Mojo - The Music Magazine

"I love Kraftwerk. I always have because they didn't sound some like anyone else at the time or even now. I heard Kraftwerk when I first went to Berlin with Sid [Vicious]. We'd had enough of England because things had got a little hairy [with the Sex Pistols] and we thought it was time for a little vacation. We went to Jersey first but they threw us out so we ended up in Berlin. There, we ended up visiting the clubs. Those clubs played music like we'd never heard. It was totally weird and we couldn't work it out. There were records that sounded like techno records but played by brass bands.

"Kraftwerk were part and parcel of the music that we heard there but they were completely different from what was going on. It was like a-rhythmic dance music but it was modern and strange. I'm not sure I can really pick one album that I love. The track that stands out though is The Model. It's detached but somehow it's emotional. Were they ahead of their time? Yeah. But it also goes to show how far behind people that have tried to rip them off actually are. Having said that, there are some artists that they've inspired that I do like. I think Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus is a great song. Then again, we mustn't forget the times when it all went wrong. Like on those early Duran Duran videos where they tried to go through their Kraftwerk phase. To me, though, you can't beat a good original. And Kraftwerk are good originals."

As told to Phil Alexander