I don’t know if music has ever achieved anything past appealing to the people that it appeals to. If a song could stop a war, then Bob Marley and Bob Dylan songs would have stopped one or two. – Henry Rollins
America is off-the-hook gay. I will not go all Ann Coulter on you and say, ‘Our gays are better than their gays,’ but as far as countries go, we are in-your-face gay. – Henry Rollins
Every summer, around late July and into August, I find myself in Europe, performing at any festival that will have me. – Henry Rollins
Never once have I thought that Social Security would be something that would ever be available to me. – Henry Rollins
If people are being upstanding citizens of the Republic, then you have to widen the net to incarcerate them. This explains why America’s prisons are full of nonviolent offenders – a perfect example of American exceptionalism. – Henry Rollins
In the summer of 1991, I was on the first Lollapalooza tour. Nightly, I would watch Jane’s Addiction singer Perry Farrell go out in front of a sea of people and within minutes have all of them in the palm of his hand. I have never seen anything like it since. – Henry Rollins
Lou Reed’s music has been in the lives of millions of people all over the world for decades. He had a truly universal presence and was respected by musicians across all genres. – Henry Rollins
It’s easy for me to play bad guys because it’s a very linear acting. Bad guys aren’t empathetic. Being a bad guy is great because you’re not friendly and you don’t have to do much with your face. – Henry Rollins
August in sub-Saharan Los Angeles is one of the great and awful tests of one’s endurance, sanity and stamina. – Henry Rollins
One person’s roar is another’s whine, just as one person’s music is another’s unendurable noise. – Henry Rollins
I hate painting with a broad brush, but I think the birther thing, at its root, is racist. The guy was born in Hawaii. A black guy is president. It’s cool. Get over it. Just deal with it. There’s nothing you could show these birther people that would shut them up. – Henry Rollins
Watching a documentary with people hacking their way through some polar wasteland is merely a visual. Actually trying to deal with cold that can literally kill you is quite a different thing. – Henry Rollins
Airports in major cities, like LAX, are trippy environments. It is at once a national and international gathering of those in transition: The euphoric, emerging from planes, their journey at an end, and the determined, about to depart. – Henry Rollins
I don’t need to have my convictions confirmed by a show of numbers. However, being among people in front of a band leads me to believe that all is not lost, that humans, now and then, can communicate on a higher level than the political and the practical. – Henry Rollins
Nelson Mandela will always be the face of South Africa. The traveler passing through the country will see Mandela’s face almost everywhere he looks. Truly, the man is omnipresent. – Henry Rollins
Consumerism is at once the engine of America and simultaneously one of the most revealing indicators of our collective shallowness. – Henry Rollins
When I read that Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 had disappeared – a state-of-the-art Boeing 777, said to be an incredibly safe way to travel – I waited patiently for the chance to learn what happened. – Henry Rollins
I was happy to find out that when on tour, Dolly Parton doesn’t use hotels but stays on her bus every night, to the point of having her buses shipped from Austria to Australia so she can tour the way she sees fit. I used one of her buses once – an honor. – Henry Rollins
This is my 25th year of being on stage. A lot of people who I kind of toed up to the starting line with are no longer in this position. I feel very, very lucky. – Henry Rollins
There’s something about being under-rested and knowing that the situation is going to remain that way for quite some time that makes things more meaningful. – Henry Rollins
You could split hairs and bring up words like ‘doo-wop’ and terms like ‘soul’ or ‘R&B’, but I think pop music is what you want it to be – that’s why it’s pop. – Henry Rollins
When you hear about what someone else is going through, and you are unable to distance yourself from it or in any way muzzle your empathy and are inspired to actually do something, these are moments to learn from. – Henry Rollins
Amy Winehouse was not a person I ever met, and I can’t say that I am overly conversant in all of her music. I do have her albums, and years ago, when I first heard her sing, I thought she was extraordinary. The tone of her voice, her phrasing, her raw appearance – these qualities were extremely captivating to me. – Henry Rollins
I’m most in my element on tour, with a gig that day, like today. I’m on the road where I am supposed to be. I will be where I’m supposed to be at nighttime, on stage, in front of people, doing my thing. – Henry Rollins
You might as well enjoy the day – you never know when and how painfully it could all end. – Henry Rollins
When the movie comes out, what anybody thinks of it doesn’t really matter to me. I don’t go to the wrap party. I don’t go to the premiere. – Henry Rollins