"Mr-Quotable" Damon Albarn said many things in his 20+ year musical career, given outrageous interviews, given thoughtful speeches and uttered many very, very memorable phrases. Here's our top 30 Damon Albarn quotes of all time.
1. "I've got people camping outside my place in Kensington. In sleeping bags. It's not that irritating, except we haven't got any curtains in the front room, so we can't walk round in the nude." - height of Blur fame.
2. "Yes, I am a middle-class twat“.
“I’ve got a PhD in tits" “It’s good to read a book and get a hard-on at the same time (December 1995 interview)
3. "It’s a very romantic idea, to go on a cobbled-together trip on a train with an African diner and rehearsal rooms and sliding doors that allow for playing on to platforms, and people meeting and planning concerts for the evening and watching the English countryside pass by. It’s a beautiful thing." - Africa Express 2012
4. Have I ever punched anyone in the band? Oh yeah, all of them! I used to punch Alex a lot. He used to say really annoying things deliberately. I almost think he liked being punched. (2000)
5. "We'll always be friends now. I like the idea of seeing each other being really old and doddery." (On Graham, Select, 1994)
6. I'm a mixed up person. I've got this real essex man vibe...I cant help it... i cant stand the idea of being a sad lonely bed-sit poet... I'd rather be perceived as loud and arrogant.
7. "There's always been a hip-hop element to my trousers."
8. In the sixties people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird, people take Prozac to make it normal.
9. "My guaranteed way of sending myself into deep depression is to read music trade papers and watch MTV."
10. "What do we stand for?So we don't lie down all the time!"
11. "I find computers to be sort of uncharted seas. And as soon as you set out on them, you're lost." - on Technology and why he doesn't use computers
12. "I had a Black girlfriend when I was five" - on women
13. "It's weird because with guys it's not a long thing ,it's more of a "let's be mates,let's get on stage and ,woargh,nice one!"sort a thing .It's funny , I really love that.If that's as far as I ever get in communicating with people,that's great .I just like the idea of everyone cuddling each other"
14. "My fantasy Glastonbury would be to be 18 again and to go with a girl that I've just met and that I was really, really into. Either that or go with my mates and meet a girl there. I certainly wouldn't want to go with any famous people. I'd just go and take loads of drugs and watch all my favourite bands. I'd drink, smoke spliff, drop an E and watch The Silver Apples. Er, this is the 18-year-old Damon, not me now talking, of course." (Damon in 1997)
16. I really try to avoid all photographs now,I don't know why, I was so into it when I was younger. But let's face it, if you're a good-looking young male with talent you're not going to get taken seriously. I do feel that looks are something you have to get over... It was a great day when I realised I didn't need to see myself any more. I knew who I was... (On aging and looks)
18. "Aww man... Aw, I'm so sweaty I can't play properly any more... And I have difficulties playing anyway, so this just makes it virtually impossible for me. I wanna do this song justice as well." - Just before 'Young and Lovely', B-sides gig
19. (What will you be if you were not a singer?) A farmer My grandad and uncle were farmers.I used to spend my summers in Lincolnshire on the farm.I'd to get up at 5.30am,and sit on my grandad's tractor. I loved it.
20. "Cheeky, confident, insecure, sharp, direct." - Albarn on 5 words to describe himself
21. "There were reports in the papers of people breaking up their relationships, because one liked oasis and the other one liked blur...One woman left her husband because he put our CD in the microwave." - on Blur and Oasis's chart battle
22. "I have to wear a new T-shirt every night. I throw them into the audience. One day I'm going to go around the world and reclaim all my T-shirts" - on his live shows
23. "Yeah, Write Songs" (When asked for any tips on songwriting by a budding young songwriter)
24. "I love the whole atmosphere here.The other day I was walking past the cementery and I could hear singing coming from inside.After a while I realised it was a West Indian family singing a spiritual song.The rhythm sounded so incongruous,yet amazing at the same time.That's what is so special about round here.It's such a rich of cultures and images." - On the Cemetery
25. "WE ONLY HAD THREE THINGS TO SAY IN OUR FIRST INTERVIEWS: WE'RE GREAT WE'RE NOT AN INDIE BAND AND DON'T JUDGE US NOW - JUDGE US IN FIVE YEARS' TIME. AT LEAST NOW WE'VE DONE SOMETHING THAT LIVES UP TO MY BIG MOUTH." - on Blur interviews
26. "I've been self-destructive over the years. Anyone who's interested in me will have a rough idea that i've kept a lot of things quiet. I choose not to define my low points." - Q Magazine 2006
27. “Brothers is a much better word. There are moments when we absolutely and utterly connect without even having to say anything and there are other times when we might as well be on other continents. Like now, for example.” - On Graham Coxon, 1997
28. "I'm turning into a croaky old singer" - Hyde Park 2009
