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I Somehow Hope - Naïve Though I May Be, Utopian, Possibly - That My Music Has Some Kind Of Calming Effect On The Universe, That It's Somehow Beneficial To People.

-John Lydon

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I Somehow Hope -

John Lydon

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I Somehow Hope - Naïve Though I May Be, Utopian, Possibly - That My Music Has Some Kind Of Calming Effect On The Universe, That It's Somehow Beneficial To People.

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My Reputation Is A Media Creation.

If You Are Pissing People Off, You Know You Are Doing Something Right

I've Had Great Pleasure Meeting The Likes Of Newt Gingrich And Having A Chat With The Fellow On A Staircase. I Found Him Completely Dishonest And Totally Likeable, Because He Doesn't Care! He Knows What A Politician Is, And He's A Perfect Embodiment Of One.

I Love Discordancy. It Makes People Ill At Ease And Wakes Up A Part Of Their Brain That's Normally Asleep.

If I'm Left To My Own Devices, I Will Be Tempted To Make The Most Unlistenable Music Possible.

I Got Into Music By Happenchance And Luck And Wearing A T-shirt With "i Hate Pink Floyd" On It. The Irony Has Never Failed To Amuse Me Ever Since Because I Didn't Hate Pink Floyd At All! And Yet You Have An Entire Range Of People Out There Believing That The Best Thing You Can Do In Life Is To Hate Pink Floyd. Come On, It's Because It's The World I Live In!

Rules Are Important, But They're Temporary And They're Always Supposed To Be Changed.

Any New Ideas Go Into Pil. My Inspiration Is Everything That The Human Being Gets Up To. I Don't Listen To Any Music When I'm In Pil-zone, Because Influences Can Poison Your Well. Otherwise, I Listen To Anything.

I Went To Visit Alcatraz Years Ago When I Was On Tour With The Pistols, And I Really Liked The Atmosphere Of The Place. I Genuinely, Really, Thoroughly Enjoyed The Whole Morning There. I Just Liked The Quietness And Stillness Of What Is Basically A Cruel Prison Complex. I Still Found Some Kind Of Joy In That. That's How I Am.

For Me, The Anarchy Movement Is Hilarious. It's All Under .org, Which Is Of Course Government Sponsored Websites, And Then They're All Wearing Corporate Clothing From The Dr.martin's To The Back Sacks And The Cell Phones, They're All Flying Around On Corporate Jets And Using Corporate Highways. Very Anarchistic!

Rock N' Roll Is Over, Don't You Get It? It Lasted 25 Years And Now Gets Wiped Out. The Sex Pistols Were The Bullet In The Brain. They Were The Last Rock And Roll Band.

The Way The Music Industry Is Now Geared, It's Fewer Accolades Towards New And Upcoming Acts. New Bands Offer Bright Creativity. It's A Set Format. A Venue Would Rather Hire A Dj Than A Band, And That's A Problem.

Heaven Is On This Earth. There Are No Angels On The Clouds With Twanging Harps... That's Just Another Man's Fantasy.

Here's How I Understand Music. If You Can Play The Same Bunch Of Noise Twice, It's Music. To Go Beyond That Is Supercilious And Pontificating.

You Should Never, Ever Be Understood Completely. That's Like The Kiss Of Death, Isn't It? It's A Full Stop. I Don't Ever Think You Should Put Full Stops On Thoughts. They Change.

Americans Being Upright And Forthright And Honest And True To Themselves Is A Very Hard Concept.

You Gotta Bear In Mind, The Youth - And This Is Just In Britain Alone - Have Nowhere To Go In The Evenings. They've Closed All The Social Centers. There's Not Even A Patch Of Grass To Kick A Ball On.

For Me People Are People, Without Meaning To Sound Corny, It's A Plain Natural Fact, Music Is A Universal Language And I've Always Known That And Observed That And Treated Music With Great Respect Accordingly.

For Me All Governments Are My Enemies And I've Never Made Any Bones About It Any Other Way Other Than Directly, And I Don't Fly The Left Flag Or The Right Flag, Me, I'm Common Sense.

I Don't Listen To Music. I Hate Music.

You'd Have To Be Daft As A Brush To Say You Didn't Like Pink Floyd.

A Record Company Used To Be A Very Good Thing, But They Ended Up Soul-destroyingly Trapping People In The Accounting Department. And You Couldn't Get Any Further, And The Heads Of Each Department Were Changing All The Time, So You Couldn't Have Any Permanent Relationship Within The Corporation.

I Have The Integrity Of A Teenager And That's Never Going To Be Stolen From Me. I'm The Original Virgin.

Music Is Escapism From The Grim Realities Of Life. But Then As Soon As You Escape Into The Music, From My Point Of View, I Found I Had To Deal With The Very Things That I Thought I Was Running Away From. I Wanted To Hit Those Problems On The Head And Resolve Them. So They Didn't Remain As Issues In My Psyche.

I Have A Sensible Set Of Values That Tell Me To Never Lie.

Judge Not Others Unless You're Prepared To Be Judged!

I'm A Great Self-doubter. I Constantly Need To Prove Myself To Myself. I've Never Run To Heroin Or Alcohol To Hide That. I Always Have To Deal With It. Stage Fright Is Always Going To Be There. I Have Nightmares About Bad Gigs.

Sometimes The Most Positive Thing You Can Be In A Boring Society Is Absolutely Negative.

I Don't Mind Dancing The Robot If The Chemicals Are Ok, But Beyond That The Robot Will Not Pull My Strings.

Freedom Isn't To Do What You Want At Somebody Else's Expense.

I Love American Ski Resorts Because They're Open To Everyone, Are Not Incredibly Expensive. They're Not Snobby And You Can Have Fun All Day Long On The Most Excellent Mountains.

Meat Isn't Murder, It's Delicious.

There's Nothing Glorious In Dying. Anyone Can Do It.

I Love Conversation And The Sharing Of Different Thoughts And Philosophies. That Kind Of Stuff Always Makes Me Happy. I Don't Mind Interviews, Either - I Like Doing Them.

There Are No Limits To Where Our Brains Can Take Us. We Are, If There Be A God, God's Gracious Creation.

If There Is A God

I'm Not Blowing My Own Trumpet Here, But I Made A Rap Song 20 Years Ago With Afrika Bambaataa.

I Always Feel Like A Bit Of An Outsider Myself, But As A Working Class Lad, The System Was Always Against Me. The British System Itself And Then Of Course All The Illnesses That Were Challenging To Me.

I Never Take Any Commitment Lightly, And I Certainly Don’t Take My Wife Lightly. I Never Did And I Never Will. That’s Permanent. That’s True Love.

For A Gun-toting Nation, Americans Are Surprisingly Passive.

[replying To The Question Of The Presenter: "where Did The Name "sex Pistols" Come From, Who Thought This Name Up?"] Some Animal. I Can't Remember. It Doesn't Matter. It's History.

You Know, I've Been To Some Superstars' Houses, And I've Been Really Disgusted When I See Their Platinum Discs Hanging In The Toilet. They're Just There On The Walls Glaring At You When You're Trying To Be Occupied With Other Things.

The Greatest Achievement Of My Life Is Enduring A Disease That Nearly Killed Me. I Came Out Of It A Better Person. It's My One Great Accomplishment - More So Than Anything Else I've Done.

We're Sex Pistols, We Ain't Fake.

I Was Brought Up And Raised In Britain As A Labour Man, And That Quickly Changed. And I Find There Are More Working-class People In The Conservative Party Than The Labour Party.

It's Nice To Be A Part Of History But People Should Get It Right. I May Not Be Perfect, But I'm Bloody Close.

May Not Be Perfect

Turn The Other Cheek Too Often And You Get A Razor Through It.

Turn The Other Cheek

Music Can Describe Emotions Far More Accurately Than Words Ever Can. As Soon As I Realised That, I Knew Music Was Where I Wanted To Be.

Punk Became A Circus Didn't It? Everybody Got It Wrong. The Message Was Supposed To Be: Don't Follow Us, Do What You Want!

If The Royal Family Was Going To Assassinate Someone, They Would Have Gotten Rid Of Me A Long Time Ago.

I Like Crazy People, Especially Those Who Don't See The Risk.

All The Things That You Would Have Thought Would Have Made Me A Professional A1 Criminal... Wrong. I Decided That Was Too Lazy And Easy, And Because Of The Way British Society Is, Quite Frankly You Were Denied An Education, So I Got One Of My Own.

I'm Not Limited To Categories Or Genres. Anything Human Beings Come Up With Fascinates Me. If A Three-legged Idiot Like Me Can Dance To It, Then That's All Well And Fine.

I Don't Like Walking In The Street And Seeing 30,000 Copies Of Myself.

It's Volatile, The Marriage. Which One Isn't? Nothing Better Than A Good, Full-on Row. Get It All Out. Say Rude And Nasty Things. And Then Be Sorry. Genuinely Sorry, Afterwards.

Situationism Is A Ludicrous Proposition. It's Ill-formed And It's Perfectly French. That Gallic Disposition Towards Common Sense. L'anarchie!

If You Ever Want To Know Why I'm Not On A Record Label, Look At 'the X Factor!' Honestly, Of All The People That Strive To Break Barriers In Music And Do Good Things And Write Great Lyrics, Not One Of Them Would Ever Pass The First Round On Any Of These Competitions.

If You Were To Look Back At Me As A School Kid You'd See A Very Quiet Little Church Mouse Kind Of Character.

Art Should Be Life. It's An Imitation Of Life. It Should Have Some Humanity In It.

I Nearly Die Of Fear Before I Go On Stage. Something Wicked. I Can't Eat A Thing The Day Before A Gig.

Gossip Is A Very Dangerous Tool. We Should Be More Wary Of The Gossiper, And Not The Gossip They're Trying To Relay To You.

I Like Lime-flavoured Yoghurt. The End. There Is No Religion. It’s A Man-made Fabrication. Once You Understand That, You’ll Be A Happier Individual. Atheism Is As Pointless As Satanism.

One Of The Most Beautiful Things About Britain, Apart From The Nhs And The Free Education, Is The British Army.

That's Where Money Comes From, You Work Hard And You Earn And Then You Spend It On Correct Things, And Public Image Is A Correct Thing.

I Find Lady Gaga Hilarious. And I Kind Of Like Her. My Heart's Warmed To Her.

I Cannot Comprehend Fundamentalism. It's Fundamentally Wrong.

What Goes On In The World And Who's Defining What Is Right Or Wrong In Anything? Is There A Place In Any Of Our Existence Where We Need Judgment Any Longer? But We Should Have Empathy Towards Each Other And Break Away From Those Categories That Politics And Religion Keep Throwing Back At Us.

Do Not Stand In The Middle, Go To The Right Or To The Left.

I Will Always Pay Respect And Homage To My Early Years, Because That's What Gave Me The Initial Push To Go On And Do What It Is I Do. That's Where I Learned The Love And Respect For Music.

Maybe I'm A Prehistoric Monster By Being An Individual. It's Highly Likely. All I Offer To Others Is Their Own Individuality. Grab It!

There's Many, Many Ways To Write A Song. But Generally, Sitting Down At A Table And Writing Is Not One Of Them.

I've Always Strived To Maintain A Very Healthy, Friendly Working Situation, And Lo And Behold, It Only Took Forty Years, So The Next Sixty Are Looking Bright. You're Dealing With Human Beings On The Cutting Edge, And There's Bound To Be Tension. You Have To Be Make Room For That, And You Can't Be Too Unreasonable, Because That's Everybody Else's Role.

I Don't Have Any Expensive Habits. I'm Not A Car Collector Or Any Of That Nonsense. But I'd Love To Be Incredibly Wealthy For No Reason At All.

I Don't Believe In Pets. I Like Animals To Be Wild And Free. But I Can Sit And Watch An Ant Run Up And Down The Floor For Hours. I Use A Magnifying Glass To Look At The Beautiful Shape Of The Thing.

I'd Love To Have Been Born Into A Wealthy Family. I Might Have Turned Out Even More Marvellous Than I Am Now.

Pop Music I Have Always Loved Best. But The More Extreme, Fascist-led Examples Of The Music Business I Tend To Detest The Most.

If You Have Something To Say Then You Want Someone To Pay Attention Or At Least To Have The Opportunity For Them To Tell You To Shut Up And Go Away.

I Could Never Be A Member Of A Single Party. I Want The Best Of All Worlds, Thank You.

People Think I Hate The Royal Family, But That's Not True.

It's No Good Being Nice And Young And Naive. There's No Good In That At All. You've Got To Do It All Yourself, And You've Gotta Learn Quick. And You Can't Look For Sympathy Either.

I've Never Told Anyone This. But I Suffer From Terrible Stage Fright. True. You Can't Tell Though, Can You? Unbelievable, The Panic. I Nearly Die Of Fear Before I Go On Stage. Something Wicked. I Can't Eat A Thing The Day Before A Gig. It'd Make Me Vomit.

I Have One Major Problem With The Internet: It's Full Of Liars.

I Don't Understand The Art Of Compromise, And It's A Shame The Politicians Don't Understand That As Well, You Know, We Might Have A Better, Clearer World. But Then Saying That, We Might Also Get A Lot Of Donald Trump's Running Left Right And Centre.

Pop Music I Have Always Loved Best.

My Way Of Thinking As I Approach Any Human Being On This Planet Is, 'what Are You Doing Now?' That's What Interests Me. I Don't Come At Anybody With A Whole Bunch Of Assumptions.

I Do Use My Music To Entertain Myself, As Indeed I Use Other People's Music.

This Is A Very Difficult Thing To Remain Independent And Persistent.

You Can Always Wake Up On The Wrong Side Of The Bed And Boo-hiss Everyone Suffers. We Can All Be Temperamental.

I Always Knew The Sixties Wasn't A Revolution. It Really Was Just A Bunch Of University Students With Wealthy Parents Having Fun.

University Students

Some Song Ideas Absolutely Require A Kind Of Rigid Discipline, And Others Require Absolute Chaotic Abandon. The Form Is Only Valid If You Know How To Un-form It. I Don't Mean To Sound Like An Intellectual Here!

For Me, The Best Rock Is Not What You Play - It's What You're Not Playing.

I Mean, The Genuine Roots Of Culture Is Folk Music.

My Entire Life, Socially, Was All Around The Maggie Era. That Was The Great Challenge As A Sex Pistol Was How To Deal With Margaret Thatcher. I Think We Did Rather Good.

Punk Is Like Looking At A Mirror. I Already Have A Mirror So I Don't Need The Offspring To Remind Me How Gorgeous I Am.

Isn't It Odd I've Made Some Friends In The Republican Party, But That's In Spite Of The Fact That I Cannot Agree With Not Any One Single Thing They Stand For. That's The Irony In The Joy Of Being A Human Being In That We Don't Resent Each Other For Our Different Thought Processes, But Anything That Offers The Attitude To Me Of "i'm Going To Stop You Because That Offends My Religion", Then I'm Going To Stop Them. So I Have One More Note Against That Ideology, And The Idea Of A Real Estate Agent Running The Universe Is Just Not Acceptable.

My Words Are My Bullets.

I Love Consumerism, Tv Culture, Shopping Malls. There's Nothing I'd Ever Buy, But I Like Being There. It's Wacky.

If You Can Sort Out Why You Feel The Way You Do Then You Might Be In Better Shape To Meet Your Maker.

I Showed What I Can Do With Butter, Right? Eighty-five Percent Increase In Sales. I'm Very Proud Of Them Country Life Ads. They Were Funny And Clever And Classy Like The Toblerone Ads I Grew Up With.

It's An Absurdity To Just Wish For A World Of Chaos Without Anything Viable In Its Place. I'm Loyal To My Culture, My Creed, The Human Race And My People And I Don't Want To See Them All End Up In A Mad Max Movie.

Destroy Everything. That's All Well And Fine, But You Got To Offer Something In It's Place. Since I Always Have A Point And Purpose To What I Do, Thats Why People Accuse Me Of Being Calculated. It's The Way I Am. I Always Know My Next Move. I Could Never Conjure Up A Death Wish, This Is All I Have Is Life. I Don't Know What Comes Next, And Frankly I'm In No Rush To Find Out. I Don't Believe In Playing A Martyr Just For The Sheer Hell Of It. And For Something As Chidish As Rock 'n' Roll Is Not On.

Punk Was Never About One Particular Clean-cut Imagery... It's About Many, Many Individuals Coming Very Loosely Together.

Having A Birthday Cake Squashed Into Your Face By Young Kids? Delicious. I Always Don A Santa Suit At Christmas. Remaining Childish Is A Tremendous State Of Innocence.

When You Grew Up Like Me And My Four Brothers, You End Up Feeling Somewhat Inadequate, Like Somehow You Don't Count.

For Me, I'll Always Stand Up For The Disenfranchised, And I'm Going To Make A Big Point Of That. I'm Not A Protest Singer As Such, You Know? After The Endurance Course Of The Early 70s And 60s, I Don't Want To Become One Of Them Twats. But You Got To Learn To Speak The Truth.

Move To Italy. I Mean It: They Know About Living In Debt; They Don't Care. I Stayed Out There For Five Months While I Was Making A Film Called 'order Of Death,' And They've Really Got It Sussed. Nice Cars. Sharp Suits. Great Food. Stroll Into Work At 10. Lunch From 12 Till Three. Leave Work At Five. That's Living!

These Days Young Kids Don't Have Any Place To Form An Epic Adventure. It's More Often In Front Of The Tv Screen Or A Laptop. That's Very Hard On Them. They're Being Taught Daily Unsocial Skills. Facebook Is An Unsocial Skill. It's So Sad.

I Think There's Something Basically Wrong With The General Public That They Do Need Their Icons.

Punks In Their Silly Leather Jackets Are A Cliché. I Have Never Liked The Term And Have Never Discussed It. I Just Got On With It And Got Out Of It When It Became A Competition.

Leather Jackets

I Always Find The Mirror In The Dressing Room Is Where The Best Artists Are.

Let's Face It, I Ain't Ever Gonna Be The Best Singer In The World, Or The Best Anything.

I Have One Major Problem With The Internet: It's Full Of Liars. There Doesn't Seem To Be Any Way To Answer To People Lying About You.

I've Always Said, I Thought The Sex Pistols Was More Music Hall Than Anything Else - Because I Think That Really, More Truths Are Said In Humour Than Any Other Form.

Over The Years, During Television Interviews, Whenever The Host Or The Reviewer Or Whoever Gets Cynical And Nasty With Me, I Will Behave Accordingly. I Will Defend Myself.

I Had An Irish Catholic Education. Horrible Nuns, Vindictive And Cruel.

Analog, Electronic, Whatever It Happens To Be, I Simply Love And Adore Literally Every Aspect Of Making Music.

There Are Some Rolling Stones Songs That Are Just Stunners.

It's A Repressive Society Where You Can't Be Horrible, I'm Not Horrible, They Made Me Horrible, I'm Just Honest.

Occasionally, A Re-enactment Is A Fine Thing. I Love Civil War Re-enactments.

I Love Books, And All The Best Ones Are People Analysing Their Own Emotions. You Can Learn From That.

I've Helped Launch 49 Careers - Those That Have Been In Pil. To Me, They Are My Babies; Whatever They Get Up To, They Know I Love Them. They've Been Living In My Pockets, And They Should Show More Gratitude.

I'm Aware Of My Songs. I'm Aware Of Them Because They're About True Emotions, True Feelings, Things That Matter.

I Have No Time For Lies And Fantasy, And Neither Should You. Enjoy Or Die.

I'm 100% Proud Of The Tv Work I Achieved. The Work I Did On Shows On Insects And Great White Sharks... Stuff That's In School Curriculums In England. Now They Are Showing Up On Discovery Channel.

I've Been Asked Over The Years To Compile A List Of Desert-island Discs. I Couldn't Do That. If I Was Trapped On A Desert Island, I Don't Think I'd Want 10 Songs To Bring With Me.

I Love Being Alive So Much. When You Come Out Of Comas In Your Childhood, Every Moment Awake Is A Joyous Occasion.

I Have Values. But Morals Are Christian. There's No Religion Here. Values. Don't Hurt When You Don't Need To, But Don't Let Anybody Step Over That Line - It's An Invisible Line, But It's Respect For Somebody's Space.

I'm Not One For Like Soul-searching, Sour Fizzy Moments. I Come From The School Of Hard Knocks, "f**king Get On With It", That's It.

Being Born Into The Royal Family Is Like Being Born Into A Mental Asylum. Marrying Into It Is Not Something To Be Taken Lightly.

Love Is Two Minutes Fifty-two Seconds Of Squishing Noises. It Shows Your Mind Isn't Clicking Right.

Let's Escape The Past. The Past Didn't Work. All We Have Is The Future, And I'm The One Who Wrote "no Future For You!" Don't Let The Irony Be Lost.

You Never Know How Things Will Work Out. After All The Bad Reasons In The World, Some Good Came Out.

Books Are Like My One And Only Joy.

My One And Only

Stroll Into Work At 10. Lunch From 12 Till Three. Leave Work At Five. That's Living!

Me, As A Human, I Never Want To Take Away Another Human Being's Choices Or Lifestyles Or Anything.

We Need Wealthy Dogs Off The Seats Of Power. They're Taking Us Back To Feudalism And I Really Don't Want That. But I'm Very Far From Being A Socialist.

When You Come From Desperate Poverty, And That's Exactly What I Come From, You Know That Nonsenses Are Not To Be Tolerated. I'm Not Sure Who Gains From Chaos, But I Know It's Not The Poor Folks In The Council Flats. The Politics Of Vindictiveness Is Never, Ever Anything Like A Solution.

Some Of Us Are Born Big-minded With Small Penises. Others Have Big Penises And Small-minded.

I Hate The Technological Rip-offs That Pass For Music Formats These Days, And Go Back To Vinyl To Hear A Good Record Because The Sound Is Always So Much Fuller. I Don't Even Like Listening To Music In The Car.

I Never Thought Of Green Day As A Punk Band. Just Bubblegum, Really.

I've Created Several Musical Trends, Really. That's Not Because I'm So Far Out And Fabulous. It's Because Most Bands Have No Ideas Of Their Own. They're So Desperate They'll Grab At Any Old Straw.

I'm Not This Callous Clown Walking Around Laughing At Life All The Time. I've Had Some Serious, Serious Problems In My Life. But I've Come Out With A Smile.

I've Never Said I'm A Communist.

As A Young Concert-going Person, I Was Never Enamoured With Celebrities Who Would Walk Out To Feature In Certain Songs And Then Walk Off.

I'm Just Permanently Agitated By Everything And Everyone.

Records Were Vitally Important To The Development Of Music And Of All Music Cultures. With That Being Pushed By The Wayside, I Can't See An Ipod Uniting Us. In Fact It Separates Us, The Streets Are Full Of People Bumping Into Lamp Posts, Listening To Their Own Little Universe, And There's No Sharing In That.

I Applaud The Effort It Takes To Put A Record Together.

Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated?

I Don't Tolerate Liars. When Somebody Lies To Me, That's Really, Like, Just Unbearable.

You'll Find That Empty Vessels Make The Most Sound.

I Wanted To Wear The Most Impenetrable Suit Of Armour Ever Known To Mankind. 'hello, Mr. Rotten...' You Can't Say Anything About Me. You Can't Put Me Down In Any Way Shape Or Form - I'm Rotten To The Core... You Know, What's Left For You? Pleasantries? I Suppose The Worst Insult You Could Sling My Way Is 'oh, He's Really Nice, Him.'

I Come From The School Of Do It Yourself Mate. Unfortunately Over The Years There's Been Quite A Few Of, "can You Do It For Us Johnny, So We Can Grab All Your Glory?".

I've Done No Harm To No One. In Fact, I Think I've Improved The World.

I Never Wore A Studded Leather Jacket, Y'know. Ne-va! If I Had Had The Money I Wouldn't Have Spent It On Shit Like That.

Leather Jackets

Love Is 2 Minutes And 52 Seconds Of Squelching Noises.

The Only Notes That Matter Come In A Wad

I Don't Release Records To Be Anything But Enjoyable.

I Love Boating - Not Flash, 'noisy Go Fast' Nonsense, But The General Relaxation Of It. My Wife And I Love To Get In Our Little Wellcraft And Go As Far Out To Sea As We Can, Hopefully Beyond Land. That Is The Best Thing You Can Ever Do. It Clears Your Psyche.

I Could Take On England, But I Couldn't Take On One Heroin User.

I've Always Despised The Hippies.

I'd Rather Give Up My Ears Than My Eyes, Which Might Sound Unusual For A Musician.

Only The Fakes Survive.

You Need The Past As A Guideline. The History Of Music Is A Good Basis, But To Escape That Stuff, That Tortuous Rulebook, You Have To Learn It First. It's Kind Of Like Religion - Once You've Written The Bible, That's It, Move On.

Words Cannot Express Quite A Lot Of Feelings, Whereas A Noise Or Tone Or Drone Or Sound, An Accordion Falling Down A Staircase, Can Somehow Capture An Emotion Much Better.

Some Visualize The Pistols Era In Shades Of Black And White. It Wasn't. Actually, The Colors I Envision Are Neon Or Army Dirt Green With Fluorescent Pink--anything That Would Annoy."

Black And White

If Anyone Asks For Your Autograph They're Showing You Respect And Give It Back To Them.

When You Talk Like An Asshole And Look Like An Asshole, You're An Asshole

Obama's Dense As A Doorbell; Not Much Going On Up There - It's A Wooden Top.

I Don't Think There's Any Such Thing As Rock N' Roll Anymore - It's An Amalgamation Of Business Interests.

If Dolphins Are So Intelligent, How Come They Ain't Got Walkmans?

You Have Moments Of Grief In Life, And If You Can Put Pen To Paper And Capture That, That's Something Wonderful. I Can Revisit Actual Songs About Past Deaths, And I Know That Emotion Is As True Now As It Was Then.

A Healthy Mind Can Live In An Unhealthy Body.

I'm No One's Lap Dog, You Can't Put Me On A Leash.

Anyone Who's Parading Under A $100,00-plus Video Is Not Free From Corporate. That's Just The Mtv Advertising Agency. I Find Them All To Be Just A Bit Of A Sham.

I Love Pop Music. It's Not Easy To Write A Good Pop Song.

I Hate Death; It Takes People Away From You. You're Left Feeling Rudderless.

I Don't Believe In Pets. I Like Animals To Be Wild And Free.

The Record Companies Fell Apart - Quite Deservedly. Their Corrupting, All-binding Contract Nonsense Had To Stop.

The Sounds Of Anger Are Not Melodic.

I'm Very Open About My Politics. I Don't Believe In Any Political Party At All, None Of Them.

I Love Stephen Colbert And Jon Stewart Because They're Bringing Irony Back Into American Humor, Which Is A Delicious Treat. The Entire Colbert Persona Of Being Extreme Right-wing When He's Not At All Is Highly Amusing. He Does It So Well, But Sometimes A Little Too Well. My Wife Is Convinced He's Completely That Way.

Every Single Lyric I've Ever Written I Meant.

My Biggest Fear Is Mindlessly And Stupidly Repeating Myself.

Periods Of Inactivity, I Don't Know Such Things. I'm Consistently Writing. My Life Is Busy. It Always Is. There Are Hardly Any Moments For Self-indulgent Laziness.

I Somehow Hope - Naïve Though I May Be, Utopian, Possibly - That My Music Has Some Kind Of Calming Effect On The Universe, That It's Somehow Beneficial To People.

People Should Never Allow Themselves To Be Dictated To By Media.

What Do You Have To Do To Get People To Take An Interest? I'm Not Going To Go Out And Cause A Silly Sex Scandal Just To Sell A Record!

Don't Accept The Old Order. Get Rid Of It.

It's Nice To Be Irritated. It's A Very Joyous Thing.

It's Quite Sad To See How Many People I've Known Over That Years That Just Die Off, You Know Like Wilted Flowers. Well, There's Something To Be Said For Flowers In The Dustbin.

I Don't Need A Rolls-royce, I Don't Need A House In The Country, I Don't Need To Live In The South Of France. I'm Quite Happy As I Am.

If You Give Me The Chance, I'll Destroy America For You.

I'm Not Going To Pontificate And Tell You To Execute Your Government At Dawn, But It Wouldn't Be A Bad Idea.

I Think National Pride Leads To Nothing But Wars And Hate.

Do What I Want, Be Honest To Myself And Then It Would Do Good For Others, That's All, Full On.

Oscar Wilde Turned The World Upside Down And Was Able To Laugh At It, And Hopefully By The Time I'm 120 And Worn Out, That's What I Will Achieve. I Love Being Alive So Much.

I'm Not Here For Your Amusement. You're Here For Mine.

Anybody Who Says, "look, John, I'm A Politician. Don't Believe A Word I Say," Is A Friend Of Mine.

You're Made To Feel Ugly, And I Made Ugly Beautiful. Just By Sheer Persistence. Nobody Has The Right To Say That I Am Ugly, And I Will Not Be A Professional Victim, You Know. Sorry!

The Idea Of Hearing, 'great Gig, Man,' One More Time Just Turns My Stomach Over.

When I Write, My Brain Moves Faster Than My Hands So I'm Always Trying To Picture Things.

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