Greg Ginn Quotes

Putting out the things that I like best hasn't been the easiest way to run a label, and it still isn't because it requires finding an audience for each record.

Most good things happen with time; especially music, which needs time to breathe and to find its own way.

People from major labels were afraid to go to Black Flag gigs throughout most of the band's existence. They treated our gigs as something threatening. I'm sure that it probably was. They probably had reasons to be scared.

We had a lot of riots. We came under attack from many of the police departments. It certainly wasn't some publicity thing. I was afraid for many years. We couldn't play in LA for many years. A lot of people got very cynical.

It is a fact that each song an artist creates is unique and although fans tend to be loyal, ultimately the quality of the record will decide how it sells.

I didn't have a lot of overtly political songs. I think it was more the actions of the group that were threatening to the authorities, and also our political philosophies apart from the music.

The small companies who feel that the majors are a threat, or are predators, will use that as an excuse for their eventual downfall. Don't blame others for your own inadequacies.

We aren't as concerned about the live aspect as other labels. The best live bands are the easiest to record.

You have to keep the business side together as well as the creative side. We have constantly surprised people and stayed with bands until they have grown on people.

We've gotten involved in cat rescue - we take them in and find homes for them. I've always loved cats. I saw how homeless cats were living out there. We take them in, put out flyers.

I didn't want to wait around for some business entity to come around and give me money and tell me what to do. We just started releasing records as best we could.

I had business experience. I had made my living designing and building electronic equipment. Basic business was not new to me, but the music business was completely new to me. I knew nothing about distribution, or any of those things.

There are several books out on punk history, but I haven't read any of them. I was there.

The English scene got more media attention with their emphasis on fashion, with the safety pins and all. There were some really good bands over there. The Sex Pistols were great.

Punk rock really came out of N.Y. as a philosophy before the groups were ever recorded. I had a kind-of intellectual interest in the idea of creating a new scene that could be a grassroots thing.

There aren't enough people who are scaring the kind of people who work at these record companies.

The public is usually slow to catch on to new things, and it's important that musicians stick to their guns and not look for that instant gratification.

SST was formed to put out the first Black Flag record. Basically, there wasn't anyone else to do it. I felt that what I was doing with Black Flag was very worthwhile, and I wanted to get it out there.

Stores can be indifferent to something new.

I listen to everything that comes in. I'm not real worried about demo sound quality. I can hear through that sort of thing. If a band can play, then they can play.