My musical generation succeeded that of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. We thought we had a new perspective on what rock could do. I was never much taken with the hippie credo of the '60s, but artistically there was a collage effect, a kitchen sink of mixed media that was devastating on the sensibilities. We took from the '60s the idea that we really didn't need some of the old values anymore.

This shift led to the pluralistic decade of the '70s: the beginning of real experimentation, perceptually, musically, socially, culturally, artistically. We were coming to the discovery that we didn't have to live by absolutes; we didn't need one God, one religion, one political system, one sexual orientation. That was the sea we were adventurers upon. I've always thought of the '70s as being the start of the 21st century.

An outcome we can see already is that the singular voice, the authority figure or star or icon, is no longer needed. Punk was making that point in the mid-'70s. Today there is a more tribal interest, which you see perfectly in the dance raves that draw 40,000 to 50,000 young people around Europe. The parameters are set by the bands' music, but the entertainment and feeling of the whole event is from the audience. At concerts in the '70s, people would relate to me, watching singly from their own spaces. Now I'm playing to an audience that has a kind of nerve center within itself.