We're going through this super-uptight era, which I think comes entirely from literacy, actually. It's the result of machines that were designed as word processors being used for making music.

I suppose I am reluctant about being any sort of 'star' and I didn't particularly want to be portrayed as one.

Everything good proceeds from enthusiasm.

For me it's always contingent on getting a sound-the sound always suggests what kind of melody it should be. So it's always sound first and then the line afterwards.

If you've spent a long time developing a skill and techniques, and now some 14 year-old upstart can get exactly the same result, you might feel a bit miffed I suppose, but that has happened forever.

Nothing so dates an era as its conception of the future.

Some people say Bowie is all surface style and second-hand ideas, but that sounds like a definition of pop to me.