Alternative Rock Singers

"They were always going to be the biggest band in the world. We wanted nothing to do with success the way U2 saw it. It wasn't to do with conquering the world; it was to do with those lads, like me and Ian Curtis, who liked the Silver Surfer and Bowie. At some point everyone seemed to go toward that Live Aid goal of being seen everywhere, in every sodding street, in every sodding nook and cranny in the world. I never wanted that."

"We weren't managed from the word go, like U2 or Simple Minds, to get bigger and bigger and take over the planet."

"I listen back to some of Porcupine now and... well, not blush exactly, we were great and all that... but we could have been just anyone, you know?"

"I just can't understand why they carried on with the name. It did them no favours, and however it can be defended, it spoils the memory. It's not so much that it's unforgivable, but it is a pity that we don't see each other and never talk to each other."

"How can you not sell the first three Bunnymen albums? It's like, how can you not sell the Mona Lisa, Van Gogh's Sunflowers, and The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch?"

"People who leave groups generally sell less records. I feel better and more worthwhile selling less than the last Bunnymen record. I feel more important."

"I wasn't into glam-rock. I was just into him. I never really saw him as glam-rock. Actually, I liked T-Rex too. Electric Warrior was great. But Bowie made me think. I just got lost in it—Man Who Sold the World, Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust—that era. I thought it was just magical, although I was dead impressionable then. But I though he looked brilliant—I still do. I hated the following he had though, especially around the Aladdin Sane era—it just destroyed his mystique. He doesn't hold that mystique for me now—he's just a normal bloke, I suppose. But I remember in 1972 when he was on the telly doing "Starman"—I couldn't believe it! It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It's meant to be a bit of an embarrassing admission now to have liked that kind of thing, but I really did. And I remember when I grew out of it and I couldn't get into Ziggy Stardust the way I used to. I felt really sad about it. I played it and nothing happened."

"When all's said and done, I wish them well. I wasn't just the one that ranted a bit in interviews and thought he was great. I thought the group were great."

"It did cause problems at one point. Part of it was down to the name of the group—people tended to think I was Echo. That's why we named the drum-machine Echo because I definitely wasn't."

"There was even talk at one point of getting Del Shannon to produce our first album."

"I'm basically an 'appy person, but I'm just not into fun things that much."

"From when Oasis first started I thought, "Thank Christ someone has picked up on that simple technique of saying they're the best thing on the planet and just fronting it." Liam is a part of a great ancestry of lippy, insecure bastard frontmen."

"It feels like there's hundreds of bands in Liverpool. There's some okay ones... But really we're the only one I can think of as being a potentially great band..."

"I mean, even Joy Division are a bit over-rated, I think. They're very good live, but on record..."

"I like Americans now. They're dead nice. More polite. They aren't like the English, 'Ey Mac, comin' for a pint round the corner, yer twat?' I hate all that stuff, all that wanting you to be like you were in 1982. I've made up me mind that where I'm gonna regain the lost ground is over here in America."

"I was always really dubious about them actually. I'd heard some of Morrison's rambling poetic stuff, and I thought it was really pretentious... But now I think they're a great group, I must admit."

"People here are always asking me, "Can you play 'Lips Like Sugar' on an acoustic guitar?" And I'm like, "No!" It was an OK song, I suppose, but it didn't sound like us. We just got sucked into a new mentality on that last album, the sound of Radio America. It did great here, but by then I just thought we weren't good enough any more. It was pretty happening, the States was building and building but it didn't feel good on stage. We weren't really communicating as mates and stuff. I mean, I was used to believing that we were the best group going."

"[The Decemberists] generally manage to encompass the Stones, XTC, Morrissey and me without sounding like any of them. It takes a boy from Montana to be that British."

"My mother was a Chinese trapeze artist in pre-war Paris Smuggling bombs for the underground. And she met my father at a fete in Aix-en-Provence; He was disguised as a Russian cadet in the employ of the Axis."

"All instruments sound fantastic in a church."

"Find him, bind him, tie him to a pole and break his fingers to splinters, Drag him to a hole until he wakes up naked Clawing at the ceiling of his grave."

"A little bit of both. 'Decembrist' is the accepted English translation of the Russian 'Dekabristy.' We appropriated it by adding the extra E, which, in my opinion, made it a better band name. For whatever reason."

"Well, I think it is accidental. It’s just something I started doing naturally and it had a lot to do with reading. I think that Dylan Thomas, his prose and poetry, was a big influence on me. Just his use of words… He would use so many odd words: like these three- and four-syllable words that you just don’t normally hear. And they’re not used in a manner that sets the text apart from the reader. Rather they’re drawing the reader in. It’s entirely based on the alliteration of the word itself—onomatopoeia and things like that. I feel like a lot of the words I use don’t stick out in the song because they keep the feel of the song in mind. The rhythm—that’s the primary thing. They’re put in there for rhythm and alliteration as much as they are for meaning. And as long as they are not used extraneously, they’re real lightning rods for people listening to the lyrics. If the words are really helping out the rhythm of the song then all they’re going to do is draw the listener in even more"

"Well, I think you just have to be prepared to be weirder and weirder. I follow the example of Robyn Hitchcock who, I think, has created a career out of this world he has constructed. It’s very much his world, and he continually builds upon it. I think he’s received criticism in the past along the lines of, “Oh, here’s another Robyn Hitchcock record about flesh and fish,” and things like that, but in fact if you really look at the songs, they’re just the building blocks for this very complex, very vibrant, and very real world that exists within his songwriting. So I look to him for inspiration."

"Knowing what I know now, to see everything that he’s gone through, it’s a tough deal. Even if you’re successful, it’s just a different world. It’s not real. You’ve got to separate the business from what’s real. Failure is an event, not a person. -- Gary Meeks"

"There is genius and then there is madness and a fine line, it is said, divides them. One day you're recording a four-track demo tape of your own music in your sister's basement. Practically the next day, you're opening gigs for Metallica and your debut album is on fire, heading for platinum sales; that's madness. Genius, many people claim, is what got you there...at 17 years of age. -- David Lilly"

"Well, I'm not the same and I'm born again; it's the same ol' saying."

"I've finally found the reason, I don't need an excuse. I've got this time on my hands, you are the one to abuse."

"Dancing with the wind: the fire burns, the water drowns."

"I have nothing to hide."

"I'm a lot happier, man. I've been through so much shit. I've just let go. Ever heard of that term "Let Go"? Ever understood it?"

"Why I’m telling you this is because that’s where this music comes from, that’s where my art comes from. You’re talking to a miracle; I am a miracle. I’m not halfway there, you know, dut-dut-dut-dut-da, drink a beer, hang out with my buddies, smoke a joint and get together with the band, wanna be a rock star; no. I am a very troubled individual who has been handed these obstacles in life, and overcome my fears to be honest with myself, so I can be honest with you. That’s not exploitation, it’s liberation."

"The key is so distant, I've opened doors. Know when to listen, know what to listen for."

"I'm sick. It's passed down through my family. I am an addict. I'm sick."

"We are the most impassioned ugly people."

"We are OK; In a misguided sadist way; We are OK. We are OK; In a disabled, veteran's way; We're... so... cold."

"My dance has passed."

"He's a winner, he's a God damn sinner; when he dines I'm on the wrong side of the day."

"I like communicating. I think it’s as simple as that. I get really lonely and dark if I can’t communicate with people."

"I have done. Well, I've shared a moving vehicle with 18 naked men — not many women do that... fantastic, never felt better."

"I'm a sucker for tragedy - I love the death scenes."

"Until we command the exact same salary as every male counterpart, I feel a political desire to stand by other women. If we don’t stand together, that equality will never be fully realized, and that bothers me. I see very little in our culture, actually, of women necessarily standing up for one another. I think there’s still an underlying fear if one woman has the light shone upon her, it takes away from your light, which of course is not the case at all. But I think when you’re young, you maybe fear that."

"Marr has been described as "arguably Britain's last great guitar stylist", a "God-like genius", and most affectionately, "the man who would not solo". No matter the title, Johnny Marr effortlessly shrugged off once-ironclad notions. Unafraid to lay back, Marr's jangly sound, open tunings, melody-ridden arpeggios and chordal chiming are all notable components of his playing style."

"There have been plenty of times when I've been a total dick like everybody else, you know, I mean I wanted to be a little rock'n'roller, and I was, and it was great. I had a to-do list of like "Thou shalt wear sunglasses indoors at all times." Done. "Thou shalt take drugs and have a great time." Done. "Thou shalt crash a big car into a wall." Done."

"Birkenstock desert boots have been a part of pop culture since the beatniks. I made such a fuzz about them being discontinued that the company send me an "lifetime supply", which initially turned out to be seven pairs at two years apiece. They weren’t giving me very long. I think that’s why I gave up smoking."

"Noel Gallagher: "There's nothing he can't do on a guitar. I've been in the studio with him. He's played on Oasis tracks and stuff. The man's a fucking wizard. I've seen Johnny Marr on the telly and he had thick black shades on, a white polo neck, a Brian Jones bowl head, a red semi-acoustic, a pair of jeans and I don't know what he had on his feet, but I thought "That's it. That's what I want to look like.""

"About the cover of "The world wont’ listen" It represents the band to me. On the front you've got four guys who look like, if not the band, then Smiths fans. On the back you've got the female side of it - individually they really look like the Smiths: Morrissey on the far right, me on the second right, Andy [Rourke, bass] on the second left and Mike [Joyce, drums] on the far left. To find a picture like that is really clever. We didn't discuss it, but I understood."

"I think when something's over, events have a way of conspiring to make you realise that it's over. As cryptic as that sounds, it's true. Things would happen and I'd be like, Am I going to have to deal with this for the rest of my life? And it was a very, very emotional band. It's in the music. The relationship between me and Morrissey was very emotional. It wasn't volatile in that we would row or anything like that, but it was so intense that if rocked slightly it would be a big deal. Was the lack of a manager important? Massively, I think. I was nursemaiding people when I needed nursemaiding myself. And I couldn't see where we were going to go in the near future musically without repeating ourselves and not being as good."

"Q: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? JM: Never get into a situation you can’t get out of. I really have stuck to it, because it’s good advice for all walks of live."

"And now I know how Joan of Arc felt Now I know how Joan of Arc felt As the flames rose to her And her started to melt"