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" Everyone gets frustrated and aggressive, and I'd sooner take my aggression out on a guitar than on a person. "

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" I really enjoy playing America. I like the audiences there. It's the home of a lot of music I grew up with. "

" I was such a massive fan of all the '60s pop bands, but if I had to single out one band, it would definitely be The Beatles. "

" I'm not big on rap, to be honest. I just don't get it. It's angry people shouting. I like a song, melodies, people singing. "

" I'm so lucky, I'm just really grateful for what I've got around me - children and my wife and everything else. "

" It is nice to make a record and people like it, and it's encouraging. "

" There are so many artists who get to my age that get comfortable and just stick in a groove, and I really don't want to do that. "

" The Zombies were really unique - they had elements of jazz and classical music in their songs and songwriting. They had a very, very different sound compared to a lot of their contemporaries at the time. "

" Of course I'm proud of what I've done, but I'm interested in what's next. I want to be relevant now, in 2012. I've done my bit for the past. I've only ever been about what's next, really, and I'll be that way until I keel over. "

" Playing music is a lifetime's work. And if you want to carry on with it, you have to try to better yourself. You have to see where the music can take you. "

" I've always had self-belief, though my sensitive side has never been fully appreciated. For every 'Down in the Tube Station at Midnight,' I've written an 'English Rose.' People forget. "

" I think politicians are so far out of step with what people really want. "

" There was a time in my 40s where I thought, oh, it's all over - not just work, but I'm never going to feel young again, I'm always going to feel like I know what's going to happen, I'll know what to expect. Looking back I don't know if that was a midlife crisis, I don't know - but I don't feel that now. There's possibilities. It gets better. "

" I'm fine with being thought of as a guitar player, and if I can get any recognition or respect for doing that, that's a pretty good thing for me. "

" I'd heard a lot of Motown and Stax when I was a kid, but the more well-known end of it. On Jam tours, we had a DJ called Ady Croasdell who ran a '60s club. He turned me on to underground stuff and what people call northern soul. It just blew my mind. "

" Coming from a little suburban town, I wasn't a hip city kid. I was quite the opposite, really. Songs like 'Saturday's Kids' rang a bell for kids all over the country. That song was about the kids I grew up with. "

" There is a shy side to me that evaporates when I play on stage, and I like that. I think it's another facet of my character, and I need to do that. "

" I'd like to think I've left something in the world. Without in any way trying to be morbid, but life is very short, and I'd like to think I'd leave some body of work that would inspire other musicians long after I've gone. "

" For me, the best thing I can do is play live. The best way for me to put over what I'm trying to do is to play live. Whether it's an acoustic show, electric or whatever... if I shine at all, that's where it all really happens - it just took me a while to rediscover that. "

" You can't live a lie. You have to follow your heart. "

Follow Your Heart

" Getting to No. 1 makes everyone feel better; of course it does. But it's swings and roundabouts with these things. Sometimes you make a great record, and it clicks with people. And other times it passes them by; there's nothing you can do. It's still the same record. "

" In the '90s, I think I rediscovered my guitar. The Jam was obviously very guitar-based, but in the Style Council I just got really disillusioned with playing the guitar. The further it went on, the less and less I played, to a point where I couldn't pick it up any more. "

" In my old age, my mind gets more open, and I listen to so many different types of music and I guess that all reflects in my work. "

" I'm sure there's a subconscious 'go for it' thing with turning 50. You want to do as much as possible and there are thoughts of how little time we have on the planet. For a lot of musicians in their 50s, the best days are behind them. I'd like to try and show that there is a future. "

" People say you make your best work when you're in despair and all that, and at your lowest - but for me, I think happiness makes you positive, and I think that's a good creative place to write from. "

" I think I come from a time when all the artists I grew up with and I loved always used to try and push the boundaries, and there doesn't seem so much of that, really. "

" I am aware of the words 'national treasure' being attached to me occasionally. It just makes me feel old. "

" 'Ageism,' or whatever you want to call it, is a very English phenomenon. You don't get it too much in many other cultures. And no one says it about authors or poets or filmmakers. 'Oh, they're too old to make films or write books.' "

" No one told Miles Davis or BB King to pack it in. John Lee Hooker played literally up to the day he died. Why should pop musicians be any different? "

" I'm very, very open to experimenting with different people and trying to find different methods of writing and making music. "

" I've always liked my clothes, even before I could properly afford them. Clothes for me were never a cloak, a cover. They were how I chose to express myself. "