Here is a collection of rock and roll legend quotes about spiritualism, magic, and entheogens.

John Lennon

On religion he said, “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue about that. I’m right, and I’ll be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now. I don’t know which will go first — rock ‘n’ roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me.” (1966, London Evening Standard)

About LSD John commented, “We must always remember to thank the CIA and the Army for LSD, by the way. Everything is the opposite of what it is, isn’t it? They brought out LSD to control people, and what they did was give us freedom. Sometimes it works in mysterious ways its wonders to perform. But it sure as hell performs them. If you look a the government report book on acid, the only ones who jumped out of windows because of it were the ones in the Army. I never knew anybody who jumped out of a window or killed themselves because of it. … I’ve never met anybody who’s had a flashback in my life and I took millions of trips in the Sixties, and I’ve never met anybody who had any problem. I’ve had bad trips, but I’ve had bad trips in real life. I’ve had a bad trip on a joint. I can get paranoid just sitting in a restaurant; I don’t have to take anything.”

 

Paul McCartney

“Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue about that. I’m right, and I’ll be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now. I don’t know which will go first — rock ‘n’ roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me.” (1966, London Evening Standard)Read More: Top 10 Quotes About Rock and Religion | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/quotes-rock-and-religion/?trackback=tsmclip

 

“It [LSD] opened my eyes. We only use on-tenth of our brain. Just think of what we could accomplish if we could only tap that hidden part! It would mean a whole new world if the politicians would take LSD. There wouldn’t be any more war or poverty or famine.”

 

George Harrison

There’s high, and there’s high, and to get really high–I mean so high that you can walk on the water, that high–that’s where I’m goin’.”

– circa 1968

 

Pete Townshend – The Who

Since the late-’60s, Townshend has been a disciple of Indian mystic Meher Baba and has worked spiritual themes into ‘Tommy’ and in songs like ‘Bargain’ and ‘Let My Love Open the Door.’ He wrote about his ‘God moment’ in his autobiography: “In a room of a Holiday Inn in an Illinois town called Rolling Meadows…I heard the voice of God. In an instant, in a very ordinary place at an unexceptional time, I yearned for some connection with a higher power. This was a singular, momentous epiphany – a call to the heart. Why did God favor this particular place in America? Because it was so new? Because it was so sunny? Suddenly it became clear that I longed for a transcendent connection with the universe itself and with its maker. This was the moment I had longed for. My mind was being set alight by the psychedelic times, but revelation came to me in the quietude and seductive order of Middle America.” (2012, ‘Who I Am’)

 

Neil Young

“Rock ‘n’ roll is everybody’s f—in’ music…I would certainly hope that it’s the devil’s music, but it’s not just the devil’s music. I think that’s where God and the devil shake hands – right there.” (2002, ‘Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography’)Read More: Top 10 Quotes About Rock and Religion | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/quotes-rock-and-religion/?trackback=tsmclip

 

 

Jimmy Page

Jimmy Page’s talks about his fascination with black magic and, in particular, occultist Aleister Crowley. He publicly reflected on this long after Led Zeppline had broken up: “I was living it. That’s all there is to it. It was my life – that fusion of magick and music…Yes, I knew what I was doing. There’s no point in saying about it, because the more you discuss it, the more eccentric you appear to be. But the fact is – as far as I was concerned – it was working, so I used it…I’ll leave this subject by saying the four musical elements of Led Zeppelin making a fifth is magick into itself. That’s the alchemical process.” (2007, Guitar World)

 

Bob Dylan

For a period in the 1970’s, Bob Dylan recorded only religious songs and refused to play his previous work in concert. Later on, he found a different sort of spirituality in music: “Here’s the thing with me and the religious thing. This is the flat-out truth: I find the religiosity and philosophy in the music. I don’t find it anywhere else. Songs like ‘Let Me Rest on a Peaceful Mountain’ or ‘I Saw the Light’ – that’s my religion. I don’t adhere to rabbis, preachers, evangelists, all of that. I’ve learned more from the songs than I’ve learned from any of this kind of entity. The songs are my lexicon. I believe the songs.” (1997, Newsweek)

 

Prince

The elevator in ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ represents the devil, Prince once explained, he said: “You’ve gotta have belief. It’s the only way to make it through this maze. And God is here, he’s everywhere, he ain’t dead, contrary to popular opinion. And he will come again, and it will be the most beautiful, powerful, electric moment — the sky’s gonna go all purple and red. I’ve always imagined angels and demons fighting, like two people arguing. You’ve got to battle it out.” (1998, Times Magazine)

 

Bono

“I remember how my mother would bring us to chapel on Sundays, while my father used to wait outside. One of the things that I picked up from my father and my mother was the sense that religion often gets in the way of God. For me, at least, it got in the way. Seeing what religious people, in the name of God, did to my native land…and in this country, America, seeing God’s second-hand car salesmen on the cable TV channels, offering indulgences for cash. In fact, all over the world, seeing the self-righteous roll down like a mighty stream from certain corners of the religious establishment. I must confess, I changed the channel. I wanted my MTV.” (2006, On the Move)

 

Neil Young

“Rock ‘n’ roll is everybody’s f—in’ music…I would certainly hope that it’s the devil’s music, but it’s not just the devil’s music. I think that’s where God and the devil shake hands – right there.” (2002, ‘Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography’)

 

  • If God dropped acid, would he see people? Steven Wright
There have always been rumors about Led Zeppelin being a “Satanic band,” no doubt spurred on by Page’s fascination with black magic and, in particular, occultist Aleister Crowley. He reflected on this long after Zep had broken up: “I was living it. That’s all there is to it. It was my life – that fusion of magick and music…Yes, I knew what I was doing. There’s no point in saying about it, because the more you discuss it, the more eccentric you appear to be. But the fact is – as far as I was concerned – it was working, so I used it…I’ll leave this subject by saying the four musical elements of Led Zeppelin making a fifth is magick into itself. That’s the alchemical process.” (2007, Guitar World) 

 

Read More: Top 10 Quotes About Rock and Religion | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/quotes-rock-and-religion/?trackback=tsmclip

The brains behind the Who has never shied away from talking religion (or, you know, anything else). Since the late-’60s, Townshend has been a disciple of Indian mystic Meher Baba and has worked spiritual themes into ‘Tommy’ and in songs like ‘Bargain’ and ‘Let My Love Open the Door.’ He wrote about his ‘God moment’ in his autobiography: “In a room of a Holiday Inn in an Illinois town called Rolling Meadows…I heard the voice of God. In an instant, in a very ordinary place at an unexceptional time, I yearned for some connection with a higher power. This was a singular, momentous epiphany – a call to the heart. Why did God favor this particular place in America? Because it was so new? Because it was so sunny? Suddenly it became clear that I longed for a transcendent connection with the universe itself and with its maker. This was the moment I had longed for. My mind was being set alight by the psychedelic times, but revelation came to me in the quietude and seductive order of Middle America.” (2012, ‘Who I Am’) 

 

Read More: Top 10 Quotes About Rock and Religion | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/quotes-rock-and-religion/?trackback=tsmclip

 

 

 

The brains behind the Who has never shied away from talking religion (or, you know, anything else). Since the late-’60s, Townshend has been a disciple of Indian mystic Meher Baba and has worked spiritual themes into ‘Tommy’ and in songs like ‘Bargain’ and ‘Let My Love Open the Door.’ He wrote about his ‘God moment’ in his autobiography: “In a room of a Holiday Inn in an Illinois town called Rolling Meadows…I heard the voice of God. In an instant, in a very ordinary place at an unexceptional time, I yearned for some connection with a higher power. This was a singular, momentous epiphany – a call to the heart. Why did God favor this particular place in America? Because it was so new? Because it was so sunny? Suddenly it became clear that I longed for a transcendent connection with the universe itself and with its maker. This was the moment I had longed for. My mind was being set alight by the psychedelic times, but revelation came to me in the quietude and seductive order of Middle America.” (2012, ‘Who I Am’)

 

Read More: Top 10 Quotes About Rock and Religion | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/quotes-rock-and-religion/?trackback=tsmclip

 

 

 

The brains behind the Who has never shied away from talking religion (or, you know, anything else). Since the late-’60s, Townshend has been a disciple of Indian mystic Meher Baba and has worked spiritual themes into ‘Tommy’ and in songs like ‘Bargain’ and ‘Let My Love Open the Door.’ He wrote about his ‘God moment’ in his autobiography: “In a room of a Holiday Inn in an Illinois town called Rolling Meadows…I heard the voice of God. In an instant, in a very ordinary place at an unexceptional time, I yearned for some connection with a higher power. This was a singular, momentous epiphany – a call to the heart. Why did God favor this particular place in America? Because it was so new? Because it was so sunny? Suddenly it became clear that I longed for a transcendent connection with the universe itself and with its maker. This was the moment I had longed for. My mind was being set alight by the psychedelic times, but revelation came to me in the quietude and seductive order of Middle America.” (2012, ‘Who I Am’)

 

Read More: Top 10 Quotes About Rock and Religion | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/quotes-rock-and-religion/?trackback=tsmclip