Talking Back to Punk Rock #16

"Do whatever you want; just stop calling me 'Mommy.' There's a fine line between goth-metal-punk, or whatever you are, and just being fucking weird."

- The Misfits, "Mommy, May I Go Out And Kill Tonight?"

Talking Back to Punk Rock #15

"Yeah well, I'm living on doppio espressos from Starbucks. Don't have to put nothing into hock to pay for 'em either. Advantage: Me."

Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, "Chinese Rocks"

Talking Back to Punk Rock #14

"Hey, yeah, clever metaphor, especially with the 1-2-3 thing. Only problem, and this is minor, is that nobody calls guns "repeaters" anymore. I mean, what the fuck is this, 1873?"

-Fugazi, "Repeater"

Talking Back to Punk Rock #13

"So you're saying you DON'T want to be an intellectually disabled citizen of your home country? What a bold, transgressive statement. You have shocked us all again, Billie Joe, and we're totally going to forgive you for Warning!

By the way, why don't you age? Do you mainline collagen or something?"

-Green Day "American Idiot" 

Talking Back to Punk Rock #13

"So who's stopping you? You know where the garage is."

-The Ramones, "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue"

Talking Back to Punk Rock #12

"NOW you hear it? Didn't catch any of it while you were mumbling through 'Sex Boy'? Maybe you need to run into strange men more often."

- The Germs "Now I Hear the Laughter"

Talking Back to Punk Rock #11

"Okay, Henry. I get it. You're Damaged. As in, seriously soul-crushed. Utterly bereft in a way completely different from all other people and their damage. I'm entirely cognizant of the fact that you're spirit is in bound in invisible chains.

[NSFW below. You have been warned.]

Talking Back to Punk Rock #10

"Governor Jerry Brown, huh? That's the problem with putting actual names in your songs; dates it rather quickly. I mean, it's not like Jerry Brown's ever going to be a force in California politics anytime soon.

Oh, wait..."

-The Dead Kennedys, "California Uber Alles"

Talking Back to Punk Rock #9

"Race Against Time? More like Race Against Diction, amirite? LOL C whut I did thar?

No but seriously, can't understand a word. Oh, you're Scottish...never mind then."

-The Exploited, "Race Against Time"

Talking Back to Punk Rock #8

"You're not getting it. You can't ask someone to rape you. If you ask that means you're giving consent, which means it's not rape. It's one of those Catch-23 things. Or 22. I don't know; I've never read it. I already know the punch line, so what's the point?"

-Nirvana, "Rape Me"

Talking Back to Punk Rock #7

"Look pal, you can want a suburban home all you want. Unless I see a 20% down payment and a credit history, you won't get lent the price of a Reese's Big Cup.

Though if you run to the store and get me a few of those, I might be willing to negotiate that percentage a few points."

-The Descendents, "Suburban Home"

Talking Back to Punk Rock #6

"Um, do you want me to touch you to verify that you're sick? Because you seem pretty sure of it. I'm willing to take your word, if you know what I mean."

-Mudhoney, "Touch Me, I'm Sick"

Talking Back to Punk Rock #5

"So, are you in favor of sex and violence, or opposed? Because the repetition of that lyric over and over again, it leaves room for either interpretation, friend."

-The Exploited, "Sex and Violence"

Talking Back to Punk Rock #4

"No, no, no...you see, if you were a surfer, you'd have a surfboard, not a skateboard. If you were trying to surf with a skateboard, you were more wasted than you realize."

-Black Flag, "Wasted"

Talking Back to Punk Rock, #3

"Yeah, those record companies, they like to release singles. Kind of what they do. I mean, I get why you're mad, but why you thought CBS Records was going to be an artist-oriented organization is beyond me. This isn't exactly Dischord we're talking about."

-The Clash, "Complete Control"

Talking Back to Punk Rock #2

"See, it seems to me that you do know what you want, this being to destroy passersby, but since I haven't seen you, you know, do that, I'm going to have to conclude that you don't know how to get it."

-The Sex Pistols, "Anarchy in the UK"

Talking Back to Punk Rock, #1

(With a Tip of the Hat to Protein Wisdom)

"First of all, I'm not a ho. Second of all, we're not going anywhere until I get that breakfast I was promised. I don't care what the kids are doing."

-The Ramones, "Blitzkrieg Bop"