Rick Nielsen

“I was always the wise guy class clown throughout my childhood.”

“We're basically a rock band - guitar, bass, drums and vocals. But we take it further than that. We can be rotten, dirty, and heavy as anyone, but at the same time, we've got a lot of melody.”

“I like Harvey Mandel.”

“If you can say something special on the guitar, then you're going to perk my ears up. But if you're just gonna run through all the scales, then I can always find something else to listen to.”

“I was never going to be very cute. I always looked for the best people to play with and, 'cause, to make myself look better.”

“I'd rather be musical than technical.”

“No one knows this, but when I would play the clubs back in '65, '66, they used to call me 'Screaming Chicken,' 'cause I would go out and scream, fall on the ground, beat myself, smash stuff, jump through the ceiling, roll on the floor, and act like I was having epileptic fits.”

“We do try to be entertainers, but we're musicians first, and we try to showcase the music.”

“I did what I believed in. It got me in trouble, but it also got me a job.”

“I'm kind of a goony guy, a dweeb or a geek.”

“My parents were both opera singers, and they also were both heavily into religious and church music.”

“We've got the pretty-boy lead singer and the fat, dumpy drummer, and I'm the zany guitarist. Sure, we've played up the image at times. But it's the music that matters most.”

“I never tried to emulate The Beatles, and I never really wanted to be like The Rolling Stones. I never really felt that I had the look or the demeanor of veteran musicians.”

“I knew the guys in the Allman Brothers way back in the day, before they were famous.”

“When a guitarist can evoke a certain mood through his playing, that's what's most important to me.”

“Basically, I try to let the song dictate what guitar I use. If it's a really loud, crazy song, I'll pull out the cheapest, oldest guitar I own, one that feeds back easily. But most of the time, I just use whatever's around.”

“Some bands, they're too snooty, or they think they're too this or that and wouldn't talk to us. And some other bands are afraid to talk to us.”

“I didn't want to be one of the Beach Boys or one of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah band. I mean, we appreciated that music. But I didn't want to grow a beard to look like Roy Wood just because I liked him.”

“I actually did try to emigrate to Australia a long time ago.”

“I think I've probably had one of my guitars on display at every Hard Rock Cafe in the world.”