You've had all that punk and New Wave thing, and I think people have really got sick up to here with it. I know I have.
— Paul Rodgers
There's a lot of trickery that can go on in the studio, and there's a lot that one can do - none of which I am interested in even slightly. I mean, you can actually tune vocals and stuff like that, but it's so hideous, I can't believe it.
'Shooting Star' started out as the arrangement on the record, and it's developed into a real audience-participation song, just from playing it.
'That's How Strong My Love Is' carries a message that resonates with the broken-hearted, and most of us have been there.
I carry my own tea, food, and Tabasco on the plane with me.
Every day, every time I sing, I feel blessed, really, to be able to do that. It's like having wings, in a way. It's a bit like flying sometimes, because you go off into another realm. And a whole lot of people come with you. It's amazing.
Songs do write themselves through you; I know people find it hard to believe, but it's true.
I was brought up in a fairly emotionally repressed kind of society in Northeast England where one didn't express emotions and was expected to keep a stiff upper lip.
With Free, we had phased out all of the blues material and wanted to phase in all original material, and the only song that stayed from our blues past was 'The Hunter' by Albert King. People just loved that. And I said, 'We have to write a song that will top that - otherwise, what are we doing here?' That was the birth of 'All Right Now.'
As a performer, the thing that I love is to see people come together.
I think it is tiring to listen to digital music for too long.
I just try to keep an open mind, and that's the way a lot of good things happen.
One overindulges when you're younger, and you pay the price in later years. But I always realized how important it was for me to take care of myself and my voice if I was gonna have a voice when I was older.
There is magic on earth.
I loved the 'Free Spirit' tour and the guys who helped create the magic: Pete Bullick, Rich Newman, Ian Rowley and Gerard 'G' Louis.
If you look at my history, my history is that of forming bands rather than joining them.
When I was in my teen years and in my 20s and even 60s, it was okay to drop everything and disappear and become a road warrior for all those months. But after a while you get... y'know, one likes to have some home life.
I am proud to be a Canuck.
When you can touch the spirit, whatever that is, and when you can feel the love, and you can feel the song is cooking and it's in the pocket, you know, everybody knows that's the one that's grooving.
After leaving Queen, I decided to stop doing those mega-four-month tours. I go out for a month, and my dog recognizes me when I come home.
One doesn't have to sit through exams and go to universities to play rock n' roll.
Live music is where you get the inspiration and the creativity.
I've been influenced by so many great people , like Sam Moore, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, so many great blues and soul artists that I completely revere. So it's strange for me, actually, to hear somebody say, 'Oh, I was deeply influenced by your music.'
Ann Wilson has an amazing voice and is a brilliant songwriter.
The one thing I loved about blues and soul was the way they taught the world how to express such deep feelings.
The first record I bought was actually Booker T and the MG's 'Red Beans and Rice.'
When I left Free back in 1972, I didn't play 'All Right Now' until about 1996, when I was touring with Jason Bonham, and we were supporting the tribute record we had done to Muddy Waters.
I got the idea of what a band should be from listening to Booker T and Otis Redding.
When I play solo, that's when I put it all together. I go through all of the songs that I've written wtih all of the different bands; that, for me, tells its own story, and the DVDs really enforce that.
Only Freddie Mercury could do Freddie Mercury. He was absolutely brilliant - I loved him to pieces, and I had a great deal of respect for him.
If not for music in my life as a young person, who knows where I would have focused my energy.
Horses are such a powerful part of human development and have been since the early ages. We humans owe them so much.
One of my dreams was always to have a piano - a room with a piano overlooking the ocean or a lake.
You go through periods of times where bands are calling the shots, and then sometimes, you've got the record companies calling the shots. I think it has to be a bit of both to make the thing work.
We come from a generation where the music was very innovative, a lot of it coming out of blues and influenced by blues: the idea was that you would jam on things, and you'd try things out. You took a journey, and you took a left turn, and you experimented live right there in the moment.
Being in a band is all-consuming, and I like to have a life.
In order to write music, you need lots of Tabasco sauce.
A song isn't finished until it's played live, and then it moves on.
I toured with Lynyrd Skynyrd as a solo artist, many years ago. I love those guys.
I've always been a Jeff Beck fan. Who isn't? He is in a league of his own.
I always think the audience should be part of the show.
I love it when people come from all over the place in separate vehicles, and they all come to this venue and become one energy. When that happens, it's a very magical thing. I think that helps the world go around, and it's what we do as performers - bring people together.
I have a lot of analog. I think a lot of people do. There are a lot of people that are re-discovering it. I still have a lot of my old records from back in the day. It's a joy to play things like Junior Wells' 'Hoodoo Man Blues,' and John Mayall & The Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton. There's a warmth that you can still feel.
When I was 14, I heard Otis Redding in a club local to me, and I was blown away. It leaped out at me and went straight to my heart. I set my sights on singing like that.
With any band, there's two sides - there's the image, and there's the music.
Nobody should attempt to do Freddie Mercury impressions.
Without music in schools' curriculum, there is a void for young people to express, explore, and experience music.
I tend to want to form bands and then create new music within them. Queen was an exception, and we joined forces because it just seemed to work when we played together.
I'm a big fan of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac.
