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Punk Quotes

On rebellion, identity, and growing up inside a subculture.

Several lines describe punk as something absorbed early, whether through a brief run playing in a DIY band or time spent around older musicians in the scene. Read more in our Music quotes.

Before I even started listening to rap music, I was really into metal and punk.

Quotes by Machine Gun Kelly

I always had influences musically with punk, and then growing up, I dyed my hair every color. I did the dip-dye blue, before anybody was dip-dyeing their hair. And streaks of pinks and purples and whatnot.

Quotes by Leigh Lezark

When I listen to most forms of music, in their most raw and pure, it all has a punk edge to me, like Lead Belly, Jimmie Rodgers, Otis Redding or Nirvana.

Quotes by Langhorne Slim

People can have their punk ideals, but I don't really care about that kind of thing.

Quotes by Kurt Vile

Jazz is more raw than punk in a lot of ways. It's so expressive. A lot of people say to me, especially older people, 'It took me ages to get into jazz.'

Quotes by King Krule

I'm a huge fan of sing-songy lyrics and loud guitars. Whatever punk band does that gets a gold star!

Quotes by Kim Shattuck

I just think that playing bass, like punk rock bass with a pick, wasn't meant to be done for 25 years.

Quotes by Kim Gordon

The jocks that used to stuff me into a locker when I was a punk rocker are my best buddies now.

Quotes by Jonathan Evison

I think punk rock needs an 'Amadeus.'

Quotes by John Ross Bowie

Punk was key to the early part of me playing guitar. I was really into melodic punk-rock. I related to punk more than Lynyrd Skynyrd or Yes or Van Halen.

Quotes by John Rzeznik

The one thing I got right was that I already looked like a punk when punk arrived.

Quotes by John Cooper Clarke

All punk is is attitude. That's what makes it. The attitude.

Quotes by Joey Ramone

Damien Hirst is the Elvis of the English art world, its ayatollah, deliverer, and big-thinking entrepreneurial potty-mouthed prophet and front man. Hirst synthesizes punk, Pop Art, Jeff Koons, Marcel Duchamp, Francis Bacon, and Catholicism.

Quotes by Jerry Saltz

The last true punk band to get a major label contract was The Dickies.

Quotes by Jello Biafra

I first conceived of my far-future setting 'Punktown' in 1980, and though it contains 'punk' in its name, the term 'cyberpunk' hadn't been coined yet. I took my inspiration strictly from punk music.

Quotes by Jeffrey Thomas

I'd been thinking I'd have to learn how to play really well, but obviously the message of punk was that you just learn three chords in a week and you're away.

Quotes by Jarvis Cocker

If I opened a record store, it wouldn't be all punk rock and esoterica.

Quotes by James Murphy

When I was growing up, it was a lot of punk and hardcore music going on in legion halls and firehouses, and we'd play those shows, and it was very Jersey. It was very suburban, and there's just a great...

Quotes by Jack Antonoff

I'm still secretly a bit of a punk. Love The Clash and a bit of the Pistols. I guess as I've got older I've chilled out a bit. But, my teenage angst is still stirring somewhere!

Quotes by Iwan Rheon

I was really into punk when I was about 14.

Quotes by Ian Brown

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does this Punk collection cover?
It's about punk as identity and upbringing rather than just a music genre — one speaker imagines being a punk artist if born in the '70s, while another describes their whole life as punk, full stop.
Does the collection include a specific music background?
Yes, one quote describes playing music with a parent from age 8 or 9, then playing shows, followed by a short stint in a DIY all-girl punk cover band — a concrete personal history rather than a general statement about the genre.
Why do people search for punk quotes?
They resonate with anyone who identifies with punk's attitude of independence and rebellion, whether through music or lifestyle. Related sound and scene references appear in Music quotes.
How does punk connect to hip-hop in this collection?
One speaker contrasts the two eras directly, saying they'd have been a punk artist in the '70s but were instead born into hip-hop — framing punk as one path among several shaped by the era someone grows up in.
Is punk treated as a music style or a broader culture here?
Both — the quotes move fluidly between the sound (bands, cover songs) and the wider culture of hanging out with punk rockers as a kid, suggesting the identity runs deeper than the music alone.

Others treat punk less as a genre and more as a defining identity that shapes an entire life. Explore Identity quotes for related themes.