After the 'Grey Album,' everyone thought of me as the hip-hop guy, the remix maestro. I didn't know how to show them otherwise.
Books don't live and die by awards. You don't listen to an Hector Lavoe album because it won some awards.
The most frustrating thing for musicians who want to play stuff from the new album is when everyone goes out to buy a beer.
Juno MacGuff: Oh and you know what? I bought another Sonic Youth album and it sucked... it's just noise.
I always try to give my own albums space in between so I have time to create a new sound and give time for people to miss me. You have to come out fresh and reinvent yourself.
That's usually what happens with AC/DC: you make an album, and then you're on the road flat out. And the only time you ever get near a studio is generally after you've done a year of touring.
The first jazz pianist I heard was Thelonious Monk. My father was listening to an album of his called 'Monk's Dream' almost every day from the time I was born.
And then the last album, 'Get It', was done over a shorter period of time and I started using other musicians, as opposed to playing all the instruments myself like I did on the other two.
I've been doing a lot of studying singing, and I'm thinking of recording an album containing all my old war horses and putting out a songbook at the same time.
'In Utero' was the first time I'd made an album that reached into the dark side. I remember the conflict and the uncertainty. I remember all those things when I hear 'Pennyroyal Tea.'
But for the first time, we haven't made a huge leap forward in sound from our last album. Fans who own Kid A should be able to get their heads around it.
There are right and wrong reasons for doing solo projects, and this album was done for the right reasons. At the time there was no Judas Priest and I certainly wasn't going to hang my hat up on my musical career.
I thought it was time to get a group together and the first person I thought of was Wayne Shorter. I called Wayne and in the meantime, Wayne called me to make an album with him, which was Super Nova.
If an artist wants to work with me because they feel I've made some credible albums and there've been things that are long-lasting, it's because those artists took the time and we built an idea.
As a teen, I heard the second Velvet Underground album, 'White Light/White Heat,' and it was too much for my limited scope of appreciation. It was intense, but I didn't get it.
'The Taxi Ride,' from my second album, is one people want to hear a lot. I'm consciously trying to walk on the sunny side of the street, to really lift myself into a place of greater positivity, and that's a sad song.
Generally, when a record label suggests album ideas for you, you smile politely, and then proceed to shoot it down, because it's never what you as an artist feel is right for you.
Success has a lot to do with luck, but it also involves a lot of real hard work. The thing about success is you really can't gauge things by album sales.
Rihanna is always on my playlist. I think she pumps you up and gets the day going. I also love - and I know this doesn't sound like a workout album - the Lumineers, lately, and Taylor Swift.
Before our albums are released I feel like we still own it, that we have control over our music. But once it's out there in the world it's no longer ours.
Well, I heard of Sunny Ade, and looks as if his music is gonna be big on a global level, because I was in London the other day and some people asked me to review the album.
