Some of the best pop music ever has come out of the States.

Artists shouldn't be made famous. They have this huge aura of almost god-like quality about them, just because their craft makes a lot of money. And at the same time it is a forced importance... It is man-made so the press can feed off it.

If ever there's been somebody to hold as an icon of sheer determination and willpower, it's that guy [Stephen Hawking ], let alone any of the things he's done scientifically. I'm sure that's his driving force, but he's a miracle and an aspiration.

The whole positioning and atmosphere of the song ["King of the Mountain"] was to build up this thunderstorm that would take us all onstage off into a story where we were suddenly in the middle of the ocean.

In some ways, when you re-envision a song like that ["Never Be Mine"], there's a completely different energy to it each night.

For "Running Up That Hill" we had worked with a drum machine [in 1985]; the basic rhythms of "Running Up That Hill" happened because the whole track was built on a drum machine.

Normally I don't compromise at all but it felt important to give that song the chance to be heard.