I Know, It’s Only Rock and Roll but…

Love them or hate them Rock stars are always good for copy. Some of us hang on their every word, their every lyric even. They're just people though, like you and me. Apart from the fact they are bat-shit famous and are driven around in a gold Mercedes (well, probably). Here are just a few words of wisdom from these musical deities.

Some ironic ones to start.

‘Man, I'm the No. 1 living and breathing rock star. I am Axl Rose; I am Jim Morrison; I am Jimi Hendrix. – Kanye West’.

‘In my view, the only thing worse than a rock star is a rock star with a conscience.’ - Bono.

'You can't trust politicians. It doesn't matter who makes a political speech. It's all lies - and it applies to any rock star who wants to make a political speech as well.' - Bob Geldof.

You can't help but raise little smile at those ones. Here we have some understated and humbler words of wisdom.

‘I never really felt like a rock singer or a rock star or whatever.’ – David Bowie.

'I'd like to say that I'm a rock star, but I'm not - I'm honestly more of a relationship kind of guy. I'm a guy you could take home to meet your mum rather than a guy your mum wouldn't like.' - Ed Sheeran.

'I'm not so much a rock star, d'ya know what I mean? I play Irish music. There's no real age when you stop playing Irish music. Even if I retired from playing onstage I'd still be singing in pubs.' - Shane McGowan.

Although you could offset the Bowie quote above with this one below.

'You would think that a rock star being married to a super-model would be one of the greatest things in the world. It is.' ― David Bowie.

Either way, I for one absolutely adore the man's work. He was always light years ahead of his peers.

On a lighter note, we have the more humourous and, at times, self deprecating ones.

'If you play a Nickleback song backwards you’ll hear messages from the devil. Even worse, if you play it forwards you’ll hear Nickleback.” ~ Dave Grohl.

After 25 years on the road with the Rolling Stones - 'It’s been five years of work and 20 years of hanging around.' - Charlie Watts.

'There was a knock on our dressing room door. Our manager shouted Keith! Ron! The Police are here! Oh man we panicked, flushed everything down the john. Then the door opened and it was Stewart Copeland and Sting!' - Keith Richards.

'When I was growing up there were two things unpopular in our house...one was me, the other was my guitar.' - Bruce Springsteen.

‘I could play "Stairway To Heaven" when I was 12. Jimmy Page didn't actually write it until he was 22. I think that says quite a lot.’ – Vim Fuego (Bad News).

When the Spinal Tap band members were asked what happened to their first drummer, David St. Hubbins says, ‘He died in a bizarre gardening accident...’ and Nigel Tufnel adds, ‘Authorities said best leave it unsolved' - From the movie Spinal Tap.’

‘I’ve never had a problem with drugs. I’ve had problems with the Police.’ - Keith Richards.

'My father always said I would do something big one day. ‘I’ve got a feeling about you, John Osbourne,’ he’d tell me, after he’d had a few beers, "You’re either going to do something very special, or you’re going to go to prison." And he was right, my old man.....I was in prison before my eighteenth birthday.’ – Ozzy Osbourne.

'I’m sick to death of people saying we’ve made 11 albums that all sound exactly the same. In fact, we’ve made 12 albums that sound exactly the same.’ – Angus Young.

‘That was a great time, the summer of ’71 – I can’t remember it, but I’ll never forget it!’ - Lemmy.

And now a few sweary ones!

'Liam only has two problems - everything he fucking says and everything he fucking does.' - Noel Gallagher.

‘If you're going to be a fucking rock star go be one. People don't want to see the guy next door on stage; they want to see a being from another planet. You want to see somebody you'd never meet in ordinary life.’ - Lemmy .

'Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac....they didn't have anyone in their line up as fucking brilliant as me.' - Noel Gallagher.

'I could never quite understand cocaine, you can’t get a hard on, you can’t sleep and you grind your teeth, what the fuck is good about that? - Jon Bon Jovi.

Precisely Mr Jovi! So there we have it. A few pearls of wisdom and humour. As a personal hero of mine once said...

‘Rock stars...is there anything they DON'T know?’ – Homer Simpson.