Quotes

We (pop stars) are people, not androids. We've got views. I've got opinions and I don't see why I shouldn't use a bit of my art to put them over. I think music is one of the most powerful media forces in the world today.

[on performing without the late Freddie Mercury] We're not going out there with somebody pretending to be Freddie Mercury. We are what we are now; we're not what we were then, we're just going out, playing our songs.

There are stereotypes and it is quite amazing how often members of bands seem to follow those stereotypes. Singers are all vain. Guitarists are all vain but won't admit it. Bass players are quiet people, and drummers are very exciting people to be with.

[on drumming] There's something rather nice about spending the evening hitting things.

[on drum machines] Fantastic to write with. They have their place, they're terribly useful to the musician, but they're just another tool. They never will replace a good drummer. A lot of the bands that use them, I call them typewriter bands because basically they program the sample sounds with no real dynamics, and that dynamics is very important. And the records come out sounding very flat and very 2-dimensional whereas something with real dynamics and a good drummer can add another dimension, depth, to the band and that's why bands that play together when they're actually making the record will always sound better.

I saw Buddy Rich playing. He was wonderful, fantastic. I would say of just sheer technique he's the best I've ever seen.

The greatest Rock'n'Roll drummer of all time was John Bonham who did things that nobody had ever even thought possible before with the drum kit. And also the greatest sound out of his drums - they sounded enormous, and just one bass drum. So fast on it that he did more with one bass drum than most people could do with three, if they could manage them. And he had technique to burn and fantastic power and tremendous feel for rock'n'roll. "When the levee breaks" is the archetypal heavy drum sound - it's never been bettered - it's like a steamroller, enormous bass drum. Simple but takes feel.

The first time I saw Led Zeppelin, Bonzo (John Bonham) just walked on the stage and just warmed up for about 10 seconds. Freddie (Freddie Mercury) and I nearly fell over we just couldn't believe the power and the sound. People are still today trying to imitate Led Zeppelin, America is full of drummers trying to play like John Bonham.

I picked up a guitar and found it very difficult and I sort of graduated to drums because I found them very easy - I suppose it was a case of natural aptitude. Mitch Mitchell [Mitch Mitchell] was my role model at the time, and I still think listening to Mitch Mitchell, especially the early stuff with Hendrix (Jimi Hendrix), is just fantastic.

I think maybe we (Queen) were subconsciously influenced by The Beatles' albums, I think really, especially the later ones, like Rubber Soul, Revolver and Abbey Road. They were very eclectic albums.

We had a joke that we wanted to be the biggest. It was a joke, but underneath, it was really true. Number one is much better than number two.

[on David Bowie] Freddie and I saw the first Ziggy gig at Friar's Aylesbury. We drove down in my Mini. We loved it. I'd seen him there about three weeks before in the long hair and the dress. Suddenly you saw this spiky head coming on stage. You thought, wha-a-at??? They looked like spacemen.

[on appearing on Good Morning Britain (1983) following the death of Freddie Mercury] You can't defend anybody in the context of having Paul Daniels sitting next to you. What a dick.

[on the possible Freddie Mercury biopic] We need all the dominoes in place before the go button can be pressed. I don't want to be too close to the film, though - I just want to supervise the music with [Brian May]. Having a great script, direction and lead are the main things, and having put those things in place I don't want much more to do with it. But we did want to put those in place so everybody is happy. When you give the movie to the director though you've handed him a loaded gun, and I want to stay out of it!

[on his 2013 solo album, Fun On Earth] I just hope people like it and I hope for the best. I did think at times, 'Why am I doing this?' But music is what we do. Nothing comes easy, but it is worth it.

We never really thought of ourselves as a singles band, although I think a lot of people these days would probably describe us as a singles band.

In the beginning synths were what we call monophonic, you could only play one note at a time. But then suddenly they started making these ones which you could play chords on and they became much more usable as musical instruments, tools and things. I bought one, took it into the studio and Fred said "This is good, give us a go on that!" We started using it quite a lot in our records and I guess we made some more what you'd call purely pop records in the Eighties, whereas in the Seventies we thought of ourselves as sort of being a hard rock band really.

[on Phil Collins's retirement from drumming due to injury] I was very sorry to hear about Phil. It was terrible. I guess we are the same age. I get tinnitus occasionally, which I can deal with but I have to say you do take a little bit of a beating. The only thing I've got is that the ring fingers on both my hands have a little arthritis in each. It's a worn out joint because of too much exertion and stress. But it doesn't affect my playing, which is good.

[on punk rocker Sid Vicious] Sid was a moron, you know. He was an idiot.

I thought 'Under Pressure' was one of our better songs - although not one of our best recordings. I think if we had recorded it more beautifully it would have been greater than it turned out.

[1997, asked why he always wears sunglasses] Believe it, or not. I'm short sighted in my right eye, and so they are actually prescription sunglasses. In fact I'm wearing normal ones at the most, but, this is radio [laughs] so that is why.

[on Brian May] He's like a poodle with a guitar really, isn't he?

[on trying weed] I didn't like it, it made my brain feel like it was on fire.

No one really knew Freddie [Freddie Mercury]. He was shy, gentle and kind. He wasn't the person he put over on stage.

[1982] John [John Deacon] got so drunk one night that when he heard Queen playing on the radio he asked who the band was.

I can't stand dumb girls. I like girls who can look after themselves.

There wasn't much sex or drugs on tour. Well, no drugs, anyway.

About 18 months ago, one of my cats ran off and married the cat next door. I've hardly seen him at all since then - he doesn't speak to me now! I kept the other cat for a while but I was away so much, I decided it just wasn't fair to keep him any longer, so I gave him to my mum. I suppose he's happier with her, but it's awfully quiet without him!