Rock and Roll, and other Music

"I don't like techno music AT ALL. I just can't get on board, I keep waiting for the melody to kick in"

-On Techno music

"It rocks, it rolls. Bit like me, really."

-Crystal Maze

"I hope you're not waiting for the guitar to sound better . . . I'm not very good at the guitar, particularly, and I'm not likely to improve . . . "

-during a sound check at Retrofest

"The guitar to me is like a drum. A drum that's basically in tune."

-on guitars

"Anyone who knows how to tune a guitar, come up here"

-During the Retrofest performance

"That's it, I've peaked, I'm fucked."

-after performing a rousing rendition of "Crying" by Roy Orbison

"I don't know where it was to be in the eighties, particularly. Duran Duran- Kajagoogoo . . . I cannot bear singers who yodel. . . . and then Prince got on stage, looking like a dream, and I went 'yeah, that's what it's about, it's the show'. But Duran Duran, believe me . . . "

On eighties music

"Here I was, thinking I was building this sort of monument to mediocrity, and along comes Rick Astley, pulling the rug out from beneath my feet"

On Rick Astley. Anyone remember him? :-)

"Maybe I'd better not sing that one tonight"

-after singing "Dance of Love" and realizing he'd forgotten the second verse.

"That's the worst of it, isn't it. You spend weeks honing it, getting it right, and they just . . . go"

-On forgetting songs

"It's so cool, you'll want to take a warm bath with a friend"

-Concerning "Absolute O'Brien"