"This was the mid-’80s, around the time PiL made Album. On that record, I was referring to the heavy metal scene, which had crawled up its own backside. It was endless bands imitating each other, the same nonsense that punk turned into. But great achievements were made in music around then too. Everything from madder folk outfits and pop music itself was becoming very interesting then. I was always pleasantly surprised that oddball stuff would creep in the charts from nowhere. Someone like Gary Numan gave pop music a very distinctive and clear tone that was all his own. “At this stage, I would have been buying everything that was being made, but Alice Cooper’s Killer never left me. That easy way of growling he had was always impressive."

"If I had to pick my favourite record of this year it'd be Black Noise, I've certainly listened to it the most this year. It's another of those records that I can listen to whatever I'm doing - it's borderline background music if you know what I mean, but sometimes if you just put it on really loud it's totally hypnotic. I never thought I'd like techno music, but this really brought me in. Normally when I hear 4.4 beats I just put it in one category, but the sonics of this are amazing - bits of it sound like little pieces of metal, there are all these organic, earthy sounds. It's programmed noise. There's a dark edge to it, but not too dark. Also I love the artwork, it really pairs with the music, really made me listen to it in greater depth."

"I think what’s cool about Slayer is no matter how old their albums are, it’s the one band to me that their sound is immortal. It never sounds corny to me. You can go back and listen to some Pantera and Metallica albums and you’re like, ‘OK, great music.’ But Slayer you go back and they always sound fresh and hard as hell. It’s always just a punch right to the face. I think that’s cool that their albums are almost undying. I like all different types of music. I don’t like going to any specifics. I switch with the seasons. I’ll get into an electronic kick and then I’ll get into rap. Listen to too much hip-hop you start to have some flavor for some guitar and next thing you know you’re listening to metal or hardcore"

"I really like the Elton John thing. Axl was really into that kind of shit, and it really comes out in that tune. He gets a bit, 'Oh woah is me,' but you can't really fault the tune. It's got some great lines in it, he's got a great voice, and he's got a real ear for melody. it's not just punk rock and metal - he really can sing! He also made you feel like it must be quite shit to be a massive rock star, that it's not all it's cracked up to be, which I thought was good. He was one of the first people to say, 'look, I'm struggling with this.' Before Axl, people had been like, 'Hey! Everything's glitzy, everything is alright!"", and he wasn't like that. Then obviously Kurt Cobain took it to a whole new level."