Every person has their pantheon - the Bible, Hollywood, Shakespeare - their way of understanding the world.
I didn't really have a mentor, but I have always definitely been inspired by the '70s - the Stones, Patti Smith, Anita Pallenberg.
Madonna, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe - they were myths of greatness.
Ziggy Stardust, the Village People, and punk rock really shaped who I am as a person and as a gay man.
Western culture is what gave us Mozart, and Da Vinci, and Wagner, and Beethoven.
Pop culture is like our subconscious.
'E.T.' and 'Star Wars' were cult movies then and opened up a brand new world of adventure and mystery. But as much as I would have loved to be friends with E.T., I realized that following in the footsteps of Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan was more realistic.
We're a nation of celebrity and hero worshipers, so much so that we make heroes out of those who aren't, such as John Wayne: a patriotic, red-blooded, two-fisted American who spent the Second World War in the trenches on the movie lots of Hollywood.
I think of the Avengers as The Beatles, and the Guardians are the Rolling Stones. That is really how I feel about the groups.
I know about two things: 'Rocky III' and Clubber Lang, and 'A-Team' and B.A. Baracus. That's who I am!
The Beatles were something everyone had in common; this was thirty years ago, there was Dr. Who and everybody knew who the Daleks were and there was The Beatles and everybody knew who George Harrison was.
For me, the '80s were like the drawing by Botticelli of the nine rings of hell.
I like the Beatles. They're at the core of my musicality. And John Lennon's my spiritual father.
I've been connected to the most culturally important albums of the past four years, the most influential artists of the past ten years. You have like, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, Nicolas Ghesquière, Anna Wintour, David Stern.
The Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower. They're monumental. They're straight out of Page 52 in your school history book.
I loved Debussy, Stravinsky, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, anything with romantic melodies, especially the nocturnes. Nietzsche was a hero, especially with 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra.' He gets a bad rap; he's very misunderstood. He's a maker of individuals, and he was a teacher of teachers.
The Roots are well-respected and considered vanguards in the music.
Coonskin caps, Yankee bats, the Hound Dog man's big start. The A-bomb fears, Annette had ears, I lusted in my heart.
With age comes wisdom. You don't need big boobs to be feminine. Look at Liberace.
A nation without heroes is nothing.
I love songs, Patty Larkin, Sharon Stone, Mae West, and Marilyn Monroe.
By 27, Bob Dylan had already written 'Highway 61 Revisited,' the Beatles had released 'Rubber Soul,' Bruce Springsteen had recorded 'Born to Run' and U2 had delivered 'The Joshua Tree.'
But, I'm a big Johnny Cash and a big Lou Reed fan and a Fellini fan.
My two great heroes are W. B. Yeats and Federico García Lorca.
Luckily, each generation brings forth great writers, actors, directors, and designers.
