I like being in a recording studio. I like watching a song go from the simplicity of the original music.
Grace Slick
I do what I love to do, what I choose to do.
No matter how big or soft or warm your bed is, you still have to get out of it.
Old people should be heard but not seen. Young people should be seen, not heard.
In school, I learned about artists and how they were free to express themselves. I was allergic to conformity, and the lifestyle attracted me. I wanted to express myself in a way that slammed people up against the wall.
Through your life, most people peel away the junk that's not useful, that's superfluous. You are determined to peel that away. I do one thing at a time. One man at a time. One car. One house. One child. One job.
Some of us don't want to be a housewife. When you live alone, you can do anything you want to do anytime you want. I really like it.
If you were to say to me that I couldn't paint, I would write. If I couldn't write, I would be a set designer. As long as I'm creating something, I'm happy.
Rock & roll is not obscure, it's really easy to understand. So is my painting.
The way I paint is similar to rock in that you don't stand around and say, 'Gee, what are they talking about?' Rock is simple, blunt, colorful. Same with my paintings. You don't stand back and wonder what it is. That's Jim Morrison, that's a panda, that's a scene on the West Coast. It's not abstract.
Prancing around on stage is not the entire purpose of my life.
Things change so fast, you can't use 1971 ethics on someone born in 1971.
People ask me why I don't paint oils. It takes too long. Cleaning brushes in linseed oil, and it takes six months to really dry, and all this. I don't have that kind of time. I work with acrylic. It's water based. You can clean it under water. If you spill it on yourself, you just throw it in the washing machine.
You either evolve or you don't. I don't like old people on a rock n' roll stage. I think they look pathetic, me included. And the fact that I represent an era means I can't just go out there and do all new stuff. They would all say, 'Sing 'White Rabbit,' and I'd say no? That's rude.
God is all over the place. And even if He isn't, if it makes me feel good, why not?
I collect stuffed animals, and toy stores make me happy.
'Vegetarian' is a slippery word. I don't eat cheese, I don't eat duck - the point is I'm vegan.
I don't miss anything about the 1960s, not really. I did it. It's like asking, 'Do you miss the fourth grade?' I loved the fourth grade when I was in it, but I don't want to do it again.
My deal is that I pay more attention to whatever job I have than the relationships I have. Now, if I had considered my job to be a wife and mother, then I would have been pretty good at it. But I didn't consider it a job. I thought it was like brushing your teeth - it's not fun, it's just something you do to keep your teeth from falling out.
Jerry Garcia used to take his paints on the road. I don't do that. Either I'm a singer or a painter. I'm not good at multi-tasking.
When you get older, it's not about what you did that you regret, it's what you didn't do.
I am not strict vegan, because I'm a hedonist pig. If I see a big chocolate cake that is made with eggs, I'll have it.
If you don't own the stage, you shouldn't be in rock n' roll.
Being in a rock n' roll band was like being in a Sherman tank. Nothing got to you. You were surrounded and protected by men.
People say Altamont was the 'end of the '60s.' It was unfortunate, but at the time we didn't think of it as signaling anything. The fact that nobody got killed at Woodstock is amazing because that was half a million people. We only had 300,000 at Altamont.
Anyone who's 71 years old would look ridiculous singing rock.
When you learn that a truth is a lie, anger follows.
Woodstock is well known because this country is so hyped on amount. It was big. Half a million people doesn't necessarily mean something is good. It just means it's big.
When I was between the ages of five and nine, the soldiers of the Second World War wanted to have Betty Grable, but I wanted to be Betty Grable. She was the epitome of an alluring woman; she had it all as far as I was concerned.
Through literacy you can begin to see the universe. Through music you can reach anybody. Between the two there is you, unstoppable.
Mainly I make music, and you can do that until you drop dead.
I don't want to see old people doing rap or rock and roll. It makes me cringe.
There is an attitude that we should be able to have everything. No, you shouldn't be able to have anything. I'd like a helicopter, but I can't afford a helicopter, so I don't buy one. People are buying stuff they can't afford on credit. I bought my Ford hybrid with cash.
It's really a drag to sit around when you're old, and think, 'Ah, gee, I never went to France.' Go to France. Life is very short; you've got to pack it all in there.
'White Rabbit' was mostly done in about two days, the music in about half an hour. The music is a 'Bolero' rip-off and the lyrics a rearrangement of 'Alice in Wonderland.' You take two spectacular hits and throw them together, and it's hard to miss.
Woodstock - I didn't see anybody play, except when I was standing backstage waiting to go on, because it was so muddy. And the weather was so horrible, you literally couldn't get there except by helicopter.
Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, Stephen Colbert. Those are the guys I look at who are telling me pretty much the truth. And they throw humor into it which makes it much more interesting to listen to.
Too many people try to please their parents. My parents were Republicans, which is too bad, but they allowed me to be who I wanted to be.
The word 'success' - who's defining it? It's about whether or not it makes me feel good. Four billion people don't have to see or hear it. If I've enjoyed the process of creation and I'm at peace, then what happens next is just entertainment. If mass appeal were actually something, Marilyn Monroe wouldn't be dead.
'Feminist comedy,' practically an oxymoron, had a couple of good years after WWII. Chalk it up to the forced female autonomy that occurred during wartime, when Rosie the Riveter went to work in the factories, constructing the Allies' war machines while taking charge of the finances, the home, and the children.
I was a floor model at I. Magnin. I'm 5 feet 7, but my legs weren't long enough to be a big-time model. From the knees up, everything is long, but from ankle to knee, if I was in proportion, I'd be 5 feet 9.
I think of myself as a positive agnostic. I don't know, therefore I'm open. I don't know, therefore I'm interested.
You can do any number of things in the music business aside from trying to look like you're 25. To me it's embarrassing.
I left rock and roll professionally at about 49. That's too long as far as I'm concerned. Some people can do it; it depends on what you were.
I'm a commercial artist, both in music and art.
I fall down all the time because I'm such a klutz, but I have never broken a bone, and I don't eat milk or cheese ever. I like tofu cheese and soymilk in my coffee and cereal.
It takes a little work to be a vegan, but now it's really possible to have tasty stuff and it's better for you. I say the best test is go as far as you can and see how you feel. Personally, I feel great.
Starship was a whole different thing. It was pop rock. It made more money and had more hit songs than Airplane. There was no cultural or social ethic behind it. For me, it was like selling out. I was the only one selling out. The rest enjoyed doing what they were doing.
The main point for me is moral; animals are sentient beings. I know for some this is a hard argument to accept, but we're not built to eat a lot of meat.
I didn't want to write a book. They made me do it.
