All quotes

“Mr. Pop is passionate. It's pretty obvious he's kind of a wild guy, but he has standards; he has a controlled madness, and this is what it's really all about.”

Debbie Harry on Iggy Pop Rolling Stone (interview by Elisabeth Garber-Paul) · 2020 Cited

“Sid's quite awkward and talks in spurts like he thinks it's stupid to have a point of view, but he's got to communicate, so he forces the words out.”

Viv Albertine on Sid Vicious Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys (Viv Albertine) · 2014 Cited

“All the things I'm so embarrassed about, John's made into virtues. He's unapologetic about who he is and where he comes from.”

Viv Albertine on John Lydon Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys (Viv Albertine) · 2014 Cited

“I really learned it was over the day we sacked Topper, and not the day we sacked Mick.”

Joe Strummer on Topper Headon, Mick Jones Los Angeles Times (interview by Richard Cromelin) · 1988 Cited

“I was trying to prove that I was the Clash and it wasn't [Mick (Jones)].”

Joe Strummer on Mick Jones Los Angeles Times (interview by Richard Cromelin) · 1988 Cited

“I learned from him that often contradiction is the clearest way to truth.”

Patti Smith on Robert Mapplethorpe Just Kids (Patti Smith, Ecco/HarperCollins) · 2010 Cited

“I thought to myself that he contained a whole universe that I had yet to know.”

Patti Smith on Robert Mapplethorpe Just Kids (Patti Smith, Ecco/HarperCollins) · 2010 Cited

“I been talking to him in my brain for 12 years, and now I don't have nothing to say to him.”

Patti Smith on Bob Dylan Rolling Stone (interview by Dave Marsh) · 1976 Cited

“Jim Morrison was trying to elevate the word; he was the poet in rock & roll before me.”

Patti Smith on Jim Morrison Rolling Stone (interview by Dave Marsh) · 1976 Cited

“John Lennon at his best despised cheap sentiment and had to learn the hard way that once you've made your mark on history those who can't will be so grateful they'll turn it into a cage for you.”

Lester Bangs on John Lennon The Village Voice, "Thinking the Unthinkable About John Lennon" · 1980 Cited

“The Clash are authentic because their music carries such brutal conviction, not because they're Noble Savages.”

Lester Bangs on The Clash New Musical Express (NME) · 1977 Cited

“The friendship was basically that this guy salvaged me from certain professional and maybe personal annihilation — simple as that.”

Iggy Pop on David Bowie The New York Times (interview by Jon Pareles) · 2016 Cited

“I don't know Johnny Rotten, but I'm sure, I'm sure he puts as much blood and sweat into what he does as Sigmund Freud did.”

Iggy Pop on John Lydon CBC, 90 Minutes Live (interview by Peter Gzowski) · 1977 Cited

“He said, "Why don't you write a song called 'Vicious'?" And I said, "Well, Andy, what kind of vicious?" "Oh, you know, vicious like I hit you with a flower." And I wrote it down, literally.”

Lou Reed on Andy Warhol Rolling Stone · 1989 Cited