‘If I dropped dead tomorrow, what a fantastic f**king life I’ve had’

Interesting interview in the IT from a while back with Francis Rossi of the Quo.

On life:

What keeps you going?

Many things. Money is one of them. When I was going to a Catholic school we had a teacher called Mrs O’ Sullivan. She said that when you are older and die, you’ll have a place next to God and when you’re older, you’ll be able to do all the things you weren’t able to do when you were working. Those were two of the biggest lies I ever heard.

There’s also a definite ego thing with me. I am an insecure little show-off, but even that is getting to the stage where I’d like it to be enough. I’d like to be satisfied myself with it so there is a frustration when I say to myself ‘when the f**k will you be satisfied? When will it be enough?’. I’d like it to be enough because I’d like to take it out of my head for a while because ever since I can remember, I’m always thinking about Quo.
To balance that, if I dropped dead tomorrow, what a fantastic f**king life I’ve had.

They talk about positive manifestations for young people. If you want it, go for it. The negative side is that I have no education whatsoever. I was a cocky little shit in school and I didn’t even learn to play my instrument correctly because we got successful, but I got everything I ever dreamed of. I’m so lucky. I’ve never had any serious illness. F**k me, I’ve had a charmed life.

And on validation:

A Guardian writer once asked the question: why are Status Quo so dramatically underrated by those outside their fanbase? Do you believe that is the case?

If you see a movie and you say it is bad, it may well not be bad. What you really mean is that you did not like it.

I happen to like what I like and other people don’t. We are always looking for world domination where everybody should like you. I’m aware that four or five million people around the planet thinks the sun shines out of Status Quo’s arse and the rest of the planet don’t even know who we are which is very good for me as a leveller because I’ve got an ego.

If people don’t like you fine. I don’t understand U2, for instance. I just don’t get them, but it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with them, but we always love to validate our own opinions.