The Americans at heart are a pure and noble people; things to them are in black and white. It's either 'rawk' or it's not. We Brits putter around in the grey area.
When it comes down to it, glam rock was all very amusing. At the time, it was funny, then a few years later it became sort of serious-looking and a bit foreboding.
All Montreal bands have around nine members, I believe.
I would dream. I focused all my attention on going to America. The subculture, James Dean, the rock n' roll, the beat writers.
I knew that I was 'interesting' at 18 because I was aware that I could get away with doing things on stage.
When I was 18, I thought that, to be a romantic, you couldn't live past 30.
I wanted to imbue Ziggy with real flesh and blood and muscle, and it was imperative that I find Ziggy and be him.
I think Mustique is Duchampian - it will always provide an endless source of delight.
I'm very good at what I do, and I don't turn my hand to something unless I'm very good at it, frankly.
I'm wallowing in the whole idea of just being a guy out there with a band, with songs. It's a real enjoyment.
Being shoved into the top-40 scene was an unusual experience. It was great I'd become accessible to a huge audience but not terribly fulfilling.
The truest form of any form of revolutionary Left, whatever you want to call it, was Jack Kerouac, E.E. Cummings, & Ginsberg's period. Excuse me, but that's where it was at.
I was born in London 1947, after the war. A real wartime baby. I went to school in Brixton, and then I moved up to Yorkshire, which is in the north of England. I lived on the farms up there.
I cannot with any real integrity perform songs I've done for 25 years. I don't need the money. What I need is to feel that I am not letting myself down as an artist and that I still have something to contribute.
I don't crave applause. I'm not one of those guys who comes alive on stage. I'm much more alive at home, I think.
From my standpoint, being an artist, I want to see what the new construction is between artist and audience.
I think, generally, I just cannot really envision life without writing and producing records and singing.
I've always tended to write songs prolifically.
I could imagine at a certain age, when I have no vocal cords left, that I would find a young man who could sing my parts for me. But I don't see why I would stop.
The name Zahra was to have been lman's own name at birth, but a senior member of the family changed it to lman at the last minute.
I don't like to read things that people write about me. I'd rather read what kids have to say about me because it's not their profession to do that.
Now I realize that from '72 through to about '76, I was the ultimate rock star. I couldn't have been more rock star.
Frankly, if I could get away with not having to perform, I'd be very happy. It's not my favorite thing to do.
I think much has been made of this alter ego business. I mean, I actually stopped creating characters in 1975 - for albums, anyway.
My father worked for a children's home called Dr. Barnardo's Homes. They're a charity.
With a suit, always wear big British shoes, the ones with large welts. There's nothing worse than dainty little Italian jobs at the end of the leg line.
I think in the '70s that there was a general feeling of chaos, a feeling that the idea of the '60s as 'ideal' was a misnomer. Nothing seemed ideal anymore. Everything seemed in-between.
There are times when I prefer a cerebral moment with an artist, and I'll just enjoy the wit of a Picabia or a Duchamp. It amuses me that they thought that what they did would be a good way of making art.
My mother was Catholic, my father was Protestant. There was always a debate going on at home - I think in those days we called them arguments - about who was right and who was wrong.
I have all the admiration in the world for somebody like Bono, who really puts himself on the line and tries actively to do something about our world situation.
