What I like about popular culture is its accessibility, and I've covered popular songs because they are amazing things.

I've always liked pop music. There was a bit of a misunderstanding with the avant-garde rock scene, because I think I was sort of swimming the wrong way, really.

In the past, so many of my records, really, have been sketches for records that never really got made.

I understand why Vladimir Putin is very popular in Russia - he's probably the first Russian leader to not apologize for being Russian. People always pin it down to one man, but there's hundreds of millions of Russians of various sorts. Putin does seem to be very popular in Russia, if only because he stands up for Russians wherever they are, which is exactly what Americans do with Americans, of course.

People who had empires, unfortunately, want them back eventually, somehow, someway.

I don't want to be a professional cripple. And I don't see the suicide stuff as tragic.

I think that pop, and to some extent rock, are like sport and fashion industry in that they're about the exuberance of youth. That's the sort of subliminal ideology.