“Was my management style aggressive? I would say so. Call it what you like – as long as it works. If somebody had to be trod on, they got trod on. Too true.” - Peter Grant, Led Zeppelin manager extraordinaire, born this day in 1935.
"There was a time when I had the blues - I mean I really had it bad. I couldn't pay my light bill and I couldn't pay my rent and I really had the blues. But today I can pay my rent and I can pay the light bill and I still got the blues. So I must been born with 'em... That's my religion - the blues is my religion." - McKinley Morganfield (Muddy Waters) born this day in 1913.
"To be an artist is a blessing and a privilege. Artists must never betray their true hearts. Artists must look beneath the surface and show that there is more to this world than what meets the eye. Art is a way of possessing destiny." - Marvin Gaye, born this day in 1939.
"I'm sick to death of people saying we've made 11 albums that sounds exactly the same, in fact, we've made 12 albums that sound exactly the same." - Angus Young, born this day in 1955.
"I just tried to come up with some honest songs. I was writing about real plain stuff that I wasn't sure was going to be interesting to other people. I've never had any discipline whatsoever. I just wait on a song like I was waiting for lightning to strike. And eventually - usually sometime around 3 in the morning - I'll have a good idea. By the time the sun comes up, hopefully, I'll have a decent song." - John Prine
"You couldn't have fed the '50s into a computer and come out with the '60s. If you can remember anything about the '60s, you weren't really there." - Paul Kantner, born this day in 1941.
"I'm very interested in religion and different religions, and I know quite a lot about it. I love gospel music, and I love going to churches, but the one drawback is that I don't actually believe in God. And it is quite a handicap, you know." - Nick Lowe
"I am a ham. I've no business being rock 'n' roll. I've said it over and over again that I'm a classical composer, dishevelling my personality by dabbling in rock 'n' roll." - John Cale, born this day in 1942.
"I've never had a relationship with a record executive. I always went to the record company by someone that liked my playing. Then they would get fired, and I'd be left with the record company. And then - because they got fired - the record company wouldn't do anything for me. I wasn't so interested in being paid. I wanted to be heard. That's why I'm broke." - Ornette Coleman, born this day in 1930.
"I want them to play Britney Spears at my funeral. This way I won't feel so bad about being dead, and everyone there will know there is something worse than death." - Gary Numan
"I have great hope and faith, but it's a humanistic faith based in facts; you have to believe that facts exist. We can all arrive at the same facts if we engage in the process of experimentation, observation, and verification, which can solve more of the world's major problems than a debate over whether God does or doesn't exist." - Greg Graffin
"When I was 14, I used to have a calendar on my wall, crossing the days off until I was 15, because the school leaving age was 15. Then three months before I turned 15, they changed the leaving age to 16. When I was 18, the vision was to make music that didn't exist, because everything else was so unsatisfactory." - Mark E. Smith, born this day in 1957.