It's genuinely hard to know where to start with this level of delusion. He didn't support Farage? How about the quote, 'It's obvious that Nigel Farage would make a good prime minister'. Is that clear enough for you?
It's from the same interview where he repeated (note REPEATED) his support for the far right political group, For Britain. Yes, he's praised some genuinely decent political figures in the past e.g. Benn, Short, Harman, but that was 30 years - it helps explain why so many people are gobmacked by his modern-day support for the far right.
You are such a liar.
He praised Jeremy Corbyn & George Galloway & Bernie Sanders recently.
He did not believe Anne Marie was a racist or fascist.
His idea of a good prime minister is a strong personality, not someone he'd vote for or whose policies he agrees with. He called Margaret Thatcher a phenomenon & he hated her.
And the full exchange - which you deliberately left out or are too lazy to check - is this
gentle waffle. With Sam leading the questions with alt-lite remarks & him not really understanding what it all means.
This was also published 2 months late, after Pingate & after he'd made a statement wishing to be left alone & stating his political beliefs
without mentioning FB or Anne Marie.
****
sam:
...
Are you actually a supporter of UKIP?
M:
No. Never.
sam:
Of Nigel Farage?
M:
No,
no,
no … but it’s obvious that he would make a good Prime Minister … if any of us can actually remember what a good Prime Minister is.
sam:
You support For Britain?
M:
Absolutely, yes.
sam:
Labour, Conservative are obvious no’s, according to “Irish Blood, English Heart”! What about the Liberal Democrats or The Greens?
M:
I know nothing about either of them.
sam:
Well, why For Britain?
M:
I think Anne Marie Waters is the only British party leader who can unite the
left and right. I don’t know any other party leader who even WANTS to do this. The UK is a dangerously hateful place now, and I think we need someone to put a stop to the lunacy and to speak for everyone. I see Anne Marie Waters as this person. She is extremely intelligent, ferociously dedicated to this country, she is very engaging, and also very funny at times.
sam:
The obvious press assessment is that she is racist, but I haven’t heard her say anything racist.
M:
Neither have I. But if you call someone racist in modern Britain you are telling them that you have run out of words. You are shutting the debate down and running off. The word is meaningless now. Everyone ultimately prefers their own race … does this make everyone racist? The people who reduce every conversation down to a matter of race could be said to be the most traditionally ‘racist’ because everything in life is NOT exclusively a question of race, so why make it so? Diversity can’t possibly be a strength if everyone has ideas that will never correspond. If borders are such terrible things then why did they ever exist in the first place? Borders bring order. I can’t see how opposing Halal slaughter makes me racist when I’ve objected to ALL forms of animal slaughter all of my life.
sam:
The Guardian want to destroy you because you said you were not a member of the ‘Loony Left’. At this stage, anything you say they will turn into a global threat to humanity.
M:
Yes, and it tends to spread … and suddenly The Independent reported how people are walking out of my concerts … which was a lie. It’s all very KKK, isn’t it? … share our views or we’ll smash your face in. But their level of determination reflects what they perceive to be your power and the weight of your views. If you were talking utter nonsense they wouldn’t bother with you. Inadvertently they are telling you that you matter enormously. My political stance is simple: I oppose barbarism … from the left from the right, or from the centre. You must finally wonder why The Guardian considers it their job to destroy ANYONE. It isn’t their job.
sam:
But the problem for them is that you’ve said you are not left wing, and therefore they believe you ought not to exist.
M:
… which reflects their intolerance of diversity! It is not their place or their role in life to cut people down and attempt to wipe them out. They are not a political party, yet they think that they are.
sam:
I don’t think people seriously believe that you are racist, but I think they enjoy saying that you are.
M:
Someone made the point the other day about David Bowie’s famous “England would benefit from a fascist government” comment … and his admiration for Hitler … and how Hitler was as stylish as Jagger … and how the UK needed a “complete right wing leader”. Could you imagine if I’d said THAT! Now, of course, I sat privately with David many times, and he wasn’t remotely fascist… although it has been said that he’d visited Hitler’s bunker. But, how many writers at The Guardian have David Bowie albums? All of them, probably! Hypocrisy?
Obviously a fascist would never have recorded “Lady Stardust” … and a fascist would never have recorded “Wedding Bell Blues”, but, you see, the press choose their targets, and ignore what it suits them to ignore. In a way, that’s the key to modern Britain … only the mentally castrated are eligible for praise and awards. It’s against the law to be intelligent! The dumb have inherited the earth. [laughs] Because of this, British arts are controlled by completely limited possibilities, and the same faces appear everywhere. When you start arguing with The Guardian you feel as if you’re trying to reason with people who are barely toilet-trained. There actually becomes no point.
sam:
You also knew Lou Reed for awhile?
M:
Yes. He was a lovely person. He had a great smile which he almost never used. We had a great afternoon in Rome once, and he seemed very happy.
sam:
I promise this is the last time I’ll mention The Guardian, but I laughed when I read how they criticized you because of your white privilege! Obviously, I know your life, and there’s been no hint of white privilege… white disadvantage, if anything!
M:
Yes [laughs], but to even slur someone for white privilege is in itself a racist comment! It’s all reached such silly proportions now. How will it stop?
sam:
There was also the assurance that your concerts last year had been prevented from happening due to pressure from violent left-wing extremists.
M:
Again, absolute nonsense. The tour could not go ahead because it wasn’t insured. Now, why this was so is nothing to do with me, yet the press implied that I’d been smoked out of my log-cabin and dragged to Reading Jail. It IS possible to be just silly.
sam:
The Manchester Arena Bomb took place on your birthday, and I was there celebrating with you, and I came into the room and announced that at least 19 kids were dead. You spoke out about it immediately, yet you weren’t invited to sing at the Arena event for Manchester. Why was this?
M:
Because I DO look back in anger! I would have sang “World Peace Is None Of Your Business” or “Life Is A Pigsty” - or something truthful and meaningful. If my child had been killed at Manchester Arena I wouldn’t be lighting candles and swaying … I’d be in a complete rage.
sam:
UKIP are suddenly ahead in the polls. Would you vote for them?
M:
No. I’ve never voted for anyone in my life. UKIP means nothing to me.
sam:
But you are a Brexiteer?
M:
I didn’t vote in the referendum although I can see how there is absolutely nothing attractive about the EU. My view has always been that the result of the referendum must be carried through. If the vote had been remain there would be absolutely no question that we would remain. In the interest of true democracy, you cannot argue against the wish of the people. Without the people, nobody in high office gets paid.
sam:
I’m 35 and I’ve never tasted animal flesh or bird flesh or fish. My brother is 28 and he’s never tasted animal flesh … even as newborns we weren’t given anything with dead animal bits in it. Why do you think successive governments support the idea of dead animals as human food?
M:
I think … it’s because … successive governments receive support and cash and sponsorship from pharmaceutical companies and farmers associations, so therefore governments are obliged to repay them. The idea, I think, is to keep people unwell, sick, or dying, and the best way to do this is to convince them that fat slices of sheeps faces are good for you. If the human race looked after itself and didn’t eat pigs’ noses then pharmaceutical companies would perish. In the USA, most people die because of animal consumption, but it doesn’t ever seem to be a concern to the government because of … it’s good for business to keep people on medication. The food industry has destroyed the truth about what food is.
sam:
There’s a few political songs on California Son, but not many, and generally it’s a well-crafted pop album above anything else. Did you want to calm it down a bit?
M:
It wasn’t ever calm! My very first interview was with Nick Ferrari for The Sun, and obviously you can guess how that went. That was almost 40 years ago!
sam:
Sometimes you sound political even when you aren’t being so … because your voice is so adamant. I don’t know what “Don’t Interrupt The Sorrow” is about, but it sounds as if you’re making a point.
M:
That’s good, isn’t it? Imagine if the song had a point and I didn’t make it.
sam:
It’s great to see Jobriath in there with so many great American songwriters, and “Morning Starship” sounds like a big hit to me. But you weren’t involved in the Jobriath projects a few years ago?
M:
No. I don’t like anything that dwells on the private aspects of Jobriath’s life. I only ever liked the music. I don’t care what he did or where he went at 4:AM.
sam:
I understand your point, and I agree. Was “It’s Over” easy to sing?
M:
Oh, no. I was petrified. I was convinced I couldn’t do it, and when you hold a song in such high esteem you somehow feel that you have a nerve to even attempt it. I think I gave up after several tries, but Joe (Chiccarelli, producer) kept pushing me … which no producer had ever done before … and the final results were great. It’s the most proud recording of my entire life.
sam:
I enjoyed the B-side covers of last year, but I’d like to hear them properly recorded instead of live. Will that happen?
M:
No. I feel the same about “To Give Is The Reason I Live” which we had done for several years but hadn’t ever recorded. A song has its time, and then it’s over. I loved the song “Action Is My Middle Name”, but that, too, wasn’t ever properly recorded. Also, “People Are The Same Everywhere” was a fantastic song … just lost in the swill of time.
sam:
Did you invite Billie Joe Armstrong to sing on “Wedding Bell Blues” because his name is … Bill? [laughs]
M:
No! [laughs] … and … strangely … you won’t believe that I didn’t even make that connection until a few days ago! My brain works in mysterious ways. I was always a Billie Joe fan, and we had met, and then I was thrilled when he agreed to sing. I love the results.
sam:
You also sang with Sameer from Young The Giant … I’m sorry, I can’t pronounce his surname.
M:
He is incredible … one of the most powerfully soothing voices I’ve ever heard … almost like Elvis Presley.
sam:
and … LP! What is she like?
M:
Hysterical. She’ll sit there drinking all night … she’s almost as funny as Chrissie [Hynde], and of course, what she does on “It’s Over” is phenomenal. I am blessed!
sam:
“Wedding Bell Blues” sounds like a deliberate plea for same-sex marriage. Is it?
M:
I don’t know what it is! I couldn’t think of any reason to change the lyrics or switch genders or play about with it. You know my life, I haven’t ever been married, and once I feed the birds, the foxes and the badgers then my day is over. I’m unlikely to ever be married to anything except bird-seed.
sam:
The big track on the album is “Some Say I Got Devil”. It’s as powerful as “Life Is A Pigsty” or “Trouble Loves Me”. Again, you don’t seem to switch the genders. Am I wrong?
M:
I wanted to sing it in the way that I had always heard it, or knew it. You see, I’m not concerned at all about people being offended. If people dislike you they will always find a reason to be offended.
sam:
I wasn’t saying that. It’s not offensive. It’s beyond sad. I can’t imagine any other artist in 2019 recording a track like that …
M:
Oh, look, I’ve been accused of everything. I’ve been called every name imaginable … I’m only attacked by people who don’t have the emotional ability to ignore me. This is why I wrote the song ‘If You Don’t Like Me, Don’t Look At Me’.
sam:
You’re missing my point! It’s a great track, and you sing it with such power … you don’t hear that truth anymore in music.
Even though he was only in the band for about five minutes...
