- I just think Bowie (David Bowie) was so influential and the greatest solo artist of the 20th Century. In any walk of art.
- [on the album "Ocean Rain"] It's got everything on it - it's so unusual - and the sound of it is quite unique. The way it was done it sounds completely different from everything else we did. From the start to finish, ending with 'Ocean Rain'... In the liner notes on our box set, Wayne Coyne from The Flaming Lips said that was the defining moment of rock and roll for him - hearing the waves.
- I'm the most opinionated person I've ever come across.
- Radio 1 is now so shite we don't have to worry about getting on there. You stop thinking: 'I wonder if this will get on Jo Whiley.' Not that I give a toss, 'cos I think she's crap too.
- Once a Bunnyman, always a Bunnyman. That's why we had to get back together. The thought of it sometimes reduces me to panic, but when I sing 'The Killing Moon' I know there isn't a band in the world who's got a song anywhere near that.
- I've met the top four now: Bowie (David Bowie), Leonard Cohen, Iggy (Iggy Pop) and Lou Reed. They have been the guiding lights in my life. Leonard was the one I met last and I crumbled, I was so nervous. It was a crowded hotel bar and Elvis Costello was there. I don't know how many pints I'd had when Leonard Cohen walked in. I said 'Elvis lad, he's here...' and he said, 'Well, go and say hello,' and I said, 'I can't, I'm really nervous,' and he said, 'Go 'ead, you'll regret it if you don't.' So, I followed him to the bar and he looked lost, he was in his fifties, his suit was crumpled, but he looked great. And I said, 'Hello, I think you're great.' He was brilliant. He said, 'Ian, people tell me you're a great poet,' and I said, 'No, you are!'
- For me, the perfect song is "Suzanne", by Leonard Cohen. The perfect lyric with the perfect melody. I can't see a fault in it. The first time I heard it, I thought, 'Whoaa.' I was about 14 or 15 and I'd seen the Bird on a Wire documentary about him at the pictures. He was so cool and it was my kind of music and I went straight out to get his albums. Then I went back to my mum's house and waited for it to get dark before I played them. That song is just so instant. It goes through my soul; it's like that bit in Poltergeist when the mother's coming down the stairs and she feels this rush of this kid's spirit going through her. It's great when a song just comes at you like that.
- There are things I've said that maybe made Bono worse and more like the showman, me saying from the word 'go' that I thought he was a buffoon. He obviously isn't a buffoon. He's a clever bloke and he's written some good tunes - nothing with any profundity, I don't think - but some decent melodies.
- "The Killing Moon" is more than a song, it's about everything. It's up there with "Suzanne" by Leonard Cohen, "Blowin In the Wind," "In My Life." Every time I sing it I feel like - whoa, something just happened there. I let the crowd sing along with it now too. It used to put me off - like being in Glasgow something they'd all sound like "och aye, da dee dee." But now I really enjoy it. It's hard enough to get a band to agree and say 'that's the one.' But with "The Killing Moon," everyone gets it.
- I used to hate festivals. But we got good at it by having the attitude that "no one's heard of us, but we will convince them." I'm not a great mingler - I think most bands are rubbish - but it's nice to be at a festival with bands you actually like, like MGMT. They've got a great glam-Roxy-Bowie thing. Nifty look hooks and lyrics. I like bands that have got taste and intelligence.
- They (Joy Division) were always much better live than on record. They were the only band that I thought, fucking hell. They blew us away in terms of stage presence and putting on a great rock & roll show. There was no sucking up to the crowd. There was that sense that you were watching something that was it's own thing and there was a barrier between them and the crowd. Some bands are too willing to let the audience to believe that they could be like the band. And it's usually bollocks because those bands are usually the ones with the helicopters. I was a huge New Order fan too. There was no other band around then that I really liked apart from The Fall.
- We've never had that gimmicky "how you doing!" attitude to playing live because to be honest, I'm not that arsed. I'm more concerned with how I'm doing. There was always talk of us being the biggest band in the world but I think that's why it could never happen for us. We're from Liverpool and our mates would have been like "who the fuck do you think you are?" It's obvious when you fake something. It's embarrassing. But I don't regret it.
- As much as I wanna pass on this torch, no one's takin' it off me 'til I'm dead.
- [on Elbow] They still strike me as a band in search of a chorus.
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