I like the big bombastic singers, but I'm also very drawn to what I call character singers. They're people who obviously aren't very huge singers, but they've got this ability to tell a story and touch you emotionally without really using any kind of histrionics or special effects.

I don't know whether when I was 20 years old or 25 years old if somebody would have come along with incredible wisdom whether I would have really listened.

On Madonna: She's a gay man trapped in a woman's body.

I knew style and content went hand in hand.

The problem with being on the road - especially in a hot place like Florida - is that you can begin to think you're on holiday. You can partake of the buffet a little bit more than you should, so you have to have a routine.

Certainly for me, when punk exploded in the 1970s, it was just great. We had these wonderful clothes to wear. We could do great things with our hair. We had protest badges that read "I belong to the Blank Generation." It was such a great time to be a kid.

I started going to Madame Louise's, the lesbian club where all the punk bands used to go - the Sex Pistols, the Clash. I remember seeing Billy Idol walk in there; he was gorgeous.