Excerpts From Rolling Stone's Cover Story

"Voices for Change: From Bruce Springsteen to Jadakiss, artists speak out about John Kerry, George Bush and what's at stake on Election Day"

Rolling Stone -- Oct. 1, 2004

"As the election approaches, some of rock and roll's biggest artists are embarking on a tour with an unprecedented message: Vote for change. While musicians have played benefits for candidates in the past, nothing on this scale has ever been attempted: a nine-day tour of Ohio, Florida and seven other swing states, culminating on October 11th in a historic concert in Washington, D.C."

Dave Matthews

"With what I see in the world today, I cannot justify not standing up and saying, 'I feel with every bone in my body that this country is going in the wrong direction.'...We've got to get somebody new in the White House."

Natalie Maines

"If the media showed us the deaths of women and children being hit by our bombs, people would be outraged. I want the killing to stop."

Fat Mike -- No Effects

"It pisses me off when people call us unpatriotic. True patriotism is loving your country enough to try to make it better. We are fucking travelling the country to spread the word. That is what patriotism is."

Chuck D

"Whenever people start saying God annointed them to do something, it's a turnoff, because I don't think anyone has God's beeper number."

Alicia Keyes

"It's important for all of us to be aware of what's going on. I know it hurts to pay attention...For young people especially, it seems like politicians aren't speaking about our lives, but Kerry is passionate, he's trying to get young people to pay attention. So that's pretty cool."

Melissa Etheridge

"For women, our road will always be more difficult -- yet all the Bush administration does is put huge potholes in our way...I just want a president who will not stand in the way of change, and John Kerry will not."

Moby

"You can be conservative and still not like George Bush. People like him because he seems like a strong guy that would be good to have a BBQ with. But shouldn't you hold the president to higher standards than who would you like to have a BBQ with?"

Jeff Tweedy -- Wilco

"The Republicans have done an extremeley good job of appropriating populist themes. They somehow make it seem as though they're a party of the people, even though their policies hurt some of their most ardent supporters."

Mike D. -- Beastie Boys

"I have no sense of Bush as a man...I don't think I've ever heard him speak on an issue where it seemed to be coming directly from himself."

Will.i.am -- Black Eyed Peas

"The election is no about the war in Iraq -- it's about the war we're neglecting in our own country. We should be more concerned about people who are on drugs, who can't get a meal, who aren't being educated. Teachers are getting paid nickels, and I'm getting lots of money to rhyme cat with bat."

Tom DeLonge -- Blink-182

"Before he was elected president, [Bush] bankrupted three companies, was an alcoholic for a while, and had six years of government experience. His dceision-making process and commnication skills are so bad tha there's nothing he can do withou psising off the world. Kerry would resore respect for America."

Steve Earle

"The thing that scares me more than anything else is that if Bush is re-elected, he's gonna have to institute a draft next year. They're gonna need some freshbodies out there, and they can't do that without a draft."

Mickey Hart -- The Dead

"It's like we've got a bad CEO. Nothing personal, Mr. Bush, but I don't think you're running this country well. I thnk you're running it into the ground... You're fired. That's all. Nothing personal, man."

Bob Weir -- The Dead

"Harry Trman said that the one crime more heinous than treason is war profiteering, and yet we have the company that our vice president is sitll on retainer to -- which is illegal -- making a huge fortune. Every time the terrorists blow up another pipeline over there, Halliburton makes milions of dollars pasting it back together."

Jackson Browne

"The people who are in charge now are old hands who were involved in the governments of Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Bush Sr. They're radicals and zealots whose attitude is "Bring it on."...this administration has no respect for the rule of law itself."

Eddit Vedder -- Pearl Jam

"You've got books full of facts that show how Bush has failed...we have to stop treating the rest of the world like our subjects. What is the only institution more powerful than the United States government -- one that can move things in a different direction? It's the American people It's the voters."