"This record is just so unique. All I know is that it’s the kind of album where you could put any song from it on at a party and everybody starts dancing. I’d been hearing this song at parties for years and I never knew what it was, other than that I loved this particular sound. Finally, one night, I asked the DJ, and it turned out it was these sisters from The Bronx, doing something totally fresh in the late '70s and early '80s. It must have come very naturally to them, because it sounds like nothing else I’ve ever heard. It’s almost bizarre; nearly all of it is just percussion and vocals and the occasional dub element. It’s minimal, and so singular, and you just have to dance to it. I guess that’s testament to how good the drummer was."

"When Wild Style came out, nobody knew about the New York City underground. This record and the film became how you found out about shit that was going on at that time because nobody was really documenting it. This movie became so big and it spread the message of hip hop in a way that hadn't really been done on that scale previously. When you look at the total global domination hip hop culture has now, you can see its roots in this film, in this soundtrack. It was mad fucking powerful. This film is written so intelligently and the story is so compelling. I like the 'Double Trouble' scene where there is acapella rapping and the scene with 'The Cold Crush Brothers'. The scene in the amphitheatre at night where they're killing it is another incredible moment. The music was just so dope throughout and it undoubtedly paved the way for things like Hamilton. I saw Hamilton this year and I'm looking around and looking at all these different people – all different ages, races and genders – and I was like here now you can see the real global domination that hip-hop and rap culture has – I saw it at the start with things like Wild Style and I see it now with Hamilton and its some mad fucking shit to see how far it has come. It's like we took over the world."

"It's a unique combination of what Zack de la Rocha is doing with his voice and what Tom Morello [guitarist] is doing. If you separate the two, you find yourself thinking: "Well, how could this possibly work?" But again they were game changers. They came along at a time in Los Angeles when there was nobody else doing that style. I don't think anyone has done anything like that successfully. They were a band that were immersed in different kinds of activism and that was something that definitely caught my attention. Who else was doing that? Who was doing that and selling millions of records? And, of course, by doing that they were able to cross over into different scenes and different generations of people that could listen to that type of music. Some of the stuff on here is still just as relevant today as it was when it was released. It's just the intensity of some of those messages for me as a singer. He performs with such conviction. You have got to believe what Zack is saying and he makes you understand what he's talking about. That's the heart of what Rage is all about. They're all behind exactly what he's saying. There's been a lot made in recent years of the idea that bands don't have anything to say anymore, or that they're ambivalent now, but I think everyone is saying something. Even Priest have made a comment in 'Crossfire', where we talk about religion and gun violence. I think a lot of the time these messages just slip under the radar for some people. Priest have never pushed back from making a comment on things that we see in the world or that affect us and think need to be commented on. So I think it's definitely out there. It's just that bands are now doing it a lot more subtly than Rage did."

"Nick Cave is one of these very rare male artists that has managed to hold my attention and interest over the course of four decades now. He is extraordinary and continues to push his artistry and has never cheapened himself or been a desperate gambler in Vegas. In regards to his musical career, he's always just done what he does, so beautifully, with no compromise to the musical climate. As a result, [he] has created his own genre, really, that he is king of. His career is just continuing to blossom and continuing to grow. It has this incredible reach now and is touching new generations. 

 He is one of the greatest artists, storytellers and musicians that I have ever met and have ever been around. I feel lucky to be here to enjoy his work and I'm so grateful that somebody like him is out there still. He is this incredible answer or rebuke to the current climate of just completely vacuous people-pleasing pop music. 

 He's a truly incredible wordsmith too and he is really blessed with the true greatness of a writer. He's not a pop lyricist by any stretch of the imagination: he's a great erudite communicator and you can feel that in his music, in his lyrics, in his books, in his scripts. He's bordering bona fide genius with his words – just so poetic and so very honest and authentic. 

 Each record is a logical sort of expansion from the previous record, but he's a great storyteller, and a great communicator, and a great connector too. I can't think of anyone else who has the kind of career he has, where he's never had a hit – not really, in the traditional sense of a hit – and yet enjoys this phenomenal career where he's now selling out fucking arenas around every corner of the world. I mean, it's mad. 

 He's so unique and just doesn't sound like anybody else. He's got this phenomenal band too in The Bad Seeds whose musicianship is just incredible. It's like going in to listen to an orchestra because it's so emotive and powerful: to see him live is truly extraordinary."