I have to laugh because despite the destruction, we cannot let 'them' steal our pleasure. That is always the theme of my performances: I'm here to thrive, not just to survive.
— Lydia Lunch
The biggest insult is that I've been called an exaggerator... I tell the truth as I know it. I don't glamorize the nightmare and horror that I witness; I just digest it and spew it back, with venom.
The American way of life, as I see it, is really the American way of death. Everything is determined by greed and the insatiable desire to be the richest and most powerful. And that desire is limitless.
The problem with music was always that the sound system often obliterated the words, and words, not music, have always been what I was about.
Part of what I have to represent is an alternative to this perverted fashion industry concept of what beauty is.
If someone says 'grunge' or 'punk,' you know what the sound is, but if you say 'No Wave,' it's kind of mysterious. That was the most interesting part and should have been the most inspirational thing about it... here's this collective sonic insanity, and none of it sounds anything alike.
I've always been inspired by Genet, Henry Miller and Hubert Selby, Jr., who taught me that you've got to tell a bigger truth in whatever you're doing, but the truth is not popular.
I just prefer instrumental. I don't need to hear what other people are singing. And if I need music as a backdrop to work or to think, I need to have that part of the brain clear - I don't need people feeding their fantasies into my vision.
I'm a total pleasure seeker. I pursue anything that satisfies me. I usually get it. I have specific needs and I know what they are so I can achieve satisfaction.
Because we have so much eye candy and mind candy, spending so much time trying to pay the rent, all of this conspires to keep us from thinking too hard or taking action from that. Our time is stolen. So much of our daily life is stolen.
I would be humiliated if I found out that anything I did actually became a commercial success.
Part of the charm of what I do is the fact that it's completely unrelated to everything that came before.
I am a humanist not a feminist. There's a big difference.
The imperial, genocidal war machine never rests, so I don't either.
Aggressive female icons have been chronically demeaned... It's fine for male artists to be angry - they're encouraged to outwardly express their aggression - but women? I've been painted as an aggressive Feminazi because I'm blunt, stubborn, independent, forthright.
I'm separated by other performers with whom I might be lumped, since what I say is so intensely personal. I'm anti-art and anti-poetry. As much as possible, I want to inflict my personal pain on the rest of society.
Two of my favourite books are Henry Miller's 'Tropic of Cancer' and 'Tropic of Capricorn.'
You want positive, go elsewhere. Go find a different lie.
Honesty works against you in the entertainment field. I try to be a journalist and a documentarian, but that doesn't mean that people are going to embrace it at the moment. The point is I'm leaving the mark of my hysteria and the political hysteria, and that's it... I can only do what I do.
I'm like a one-woman protest machine.
The female format is a beautiful one in which to function. Foolhardy as it may be. I change my image all the time, it's whatever suits me at the moment.
Just because my bank account hasn't swelled astronomically I don't consider myself any less of a success.
Think your own thoughts.
I'm nihilistic, antagonistic, violent, horrible - but not obliterated, yet. I just refuse to be beaten down. I think it's stubborness that keeps me going.
I think my speeches are hilarious. I think I'm a natural comedian, but I like denying people the chance to laugh. I want to deny you the relief of the punchline.
I used to think feminism was a liberating force - now I see many of those people are just censors under a different name.
I watch the news. It fuels my rage; it informs my work.
I believe happiness is a chemical imbalance - it's a silly thing to strife for. But satisfaction - if you seek satisfaction, you can succeed. Satisfaction is knowing that you're doing the best that you can do; you're living your life to the fullest.
If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'
Living in Barcelona, I have my own little ghetto utopia. There are 3,000 ghost towns in Spain, and I've used the images of them a lot in my backdrops for my solo spoken-word stuff. The ghost towns could be from two buildings to 40 - things died out, or there were plagues, the roads don't lead there, whatever.
To be in a band, at least according to the rules of rock in the 1970s, one must know how to play an instrument. But rather than waste time solving that problem, No Wavers ignored it. The point was simply to make music, not to learn how first.
People have always asked me, 'Haven't you wanted to sell out?', and it's like, who am I going to sell to?
Politics are always involved, even in my love songs.
'Musician' is not a very respected title. I'm not a musician.
If people could understand how much pleasure they could have by themselves, I think everyone would be a lot saner. I think that people really need a dose of quality time with one's self.
I'm a very sympathetic person, but that doesn't always come across in my work because I'm too busy being mad at everything.
I think it's important to encourage gluttony in all its formats.
Sure you're powerless, sure you're just one person, sure you can't change anything... but you don't have to be miserable about it as well.
I'm completely optimistic - I know the end is coming!
