Love Quote by Paul Kantner

There is something bracingly honest about a rock veteran admitting he didn’t just want to share a bill; he wanted to eat the bill. Kantner’s “hungry” isn’t poetic garnish - it’s the engine of the touring circuit in the late 60s and 70s, when bands were graded in real time by crowds who could turn on you in a verse. The line reads like a reminder that “community” in rock has always been half-myth, half-marketing. Onstage camaraderie ends where the spotlight begins.

Name-checking Jeff Beck, Fleetwood Mac, and Heart does double work. It flatters his own competitive edge (he had taste, he could spot killers early), and it reframes success as timing as much as talent: “just before they hit” is the crucial phrase. He’s not only measuring himself against greatness; he’s pointing to that razor-thin window when a group is still scrappy, still beatable, still trying to prove it. After the hit, the story becomes destiny. Before it, it’s a knife fight.

Kantner came out of a scene (Jefferson Airplane and its sprawling counterculture mythology) that’s often remembered as idealistic and communal. This quote punctures that nostalgia without being bitter. It’s a musician admitting the quiet truth behind the peace-and-love poster: the desire to win was always there, and it was often what made the music sharp enough to last.