#rock cd

Int: A lot of musicians who left the road for years have returned: Dylan, McCartney, Ringo, the Who. There seems to be a common feeling of, 'Well, I'm a musician. This is what I do.'

GEORGE: I didn't really feel that, although when I did the tour I really enjoyed playing. I have a conflict; I don't particularly want to play to audiences. I like to play in a band, but I don't like the adulation, the attention, all that focusing on me. I like the idea of playing in a band and the people liking the music without this specific adulation. I don't like that at all. It's unhealthy to be the star. You know, it's a business and people are dependent on fans. They whip up hysteria to collect fans so that they can make more money. But I don't see it that way. I am - or was - a musician. I wasn't supposed to be a novelty that people come to look at, like we became in the Beatles. We became a kind of obsession. And that side of it makes me uncomfortable. But having said that, it's fun to play every night and see if you can do better each time.

Int: What do you think makes people want to treat musicians or actors as gods? What makes some people pass from 'I love this music' to 'Let me touch the hem of his garment'?

GEORGE: I don't know. It's one thing liking and being inspired by somebody, but I don't like it when it becomes fanaticism for the fans. Or the stars! It's definitely an ego thing where the stars go home and nobody pays any attention to them. They don't see themselves on television and the magazines and they can't stand it. They're under the illusion that they only exist through object referral: 'This is my car, this is my office, these are my friends, these are my fans, this is my new suit.' It's seeing the self in relation to objects as opposed to the self being something that exists regardless of whether it's got a suit, a car, a house or even a body. I'm sure a lot of these people go around thinking, 'I am Prince,' or whoever. He probably thinks he's Prince. These people actually think they are the stars. It's ignorance, basically.

Int: You have a very rare perspective 'cause you've been to the height of fame with the Beatles and out the other side.

GEORGE: And I don't subscribe to it. It's totally bullshit. Stardom and fame is bullshit that sucks you in and if you're not fortunate you can get so sucked in that you start believing it. You think you are superduper. And people are fickle. One minute they like you, then they don't. That's the nature of this world: relativity. You only have love because of hate, they're both half of the same thing. If you accept the pleasure, you're going to be setting yourself up for the pain. The thing is to be unattached to the game and then the loss doesn't mean anything.

Int: Is that really attainable? Not just in show business but in life?

GEORGE: You can, you can. It takes practice and you just have to keep remembering. For me or for most people who have been fortunate enough to have all the things most people dream about. We've got the fame and the fortune. That's really what most people in life are looking for, they think that's the answer. We got it relatively young and then we realised. Since I've been about 22 or 23 I've really been saying the same thing: we've been there, we've been famous and rich and that isn't it. You've got to look somewhere else. Look inside and do meditation. That's the answer. Meditation is the key to get from darkness into the light, from suffering into pleasure, from ignorance into wisdom. It doesn't matter if you're a beggar, you can still find God. It doesn't matter if you're the greatest guitar player in the world, if you're not enlightened, forget it. [Laughs] People go, 'It's all right for you to say, you've got all that money!'

- Rock CD Issue 3 (1993)