Everybody that read one of my poems went off and wrote poetry. They said that about the Velvets, didn't they? They didn't sell many records, but everybody that saw them formed a band. — John Cooper Clarke Copy Share Image
When the punk rock thing happened, I thought, 'Right, I have one chance here to be seen as part of some wider social phenomenon.' — John Cooper Clarke Copy Share Image
To make the hips the focal point of a pair of trousers is, to me, a fashion mistake. — John Cooper Clarke Copy Share Image
The greatest threat to any artist is surrounding themselves with people who love everything they do. — John Cooper Clarke Copy Share Image
The first time I heard rock'n'roll on a big sound system would have been at a fairground at the seaside. That's a hell of… — John Cooper Clarke Copy Share Image
As they used to say on Stingray, ‘Anything can happen in the next half hour’. I’ve always tried to live with that thought in… — John Cooper Clarke Copy Share Image
It was a tedious saying among hippies: if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. I was very much part… — John Cooper Clarke Copy Share Image
From social pariah to King of the World? It's taken 45 years, so I've been able to adjust to it! — John Cooper Clarke Copy Share Image
Well, I've obviously been a great source of inspiration to the academic population of Salford! They're citing me as a major contribution to their… — John Cooper Clarke Copy Share Image
They're very different things, a poem and a song, you wouldn't think they would be, but they are. — John Cooper Clarke Copy Share Image