"Rock and roll mainly, but I can play passable jazz also"
About this Quote
The subtext lands harder in Quatro’s context: a woman who came up in an era when female rock musicians were routinely treated as novelty acts or frontwomen rather than players. Jazz, historically policed as a badge of "real musician" status, becomes a strategic second language here. She signals she can speak it, too, without asking permission or trading her leather-and-amp identity for conservatory respectability. It’s not "I contain multitudes" as a manifesto; it’s competence presented as casual fact.
The line also catches a larger cultural tension: rock’s long insecurity about legitimacy. Jazz gets cast as sophisticated, rock as crude. Quatro sidesteps the hierarchy by refusing to kneel to it. She’s telling you she can do the "serious" stuff if needed, but she’d rather keep the engine revving.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Quatro, Suzi. (2026, February 16). Rock and roll mainly, but I can play passable jazz also. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/rock-and-roll-mainly-but-i-can-play-passable-jazz-131056/
Chicago Style
Quatro, Suzi. "Rock and roll mainly, but I can play passable jazz also." FixQuotes. February 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/rock-and-roll-mainly-but-i-can-play-passable-jazz-131056/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Rock and roll mainly, but I can play passable jazz also." FixQuotes, 16 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/rock-and-roll-mainly-but-i-can-play-passable-jazz-131056/. Accessed 19 Feb. 2026.


