Paul Weller never listens to public opinion

The former Style Council and Jam rocker started his music career in 1976 but has never made the records people have expected of him, because he feels he would get stuck in a time warp.

He said: "If I`d have ever gone along with public opinion, on what people wanted me to do, I`d still be doing the same stuff as I was doing thirty years ago.

"I think you have to please yourself first and foremost; it`s a selfish sort of business in a way, but you have to excite yourself first and foremost, and then you want to put it to other people and play to other people and get them excited."

Paul - who released the 23rd studio album of his career, `Sonik Kicks`, this week - claims he doesn`t pay to much attention to how the world around him is changing apart from the music scene.

He added: "I`m not too fussed about what`s going on around me. I mean, I always listen to new music, I always try and make an effort to hear what`s going on, but that`s just because I`m a fan."

One of the influences on `Sonik Kicks` has been dance music, which Paul was listening to a lot of before he went in to record the album.

He told Absolute Radio: "Before we made it I was listening to a lot of electronic music and I wanted to try and get a thing where electronic music would marry with pop music with melody, and I think we got that, in my mind anyway, but I think it`s experimental in pop terms."

sections: Celebrities