Yngwie Malmsteen

“I always wrote everything - I wrote all the lyrics, I wrote all the melodies, everything; it's just somebody else sung it. And to me, the singer is nothing else than a different... like a bass player or a keyboard player - they're not more important than any other musician.”

“I wanted to learn how to play guitar so I could smash it up and burn it. I was only a little kid, so that was my incentive.”

“My will power has always been very strong. If I want something, I'll get it. I've had no trouble keeping my head on my shoulders, nor do I have any chips on there.”

“When I was a kid, I played drums, and when I first got a 4-track, I would put down drumbeats and then do the rest of the tracks on top.”

“Steeler was a good start for my career. They didn't play anything dangerous - everything was formulaic - but I played all this crazy stuff on top of it, and that turned out to be an interesting combination. But by the time 'Steeler' came out, I was already out of the band.”

“I joined Alcatrazz a month after I recorded 'Steeler.' The big difference between Steeler and Alcatrazz is that in Alcatrazz, I wrote the songs. When I went to the Alcatrazz audition, they had no songs and no direction. They also had a questionable drummer.”

“I am convinced that there are few, if any, American people that could even start believing or understanding what living in a socialist country does to a person.”