Boy George

For artists of my caliber, we're not played on the radio, so we don't really get a chance to get involved in that debate at all. We don't get a chance, because this weird kind of ageism exists in pop music. If you're past a certain age, you're not relevant. That's the kind of cliched term. ”

I went back to DJ'ing in 1987, and it's been an incredible second career for me. Plus, it's almost a parallel universe. If you don't go to underground clubs, you wouldn't know what I do or who I am. So there's been a whole new audience of people that don't even know I'm that 'Boy George', the one their mother used to like. ”

The ultimate goal is to be more satisfied. I really don't believe you get wiser because you get older. It's a choice, perhaps not to take some things so seriously. ”

School is not a great place to have feminine features or a big nose, or to wear glasses or the wrong shoes. ”

I look at myself at 19 and think I would never do what I did then now! I was so brazen, so confident, so fearless in a way. And remember, the world was a very aggressive place then. ”

I just go in my back garden. It's the only place where people don't come and bother you. ”

If you go back to the '80s, you had a whole plethora of artists, everyone from Madonna and Cyndi Lauper to Prince. God bless Lady Gaga for doing her thing, but she's kind of a lone peacock now. If anything, we have a much more conservative kind of pop world. It's not necessarily about individuality. ”

At 16, I walked around knowing I'd get chased and attacked for dressing a certain way - I felt I had an undeniable right to be who I wanted to be. My father said to hit them back, but I was never much good at that. So I developed a big mouth instead of a quick right hook. ”

In a way, we're going backwards. In the early '80s, it was like all these huge strides, and everything was more free and easy. I think we're going back. I don't know if it's the economics or what, but things are getting more right-wing, definitely. ”

In a way, the most political thing you can do is be yourself. ”