If you don't own the stage, you shouldn't be in rock n' roll.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of confidence and assertiveness in a performance setting.
Grace Slick's quote suggests that in the world of rock n' roll, performers must embrace the stage and take ownership of their space to truly succeed. Without confidence and a commanding presence, one cannot effectively engage the audience or make a significant impact in this vibrant genre.
In practice
In a motivational speech for aspiring musicians.
One thing is that I wasn't getting booked that well, and they had control over who got the awards, they had control over who sold. And they really did not want Willie or me, either one, to have a hit record. They wanted the money, but they didn't want us to be the ones.
Sometimes with pop music, you have to see it to love it. With soul music, it's sparse. There's nothing that's pretentious or planned. It's just so gutsy.
I'm going to be singing Dreams and Rhiannon when I'm 75 - and that's just fine with me. I just hope my chiffon doesn't get tangled in my rocking chair.
Obviously you have to have rhythm. If you have rhythm, then you can play anything you need. If you have rhythm and you love music, then play and play and play until you get to where you want to get. If you can pay the rent, great. If you can't, then you'd better be having fun.
When my time is up in hip-hop, it's going to remain what Afrika Bambaataa thought it was supposed to be. It's going to remain what Kool Herc thought it was supposed to be; what Wu-Tang Clan sees it as; what Outkast sees it as; what Snoop Dogg sees it as. People are trying to forget that brand of hip-hop.
I think that American music, for me, it's a synthesis of a lot of different things. But for me growing up in North Carolina, the stuff that I was listening to, the things that I was hearing, it was all about Black music, about soul music.
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