I like the guitar better these days. I like the bass, too, but it's hard to fit a bass amp in a small car.

I got tired of the Ramones around the time I quit and I really got into rap. I thought it was the new punk rock. LL Cool J was my biggest idol.

I'd like to congratulate myself, and thank myself, and give myself a big pat on the back.

I started listening to and playing other music in the '90s. It was after hearing other bands, like Bad Religion, cover Ramones songs that I started to like our songs again.

Billboard called my solo album, 'Standing In The Spotlight,' a great party album and even said that my raps put the Beastie Boys to shame.

I couldn't do rap. I was trying. I don't know how. I'm not good enough to know.

I didn't have the confidence to leave the band because of a solo career, or anything like that. I just wanted to grow.

I haven't done rap... I can't do that too well.

I like California a lot more than New York these days.

I loved rap, especially in the early days. But I wasn't trying to shove it down anybody's throats.

I'm really lucky I'm still around. Everybody expected me to die next... But it was always someone else instead of me.

It was sad when Sid Vicious died... I was freaked out when Phil Lynott died from Thin Lizzy. I cried. It was too crazy.

It's very expensive to bring a band to New York.

Metallica - they're so demonic, they're crazy, I don't know how they do it.

Ricky Nelson... I couldn't believe it when he died. He was a great rock star.

We didn't do an American tour because it I know it wouldn't go down well.

Billboard called my solo album, 'Standing In The Spotlight', a great party album and even said that my raps put the Beastie Boys to shame. 'Standing In The Spotlight' included some great experiments in rap and rock n' roll and featured cameos by Chris Stein and Debbie Harry.

I loved rap, especially in the early days. But I wasn't trying to shove it down anybody's throats. I didn't have the confidence to leave the band because of a solo career, or anything like that. I just wanted to grow.

The main issue was deciding what to play: Should it be old Ramones material or new material? I had about three albums worth of new material, but I knew that people would rather hear the Ramones songs.

When I got into rap I didn't exactly win any popularity contests. I called myself Dee Dee King, after B.B. King, to the total dismay of my fellow Ramones.