One of the last times I saw Ellen, she gave me a copy of Beginning to See the Light, with an inscription on the title page. It reads “To sex, hope, and rock and roll and whatever that means today.” The modesty of this simple quote is indicative of the breadth of her influence as a writer. She knew what sex, hope and rock and roll was today, but she wanted me to find out for myself.
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Chris O'Connell, in "Sex, Hope and Rock and Roll : A Conversation with Ellen Willis" (7 January 2007)Ellen Willis
A royal hall was made for art and queens but not for rock'n' roll. A theater was made for plays and so on but not for rock'n'roll. Outside was made for the weather but not rock'n' roll. If we really want to save music let alone rock'n'roll then go to those techno dance clubs, I mean they have all these loud-ass speakers, everyone is always there partying, and so that's how rock is saved from unwanted capitalistic corporation music. And also if all those metal, grunge, rock, and hey even those gangstas want to play then why not start off like the Beatles in cafes, pubs and bars instead of MTV?
Lou Reed
Hail, hail rock and roll; deliver me from the days of old.
Long live rock and roll; the beat of the drums, loud and bold.
Rock, rock, rock and roll; the feelin' is there, body and soul.Chuck Berry
She gets rock n roll, a rock n roll station
And a rock n roll dream.
She's making movies on location.
She don't know what it means.
But the music make her wanna be the story.
And the story was whatever was the song, what it was.
Rollergirl don't worry.
D.J. plays the movies all night long.Mark Knopfler
I didn't plan on rock 'n' roll. I wanted to learn jazz; I got to know some people doing rock 'n' roll with jazz, and I thought I could make money playing music. In rock 'n' roll you can realize anything that you can in jazz or anything. There's no limitation other than the beat. You have more freedom than you do in anything except jazz — which is dying — as far as making any money is concerned.
Robby Krieger
World War II changed the demography. For a while, high seriousness was a part (only a part) of the mix. No one likes to think that the vector that has carried him into the demography could get lost in the demography, but that is what happens. Rock and roll—or the generating spirit of rock and roll—could get lost there, easily. And just think of all the ideas—and changes—there were implicit in the hegemony of rock and roll. We could be left with . . . just some of the music.
George W. S. Trow
Willis, Ellen
Willis, Nathaniel Parker
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