Julian Cope

“To rally every black sheep is my goal.”

“Maybe rock 'n' roll isn't music. Maybe people just need to be reminded that the world ain't the way they think it is.”

“Yeah. I do get incredibly anxious. Almost borderline panic attacks.”

“I realize myself that hate wastes a lot of time and energy and I would rather re-direct any energy that I have to good and positive use.”

“Use it or lose it is a cliche because it's true.”

“I'm going to become the best-remembered artist of my generation by staying away from the party as often as possible. That way, people will remember me, not because I was great, but because I didn't cause them any later embarrassment.”

“I'd spent my childhood thinking bad things, bad things every day. It had made me sick, but it had made me determined.”

“I think you can have the greatest lyrics in the world and if it doesn't have the best tune in the world it will suck. I mean if the music wasn't important it would just be a poem.”

“My mission was always intended to be slightly outside the public eye, because that makes me appear more interesting than I really am. A lot of people don't realise that merely by staying away, you can create a myth.”

“I signed contracts I didn't think were a good idea but people around me said it was the way forward. It saddens me that I'll never own my first album ever, which sucks.”

“The people who make history are not the people who make it who are there but the people who make it and then write about it.”

“I'm trying to do it my way. For me to be happy in the business means I have to do it myself.”

“The way people see you is the way you really are.”