I came into this whole business by going to see Rock Against Racism gigs with the Clash.
BILLY BRAGGI came into this whole business by going to see Rock Against Racism gigs with the Clash.
BILLY BRAGGPeace, bread, work, and freedom is the best we can achieve.
BILLY BRAGGThat’s what I’m about — getting engaged. Too many people don’t wade in the mud with the politicians.
BILLY BRAGGI think if you’re going to make political art, you have to engage at some level. You can’t just write about politics, you have to try and be politics as well.
BILLY BRAGGWar what is it good for? It’s good for business.
BILLY BRAGGAll the things about ‘the ugly American’ that we worry about and which the Americans see in themselves, it’s all of that. This is a politics of egotistical display.
BILLY BRAGGBeing spokesman for a generation is the worst job I ever had.
BILLY BRAGGMixing pop and politics he asks me what the use is / I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses.
BILLY BRAGGI’d like to think that in a generation or two we’ll have politicians whose life experience reflects that of the people who are voting for them.
BILLY BRAGGIf you’ve got a blacklist, I want to be on it.
BILLY BRAGGWere it not for the Clash, punk would have been just a sneer, a safety pin and a pair of bondage trousers.
BILLY BRAGGI never met a politician who didn’t want to be a guitar player in a rock band. I’ve got the opportunity to say what I believe in.
BILLY BRAGGIt’s like being stung by a bee and going out and smashing up a beehive, and thinking you’ve solved the problem. There are more beehives out there; more bees will come. But they’re bees. They’re not grizzly bears.
BILLY BRAGGBaptists burn more slowly.
BILLY BRAGGWhat corporations fear most are consumers who ask questions. Naomi Klein offers us the arguments with which to take on the superbrands.
BILLY BRAGGWhether we like it or not, we live in a post-ideological world. That’s how a Donald Trump can get through. He has no ideology at all: in that sense, he’s a bit like Mussolini.
BILLY BRAGG