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I don't think punk ever really dies, because punk rock attitude can never die.

I think English punk died in '79 or '80. Maybe '82 at the latest. As far as American punk goes, it wasn't the same as English punk. It wasn't a working-class movement that was protesting the conditions under which this class had to work. I don't think American punk ever died.

Punk was a protest against work and against boredom. It was a sign of life, a rant, a scream, a rejection of bourgeois morals. But have things improved since then? Arguably, they've got worse.

Punk is not just the sound, the music. Punk is a lifestyle.

A lot of punk rock is not going to be in the mainstream. It's below the radar. The beauty of it is that you're not supposed to always know. It's subterranean.

What was punk all about? To me, it was if you really want to do something, go ahead and do it.

The thing about punk is that there are purists. Once you start going outside of that, they don't think what you're doing is punk rock.

When punk began to be a genre, people were going to go out and try to mine it. Some of the better groups, like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols, were very artificial.

Punk rock has become another viable art form. It always was. But now it's like everyone's doing it.

I always said punk was an attitude. It was never about having a Mohican haircut or wearing a ripped T-shirt. It was all about destruction, and the creative potential within that.