And I saw the sax line-up that he had behind him and I thought, I'm going to learn the saxophone. When I grow up, I'm going to play in his band. So I sort of persuaded my dad to get me a kind of a plastic saxophone on the hire purchase plan.
But I'm pretty good with collaborative thinking. I work well with other people.
But I've got to think of myself as the luckiest guy. Robert Johnson only had one album's worth of work as his legacy. That's all that life allowed him.
Frankly, I mean, sometimes the interpretations I've seen on some of the songs that I've written are a lot more interesting than the input that I put in.
Heathenism is a state of mind. You can take it that I'm referring to one who does not see his world. He has no mental light. He destroys almost unwittingly. He cannot feel any Gods presence in his life. He is the 21st century man.
However, there's no theme or concept behind Heathen, just a number of songs but somehow there is a thread that runs through it that is quite as strong as any of my thematic type albums.
I always had a repulsive need to be something more than human.
I believe that I often bring out the best in somebody's talents.
I don't know where I'm going from here, but I promise it won't be boring.
I felt I really wanted to back off from music completely and just work within the visual arts in some way. I started painting quite passionately at that time.
I had to resign myself, many years ago, that I'm not too articulate when it comes to explaining how I feel about things. But my music does it for me, it really does.
I never could get over the fact that The Pixies formed, worked and separated without America taking them to its heart or even recognizing their existence for the most part.
I think it all comes back to being very selfish as an artist. I mean, I really do just write and record what interests me and I do approach the stage shows in much the same way.
I think Mick Jagger would be astounded and amazed if he realized that to many people he is not a sex symbol, but a mother image.
I think the biggest frightener now is the disturbing lack of interest in... among a certain proportion of younger people, a lack of interest in... no curiosity in what's going on.
I tried passionately hard in the first part of the '80s to fit in, and I had my first overground success.
I wanted to prove the sustaining power of music.
I went through all the musicians in my life who I admire as bright, intelligent, virtuosic players.
I'm always amazed that peole take what I say seriously. I don't even take what I am seriously.
I'm an instant star. Just add water and stir.
I'm just an individual who doesn't feel that I need to have somebody qualify my work in any particular way. I'm working for me.
I'm not a prophet or a stone aged man, just a mortal with potential of a superman. I'm living on.
I've never responded well to entrenched negative thinking.
It amazes me sometimes that even intelligent people will analyze a situation or make a judgement after only recognizing the standard or traditional structure of a piece.
Nearly all the synth work on Heathen is mine and some of the piano.
On the other hand, what I like my music to do to me is awaken the ghosts inside of me. Not the demons, you understand, but the ghosts.
Pixies and Sonic Youth were so important to the eighties.
Sometimes you stumble across a few chords that put you in a reflective place.
Strangely, some songs you really don't want to write.
The truth is of course is that there is no journey. We are arriving and departing all at the same time.
There, in the chords and melodies, is everything I want to say. The words just jolly it along. It's always been my way of expressing what for me is inexpressible by any other means.
To not be modest about it, you'll find that with only a couple of exceptions, most of the musicians that I've worked with have done their best work by far with me.
Tony Visconti and I had been wanting to work together again for a few years now. Both of us had fairly large commitments and for a long time we couldn't see a space in which we could get anything together.
We formed Tin Machine, which was possibly the best decision I ever made in terms of freeing myself from this cul-de-sac and decontextualizing myself. Once I had done Tin Machine, nobody could see me anymore.
What is very enlightening for me right now is that I sense that I'm arriving at a place of peace with my writing that I've never experienced before.
When Brian and I came back together this time, we found that we'd gone through very similar psychological states during the course of the '80s.
When I heard Little Richard, I mean, it just set my world on fire.
When you think about it, Adolf Hitler was the first pop star.
You can neither win nor lose if you don't run the race.
David Bowie's song Space Oddity is ranked #60 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Rock & Roll.
David supposedly refused the honor of being designated C.B.E. (Commander of the Order of British Empire) in 2000.
David has released 27 albums since 1967 but his earliest recordings are usually omitted from his discography.
David sites Little Richard as his first musical influence.
David had a triple bypass in July, 2004 following a heart attack.
David is 5' 10" tall.
David married Iman on April 24, 1992.
David has appeared in 24 films playing a character.
David's music has been in 73 films.
David has had 40 notable guest appearances on television.
David's band, Tin Machine, released 2 albums before he returned to being a solo artist.
The video for Ashes to Ashes was voted the 27th greatest music video of all time in a poll taken by the United Kingdom's channel 4.
David is the richest British rock star.
David was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
On May 30, 1971, David and Angela had a son they named Duncan Zowie Heywood Jones.
David unveiled his star on Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 12, 1997.
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