66 Alternative Rock Quotes

Following is our list of alternative rock quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about indie rock.

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Famous Alternative Rock Quotes

I'm not so rock and roll. I'm more techno. — Raf Simons

Yeah, I always listen to both classic and newer folk-influenced music. Singer-songwriter, alternative music. I also listen to more experimental dance music. — Brad Delson

Hard rock for me is AC/DC, Def Leppard, Tesla, Kiss. Metal tends to be louder, ruder, darker, like Judas Priest, Slayer, Iron Maiden. — Eddie Trunk

Classic Rock radio gave us our longevity. — George Thorogood

You gotta look beyond the mainstream... the mainstream'll drown you, you know? There's always a pulse in the underground that I love. And the pulse in the underground is what keeps heavy metal alive. — Phil Anselmo

My God is rock'n'roll. — Lou Reed

Placebo is music for outsiders, by outsiders and our gigs are like conventions of outcasts, which is cool. — Brian Molko

I was looking for something a lot heavier, yet melodic at the same time. Something different from heavy metal, a different attitude. — Kurt Cobain

I liked anything that was a little bit weird, a little bit different. I always went for the psychotic, weird, 'dingey' bands. — Kurt Cobain

At 15, I started listening to hard rock and heavy metal, but I would say it was more hard rock because I liked Kiss, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, and eventually AC/DC. — Rick Rubin

I'm more like an animalistic rock chick. — Taryn Manning

We were like psychedelic folk combined with Sonic Youth's noise. - Scott Putesky

We were like psychedelic folk combined with Sonic Youth's noise. — Scott Putesky

We were like psychedelic folk combined with Sonic Youth's noise. — Daisy Berkowitz

Never lose faith in real rock and roll music. Never lose faith in that. You might have to look a little harder, but it's always going to be there. — Dave Grohl

Rock music pays off. Rock music takes me on a joyride. Rock music keeps me off the hell city bus. Rock music will always look out for me. But I will not let my torture profanity demon shoot it down. — Wesley Willis

Alternative Music Quotes

Latin music has many international influences - pop, rock, country, Brazilian sounds, and alternative styles. — Ednita Nazario

When I hear the word independent I reach for my revolver. At this point, what the hell does that mean? The English Patient is an independent film... Hootie and the Blowfish are alternative music. I'm the Queen of Denmark. I don't know what it means anymore. — Jim Jarmusch

I think I fall into a lot of cracks in terms of I'm too something. I'm too this, I'm too that. And my music has never really had a home. I've been this floating alternative. I'm too mainstream for alternative. I'm too alternative for mainstream. And I'm just kind of wandering. — K. D. Lang

Alternative rock quote Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but get you nowhere.
Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but get you nowhere.

Every now and again, the alternative culture is cherished by the mainstream for what it is, rather than how it should be, like the mainstream popular music. — Thurston Moore

Nirvana was pop. You can have distorted guitars and people say it's alternative, but you can't break out of pop music's constructs and still get extensive radio play and media coverage. — Kristin Hersh

I listen to a lot of alternative types of music: I listen to a lot of Chinese music, I listen to a lot of Asian music. It might surprise you, but I listen to a lot of Arabic music. And I don't care - music is music. — Timbaland

Alternative rock quote Only the guy who isn't rowing has time to rock the boat.
Only the guy who isn't rowing has time to rock the boat.

I'm sure there are a few things in my CD collection that might surprise people. I like classical music, the blues, and I'm a big fan of alternative rock. — Brad Paisley

The thing about me is, coming from an alternative music background and singing for nine years, being basically invisible, I'm so used to writing for myself - and at the end of the day, I do it because I feel like I have to. So when I'm recording or writing, I don't have other people in mind. — Lana Del Rey

I listen to all those kinds of music, from classic soul to hip-hop to Brazilian music to, you know, jazz to indie to alternative. So whatever. I listen to all if it. Classic rock and classic pop, all of that. — John Legend

I don't think the Bonzo Dog could have evolved in America, nor could the old Nice: because of their musical discipline. This is one thing that British groups do have, a sort of discipline. Sometimes it can get a bit soulless, but on the whole I think it's preferable to the American alternative. — Jon Lord

Indie Rock Quotes

The second 'Postal Service' album is threatening to become the 'Chinese Democracy' of indie rock. It will come out eventually, or maybe it won't. — Ben Gibbard

In the beginning I was just a makeup artist and I never really pictured myself doing anything else. But now that I have so many doors open, I kind of want to be that indie rock Paris Hilton - but with actual intelligence - she's just stupid. — Jeffree Star

Generally I try to read anything but indie rock journalism or anything about music at all, especially in the summer. — Emily Haines

Alternative rock quote Excuses are the rocks where our dreams are crushed.
Excuses are the rocks where our dreams are crushed.

You kind of have to be like " What have you been working the last five years for? Why are you complaining?" It's essentially me talking myself out of being a crybaby indie rock butthead. — Mac DeMarco

Even the indie rock world - which is supposed to be about truth and independence from corporate mindfulness or something - is totally subject to the paraphernalia of celebrity. — Justin Vernon

Indie rock is just as susceptible - if not more susceptible - to all the gross things about people becoming total ass clowns in music, and only worrying about money and image. I'm not interested in being a part of that. — Justin Vernon

Alternative rock quote A river cuts through a rock not because of its power, but its persistence
A river cuts through a rock not because of its power, but its persistence

I really do listen to all types of music, not only rock, but everything from good pop music - which is usually older pop music - to RB and indie rock. I love indie rock more than a lot of the commercial stuff that you'd expect. — Amy Lee

When I was a kid, you listened to a certain genre. Now it's like, "I love indie rock, I love hip-hop, jazz, funk." Also, we knew it couldn't be the same thing each year. — Jonathan Rhys Meyers

But, then again, I wouldn't call myself an indie-rock supporter even if there are some really good bands out there and there will always be some real good new bands. — Stephen Malkmus

Now that the generation that grew up on '80s indie-rock has attained influential positions in the culture, that music is the new yardstick. And that will shift yet again some day. — Michael Azerrad

Rock Music Quotes

Religion is for people who fear hell, spirituality is for people who have been there. — David Bowie

People don't run out of dreams - people just run out of time. - Glenn Frey

People don't run out of dreams - people just run out of time. — Glenn Frey

Don’t you love the Oxford Dictionary? When I first read it, I thought it was a really really long poem about everything. — David Bowie

Alternative rock quote In matters of style, swim with the current, in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
In matters of style, swim with the current, in matters of principle, stand like a rock.

A kid once said to me "Do you get hangovers?" I said, "To get hangovers you have to stop drinking. — Lemmy Kilmister

But life is just a party, and parties weren't meant to last. — Prince

When you talk like an asshole and look like an asshole, you're an asshole — John Lydon

Everybody started calling my music rock and roll, but it wasn't anything but the same rhythm and blues I'd been playing down in New Orleans. — Fats Domino

Rock and roll is about having a good time, so no matter where you are right now blast some music and forget about lifes problems. — Andy Biersack

It's gotta be rock and roll music, if you wanna dance with me. - Chuck Berry

It's gotta be rock and roll music, if you wanna dance with me. — Chuck Berry

Trying to explain music is like trying to dance architecture. — Thelonious Monk

People Writing About Alternative Rock

Name Quotes Likes
Read quotes by Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain
quotes on love, life and being different

214 3211
Read quotes by Raf Simons

Raf Simons
quotes on culture, art and society

52 238
Read quotes by Brad Delson

Brad Delson
quotes on life, leadership and music

11 66
Read quotes by George Thorogood

George Thorogood
quotes on love, life

62 228
Read quotes by Phil Anselmo

Phil Anselmo
quotes on leadership, life and education

28 267
Read quotes by Lou Reed

Lou Reed
quotes on life, love and world

199 1011

More Alternative Rock Quotes

Every piece has its own identity which we develop by the rule 'We know no limits.' We follow the inspiration of the moment and don't worry if what we're playing is alternative, progressive or fusion rock. — Page McConnell

Dwelling beside a body of water is tonic for the weary psyche. Sea smells, sea birds, seawrack, sands - alternately cool, warm, moist and dry - a taste of brine and the presence of the rocking, slopping bluegraygreen spit-flecked waters, has the effect of rinsing the emotions, bathing the outlook, bleaching the conscience. — Roger Zelazny

I just got exposed to electronica, and I really liked it. I am also good with alternative rock. I like Lana Del Rey, Adele, Dido, Jack Johnson, and I love the Beatles and the Beach Boys. — Anushka Sharma

The Replacements are the foundation for a lot of what came after in alternative and college rock. Let It Be is their best record and has the most diverse collection of songs. Some pop stuff, some heavy stuff, and some real moments of beauty like 'Sixteen Blue' and 'Androgynous.' It's a record I always go back to. — Craig Finn

That really sums up the strange bluntness that a really prime German interview can have. They're really interested in your cultural velocity in this way that I don't think people in the United States even necessarily think about alternative-rock bands. So it's not like we're against regular rock. We're not like a battling army shaking our weapons against The Rolling Stones. — John Flansburgh

I graduated high school in 1989, and there was no alternative rock radio, and there wasn't really good college radio you could get on a car stereo. Once you get a car at that age, you're spending all the time you can away from home, sometimes just driving around aimlessly. Listening, or not even listening, but subconsciously soaking up this classic rock barrage. — Craig Finn

Like the song "Stereo", to me that's like, kind of hip-hop in that slacker way. There's some slackerisms mixed in with that stuff, but it wasn't really conscious, I guess. When things would get more typical rock'n'roll that was my fallback to go to those kind of lyrics instead of the alternatives. — Stephen Malkmus

I love things that are very broad. I love alternative, rock, hip hop, rap, and I'll go to classical or jazz. — Corbin Bleu

I don't want to pooh-pooh modern pop. I appreciate that as well, but my personal favorite kind of music is guitar-based rock. I like grunge and garage bands and alternative music, but that's more my personal taste. — Al Yankovic

When alternative music - which is supposed to be the standard-bearer of where white rock is headed - becomes either too cute or too manufactured, that's just really not good. — Billy Corgan

I was into alternative stuff, but I was also open to a little bit of hard rock and metal, like Guns N' Roses, Metallica. — Girl Talk

I THINK ITS COOL THAT OTHER CROWDS LIKE WHAT I DO. HOWEVER IVE ALWAYS HAD A GOOD MIX OF PEOPLE AT MY SHOWS. I STARTED DOING THINGS ON RADIO ON ROCK MARKETS AND ALTERNATIVE MARKETS. IVE ALWAYS BEEN A COUNTRY TYPE ACT HOWEVER I STARTED WITH THE ROCK MARKET. IM VERY INTERCHANGEABLE. — Larry the Cable Guy

I think we as Americans know there's a much better alternative than the 17th century practice of burning rocks to power our economy. — Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

I do like alternative rock and rap, but as far as inspirational, then I go full-on orchestra. It fills up your entire being. — Osric Chau

Alternate translation: Come brethren, if you have a mind to be ingrafted in the vine, It is a pity to see you lopped off in this manner From the stock. Reckon up the prelates in the very see of Peter; And in that order of fathers see which has succeeded which. This is the rock over which the proud gates of hell prevail not. — Saint Augustine

Tim Thornton's portrait of a pop culture obsession is so convincing that one can't help wishing that his fictional alt rock band actually existed, or suspecting that they did. The Alternative Hero is a weirdly compelling portrait of fanatic fandom which reads like High Fidelity at high volume. — Jay McInerney

It's creepy, but here we are, the Pilgrims, the crackpots of our time, trying to establish our own alternate reality. To build a world out of rocks and chaos. What it's going to be, I don't know. Even after all that rushing around, where we've ended up is the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. And maybe knowing isn't the point. Where we're standing right now, in the ruins in the dark, what we build could be anything. — Chuck Palahniuk

My dream job is to be a rock drummer and the alternate drummer for the Foo Fighters. — Rachael Ray

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