Even in 1971, J. Geils was into the Stones. When I heard Geils, I realized that a lot of other people hearing them had never heard the Stones.
— Billy Squier
I just started exploring the guitar and seeing where it would take me.
When I grew up, I had influences as diverse as Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix.
Following the example of Bruce Springsteen or Bob Seger, I wanted to have a band, a sound and a personality, yet maintain a singular position of being able to control and motivate the flow of things.
I have a lot of gay friends.
Take 'The Stroke,' for instance. Plenty of people saw sexual connotations in that song but to me it was about what goes on in the business world.
I take songwriting very seriously and I wouldn't want anything I do to be construed as frivolous or mundane.
I don't really like fighting.
If 'Emotions in Motion' comes out right, I can write the book on the formula rock star.
The whole British music scene of the mid-sixties had a pretty profound effect on me.
Basically, my life was music, and I was always consumed by it.
I would never dispute the fact that music is my greatest love.
I'm a huge garden and landscape fanatic.
I wouldn't want to end up in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the 'Master of Hip-Hop Samples,' but you take what you can get.
I'm always happy when I'm outside working in the company of nature.
I can put on 'Revolver' or 'Led Zeppelin II' and then 'Tell the Truth' and there is no quality gap.
We don't want to categorize our music. Some people say you need a definite musical direction to give a group visibility.
So everybody is trying to play like Eddie Van Halen. I think it's rubbish. I think Eddie's great, but everyone's trying to do what he does and it doesn't make for a lot of interesting music.
I do keep my eyes and ears open but I don't spend a lot of time looking at what other people are doing to see how I can fit in.
I always wanted to merge heavy metal with pop music, but I think that because I grew up more with pop, the Beatles and the Stones, I tended to affiliate myself with those projects.
I was a good-looking, sexy guy. That certainly didn't hurt in promoting my music.
I guess I could sit around and say, 'Gee, I wish I were playing at the Capital Centre tonight instead of Hammerjacks,' but it doesn't happen.
I don't try to be difficult. I just care so much about these albums that I get crazed sometimes when I'm making them.
There's this raw, basic quality people expect in my music.
I was always regarded as being better than ninety percent of the kids in school, but I was also something of a loner.
I had great trouble believing in myself, so I didn't believe in my success - I didn't enjoy my success, which I thought was insane.
I have a great deal of respect for myself as a musician and a writer, even if I'm not doing it anymore.
I was a mess… It's like ‘Rock Me Tonite' is an MBA course on how a video can go really wrong.
I'd gone to New York at an early age, and I got beat up a little bit, emotionally. So I thought I'd go home and go to music school.
I was very humbled by the ‘one-man Led Zeppelin' comparisons.
I always loved music. I liked to go to church because I liked to sing the hymns.
I think that 'Tell the Truth' is one of the best rock records ever made by me or anyone - I really do.
I think if you're going to a concert and spending $15 for a ticket for you and your girlfriend, then you're going to buy a T-shirt, and you end up spending close to $100 a night, what with gas in the car and anything else to get you in the spirit of things, I just think that people deserve their money's worth.
Certainly, I don't believe in rebellion for its own sake. But I think if you strive to do something in an individualistic way, you just become a rebel by definition.
I'm the only person I know who's never had a regular job.
Becoming a Top Ten artist has surprised me.
There's a time that you realize that you're not gonna get out of a room without playing certain songs.
I mean, I would always like to play bigger places and play for more people.
I'm basically a nice guy.
I'm happier in a garden.
British rock & roll became the gospel for American kids like me.
I tend to be very methodical for a variety of reasons. I'm more of a plodder.
I got out of the business because I went from being the biggest artist on my record label to someone they didn't even want to have around.
I'd always envisioned ‘The Big Beat' leading off ‘The Tale of the Tape' with the biggest drumbeat the rock world had ever heard. I knew I had something good… but I had no idea just how good.
For me, music is this incredibly cerebral trip. You turn on the radio or put on a record, and it's your song, it's what you see.
When you're on stage playing, when I plug in a guitar and chord, I'm 16 years old again. I feel the same excitement. It's very overwhelming. It engulfs you.
I was good at sports - basketball, football, tennis and dropped them all. At 16, I didn't care about sports anymore.
I knew that I had done my best on 'Tell The Truth'… I was so proud of that record.
