Billy Squier

We do things instinctively and not necessarily rationally. It's almost like we're being controlled by unseen forces, which is something I don't like. I've been making a real effort to try to find out what those forces are and get them out of my life. ”

But I don't let my bad feelings rule my life. I acknowledge them because I can't pretend they aren't there. ”

I heard that I was off traveling around the world skiing in Argentina and things like that. I may have had a great life in somebody's mind, but all I was seeing was 9th Avenue while going from my house down to the studio in New York City. ”

Basically, my life was music, and I was always consumed by it. ”

Life isn't that complicated on paper. It's made more complex by the day and age we live. ”

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. ”

When I grew up, I had influences as diverse as Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix. ”

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. ”

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. ”

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. ”