Musician

Art should be life. It's an imitation of life. It should have some humanity in it.

I never thought of Green Day as a punk band. Just bubblegum, really.

I was a very sickly boy when I was young; nearly died when I was 7. I had a life-threatening attack of meningitis, and that put me in a coma for a few months. It took me four years to get my memory back.

I showed what I can do with butter, right? Eighty-five percent increase in sales. I'm very proud of them Country Life ads. They were funny and clever and classy like the Toblerone ads I grew up with.

I don't believe in pets. I like animals to be wild and free.

I love pop music. It's not easy to write a good pop song.

Having a birthday cake squashed into your face by young kids? Delicious. I always don a Santa suit at Christmas. Remaining childish is a tremendous state of innocence.

I nearly die of fear before I go on stage. Something wicked. I can't eat a thing the day before a gig.

I hate death; it takes people away from you. You're left feeling rudderless.

Do what I want, be honest to myself and then it would do good for others, that's all, full on.

I don't have huge bank accounts. I'd love one. But it wouldn't change much. I don't have any expensive habits. I'm not a car collector or any of that nonsense. But I'd love to be incredibly wealthy for no reason at all.

Periods of inactivity, I don't know such things. I'm consistently writing. My life is busy. It always is. There are hardly any moments for self-indulgent laziness.

Over the years, during television interviews, whenever the host or the reviewer or whoever gets cynical and nasty with me, I will behave accordingly. I will defend myself.

Here's how I understand music. If you can play the same bunch of noise twice, it's music. To go beyond that is supercilious and pontificating.

I'd rather give up my ears than my eyes, which might sound unusual for a musician.

There are some Rolling Stones songs that are just stunners.

My way of thinking as I approach any human being on this planet is, 'What are you doing now?' That's what interests me. I don't come at anybody with a whole bunch of assumptions.

I'm 100% proud of the TV work I achieved. The work I did on shows on insects and Great White sharks... stuff that's in school curriculums in England. Now they are showing up on Discovery Channel.

I've always despised the hippies.

Americans being upright and forthright and honest and true to themselves is a very hard concept.