“I wasn’t very worried about the Cold War; I was busy being a musician.”

As for what other people think of me, I don’t care. I don’t care and never have.

Just ’cause something’s popular, it can still be good. In fact, if more people are buying it, then you must be doing something right.

I was brought up by two women: my mother and my grandmother.

I was lucky: I didn’t get married, so I didn’t have to have that responsibility.

I always write about war, love, death, and injustice. There’s plenty of that around, so I never run out of ideas.

Got two kids; one’s a record producer who lives just up the road from me – great guitarist and piano player, too.

I hate golf! I still can’t believe Alice Cooper plays golf!

It’s very much up to you, how you shape your life. I mean, I missed out on human relationships. But looking at relationships that I’ve seen along the way, I don’t think I’ve missed much.

Oh, I listened to a lot of the blues. I love the blues. You know, Slim Harpo, people like that, and Sonny Boy Williamson.

I listen to everything from Ravel to the Bee Gees.

Bomber’ was the first song I wrote about war.

I don’t really admire musicianship per se – as is obvious from my own playing.

I wanted to be a farmer; actually, I wanted to be a horse-breeder. And I had the stallions… but then I heard Little Richard, and that was it.

You can’t win fame; you have to earn it. If you’re given fame without working for it, then you’re not going to be ready for it.

I saw the Beatles play the Cavern in Liverpool when I was 16. They had attitude: Onstage, they were like a four-headed monster.

I dislike religion quite intensely. It’s been the cause of all the grief in the world ever since they discovered the first stone to worship.

Being just yourself means you’re unselfconscious in that moment.

The concept of being loyal to your friends, to the point where you’d even die for them, is a great subject.

You have to believe in yourself and be strong.

Human beings are pattern-seeking animals. It’s part of our DNA. That’s why conspiracy theories and gods are so popular: we always look for the wider, bigger explanations for things.

I thrive on being able to make a way out of no way.

No more excuses about being young.

I think it’s important that we run that tension between the way things are.

I’m sort of always trying to reinvent and recreate a better way of being.