"Erik Satie is something that, when I was at school, an English teacher who probably had a hangover, just said: "I'm gonna put on some music and you write something what comes into your mind." He put on the Erik Satie record - first time I heard it - and I thought, "Fuck, this is amazing." I really, clearly remember that day getting hold of some money and going to the record shop in town, and this is all they had, an interpretation of Satie involving Moog synthesisers. The synth sounds work so well with it. It gives a different angle, a different perspective. All the Satie records I've bought since are piano. All those amazing orchestrations by Debussy or Satie, orchestral interpretations. Satie is intrinsically very ascetic and plain. Really weird guy. I've lost the record now. I've got to find it! I think it's really, exceptionally brilliant."

"That’s real easy. I’d have to say Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, with the dudes shaking hands and the guy is lit on fire. Storm Thorgersen is an amazing artist, so much so that we used a guy named Hugh Syme, who was a protégé of his, for Countdown To Extinction and Youthanasia. We wanted something original and thought provoking and not just an illustration. We got pigeonholed and everyone was like ‘Where’s Vic?’ every time. With Youthanasia, people’s asses were growing together because they thought we actually hung babies upside down and took pictures. What we did was have the moms come in and the babies were on these clear tables with the light underneath, then the moms would grab their toes and pull their legs straight so it looked like they were hanging by their feet. I thought that was brilliant."

"There’s a recent film, the Swedish movie Force Majeure. I just thought it was brilliant. I’ve been married for 17 years myself, and I thought the way he captured this relationship, all the tension, I thought it was amazing. And what I also loved about it in a cinematic sense was the way he shot it. The fact that he stays wide; he doesn’t do any coverage in the scenes. It took me a long time to realize that that was what he was doing. The way he blocked the scenes was so exquisite and so organic, if you will. If you go back, suddenly you go, “Oh my god, he’s just letting the scene roll.” There are very few cuts within the scene. It’s beautiful. I thought it was a great movie, and I thought I should put something recent in there. [laughs]"