I didn't really start writing music or lyrics or turning them into songs until I went to San Francisco.

Patriotism does not mean giving blind loyalty and a blank check to George W. Bush.

I enjoy getting people angry and getting underneath their skin, especially people who don't think.

I think Noam Chomsky is a national treasure - make that an international treasure.

In many ways, I have no idea what would have become of me if punk hadn't happened, because the '70s turned out to be so stale, and so boring, and so backward compared to what had come just before. We were too young to have fully experienced the '60s and the fervor of the anti-war movement.

I think there's plenty of room, even in the most serious activist circles, for humor. Humor can be very effective both to inspire, and as a weapon. Just ask Frank Zappa and Charlie Chaplin.

I was born in the late '50s, was a child of the '60s, then the '70s, then the '80s, then the '90s, and I have mental fingers in all those pies.