I never felt like I had a surface image to rely on that people would like - I always felt like my music would not be very fancy music, my voice is not very fancy, there is nothing hiding me from the audience.

Unfortunately most easily-digested entertainment has as much actual content as a Spongebob Squarepants episode, so the trick is to try to fit actual nourishing content into enjoyable entertainment.

I usually think of art as having a measurable content of nourishment, whether factual or emotional or whatever, and I try to make sure that whatever I do has as much nourishment as I can muster.

A lot more people will want to hear a 5-minute singing cartoon about Communism in China than will want to read that PhD thesis, and that's the power of it even if a lot of details will be missing - that's the reason something like that often has more impact on society.

I do feel pretty lucky that I'm not so great at playing and singing, it forces me to make sure I've really got something worth presenting because I can't rely on any kind of virtuosity to dazzle people with.

I think the benefits are tremendous, and the power of accessibility in art is one of it's most explosive and insidious attributes.

A great artist can change society because of the entertaining and mesmerizing quality of his or her art.