Sum 41 vocalist reveals the inspiration behind the title of the band’s latest CD, Does This Look Infected?
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| courtesy www.butchwalker.com |
| Butch Walker |
12. Butch Walker
"Those are the lyrics that make me laugh. Maybe that’s wrong, because I understand that a lot of people get into and relate to [those songs], and that’s cool. But, I mean, to me it sounds like nursery rhymes with leather pants on."
-- Butch Walker (solo artist, former Marvelous 3) on Scott Stapp (Creed)’s songwriting.
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| courtesy www.andydick.com | |
| Andy Dick |
"It’s either love or hate. Sometimes she loves it -- ‘cause I run into her -- and sometimes she’s like ‘Stop impersonating me!!’ I’m like, ‘I’m not impersonating you, it’s a tribute to you!’ [The character] is not even related to her; Daphne claims to be Christina’s mother’s cousin’s sister’s best friend’s neighbor. She doesn’t even claim to be a real Aguilera!"
-- Andy Dick on what Christina Aguilera thinks of his impersonation of her.
14. Johnny Marr
"I’ve never had a problem with his lyrics, and they’re completely nonsensical. So, I figure if I can use him as a yardstick, then I’m okay."
-- Former Smiths guitarist cites T. Rex’s Marc Bolan as an extreme example of the dual meaning of song lyrics.
15. Paul Barker
"We threatened to kick his ass and take his tickets to go see Radiohead. They played, like, two shows in the United States, and L.A. was one of them. He had tickets to that show."
-- Ministry guitarist on how he and Al persuaded actor Jude Law to hang out with them on the set of the film AI.
16. Scott Stevens
"I put so much peanut butter on their [tour bus] windows that they could not get it off. I remember they were freaking out. They were like, "You fucker!" [laughs] I used a whole jar of Jif.
-- Exies’s vocalist on random tour bus pranks played on The Nixons
17. Ray Luzier
"Believe me, even on the shoot no one knew what they were doing. It was like ‘Get the triplets in the jacuzzi!’ or ‘Get the midgets in wet suits and put them here!’ or ‘Why are we in this make up and why do we have these outfits on? I don't know!’"
-- DLR Band drummer on the making of the video David Lee Roth’s No Holds Bar-B-Que.
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| courtesy www.gogos.com |
| The Go-Go's |
18. Gina Schock
"Well, after we’ve been out on tour together, we all get our periods at the same time, absolutely."
-- Go Go’s drummer on the challenges inherent in being in a band comprised of all women.
19. Chan Marshall
"That’s why anybody, when they’re singing to themselves, they feel like the girl in that commercial, where she’s washing her hair and she’s going 'Ooh, ahh...' and she feels so loose. That’s a really nice feeling. You know they wanted to put that 's' in there."
-- One-woman force behind Cat Power compares the experience of performing live to the shampoo commercial with the highly suggestive slogan. 
