Political art never goes away. I started watching The West Wing show recently and I'm actually learning about how the government works in a way. It's kind of embarrassing.

I'm not saying Sonic Youth was a conceptual-art project for me, but in a way it was an extension of Warhol. Instead of making criticism about popular culture, as a lot of artists do, I worked within it to do something.

I mean, I don't even think of myself as a musician, really.

I always wanted to rebel.

I just think that playing bass, like punk rock bass with a pick, wasn't meant to be done for 25 years.

Twitter reminds me of an era in French literature - Emile Zola and Honoré de Balzac - and the beginning of modernity and gossip. They had these fashion magazines of the time on display with all of the Emile Zola references.

I really like Olivier Assayas filmmaking. He always has this global - economy thing going on.