The first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band

The smart thing in the art world is to have one good idea and never have another.

I always use the same guitar; I got this guitar years and years ago for nine pounds. It's still got the same strings on it.

In the wake of the events of 11 September 2001, it now seems clear that the shock of the attacks was exploited in America.

I've got nothing against records - I've spent my life making them - but they are a kind of historical blip.

When you look back on a historical period of music, it seems so obvious to you what the characteristics of it are, but they're not obvious at the time. So, when I look back at my own work, I could easily write a very convincing sort of account of it that made it look like I had planned it all out from day one and that this led logically to that and then I did this and then that followed quite naturally from that. But that's not how it felt.

My guitar only has five strings 'cause the top one broke and I decided not to put it back on: when I play chords I only play bar chords, and the top one always used to cut me there.