Richard Hell says:

on the self:

"All that "growing up" means is that if you are lucky you learn how to better cope with who you are - who you are doesn't change. In fact, that is probably the very definition of who one is- that which doesn't change. Living and identity are a kind of artform. You have this material- yourself- and the challenge is to explore or present it, to find a language or style for its display, its manifestation, that correspond to and are suited to tracking its nature. Anything seen in its fullness is beautiful. Or that's the only hope we have anyway."

on music:

"The power of music- what it gives you and does to you, where it takes you- seems impossible, like sorcery or subatomic physics, considering its simplicity. It's like the sun; and then the moon. How does it do that? I guess it must have something to do with the way music comes to you, you don't need to go at it the way you do with words. Then it encompasses, more dimensional even than light, instantly, and not by force but sympathy. It changes everything. And songs: The series and combinations of notes and how they are played and the nature of the instrument producing them, those sounds, are direct emotion itself; unlikely as it seems that that could be, there's a pure correspondence, you could probably analyze it like a scientist, and something in the design is in fact mathematical, giving you purely abstract pleasure too, and then that's all mixed with the possibilities of the message and purposes of the words, and the rhythm physically taking and compelling you, the whole mess shooting all around bruised and popping and breathing, threatening and begging, projected in miniscule waves that carom and vibrate so you literally move inside it and are penetrated by it. And that doesn't even touch on the appeal of a given person's voice and how it is a friend or not, or a sex thing, or an oracle, smart, sweet, honest, or angry or tough- all the character that's carried in a voice exposed to where it gives you something you get nowhere but your most intimate intense relationships. It seems amazingly good of them to do this for us.
-And it can be produced by one person holding a guitar. And you can have it all and all the different kinds for a few dollars worth of tape and a cassette player. Push a button and there it is."