Wonderland Burlesque's Down The Rabbit Hole: E-Rotic

Wonderland Burlesque's

Down The Rabbit Hole:

E-Rotic

Down The Rabbit Hole merely places a spotlight on something slightly unusual that's caught my interest. With the help of Wikipedia, YouTube, and other sites, I gather information and learn something new.

Today, we take a look at the music and history of E-Rotic.

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From Wikipedia:

E-Rotic are a Eurodance duo act formed in 1994 by German record producer David Brandes. The band originally consisted of German-born singer Lyane Leigh and American rapper Richard Allen Smith (AKA: Ras-Ma-Taz). The act is known for its extensive use of sexual themes in their songs and music videos.

Brandes knew Leigh from their Xanadu days (a German pop group, 1989 to 1992), where they were both members and one half of the group. In 1994, Brandes released a solo song, Helpless Dancer, with Leigh on guest vocals, before American-born Ras-Ma-Taz joined them to create E-Rotic. Together they scored on the charts with their first three chart topping singles: Max Don't Have Sex With Your Ex, which peaked #45 in the UK Singles Chart and #4 in the Dutch Single Chart, Fred Come to Bed, #3 in the German Single Chart, and Sex on the Phone, #2 in Austria, followed by their debut studio album Sex Affairs.

A fourth single, to be included on the group's second album was released. Willy Use a Billy... Boy peaked at #5 in Austria in 1995. But very suddenly... the magic fizzled.

November of that year found both members leaving the band, due to a disagreement between Leigh and producer Brandes. For appearances, they were quickly replaced by artists Jeane and Ché Jouaner. It was then revealed that Marcus Thomas (aka Deon Blue) had provided the raps for the group's breakthrough single, Max Don't Have Sex With Your Ex, not Ras-Ma-Taz. And it turned out that Brandes was the rapper on all the other singles, sharing duties with Ras-Ma-Taz only on select cuts of the group's debut album.

In regards to her issues with Brandes, Leigh said, "He promised me a lot of things during my E-Rotic time, but never was willing to keep his promises. One of these promises was to produce a mixed video, with both cartoon and real people. We were never shown in the videos and so we had problems with our concerts, 'cause no-one really knew us as persons,"

For the next four albums, Brandes continued to provide the raps while Leigh, who was still under contract, provided the vocals. From the second album, The Power of Sex, three more singles were released, Help Me Dr. Dick, Fritz Love My Tits and Gimme Good Sex, all becoming moderate chart hits, peaking at #18, #16 and #3 in Austria, respectively.

In 1997, the studio albums Sexual Madness and the ABBA cover CD Thank You for the Music was released. Sexual Madness contained the single releases Turn Me On, which peaked at #7 in Finland. A greatest hits compilation followed in 1998. By 1999, Leigh's contract with Brandes was completed and she left the group for good. Lydia Madajewski was drafted to provide studio vocals for all future E-rotic releases.

More music followed and the group even attempted to enter the Eurovision song competition in 2000. It was the only time that Jeane, who normally stood in for and lip-synced Leighs vocals, had to sing live. The group finished in sixth place in the pre-selection process. Following the Eurovision contest, in 2002, both Jeane and and Ché Jouaner left the group.

At that time, Madajewski and stage performer Robert Spehar became the new faces of E-rotic.

Following a third compilation album, a remix album and a ninth album, E-rotic Cocktail (which featured Heartbreaker - a #1 single in Japan), Madajewski and Spehar both quit, effectively putting the band on a hiatus from 2004 to 2013.

In 2014, Leigh announced the return of E-rotic, with a new rapper, Stephen Appleton. She said they would be releasing a greatest hits album featuring re-recorded versions of their most popular songs, as well as new music. 

In 2016, a new single was released, Video Starlet, with another song, Murder Me.

In 2024, the group released their first new album in over 20 years, Level Up, along with the promised compilation album The Hits.

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Max Don't Have Sex With Your Ex

Fred Come to Bed - E-Rotic

Sex on the Phone - E-rotic

Willy Use a Billy... Boy - E-Rotic

Help Me Dr. Dick - E-Rotic

Fritz Love My Tits - E-Rotic

Gimme Good Sex - E-Rotic

Turn Me On - E-Rotic

Heartbreaker - E-Rotic

Video Starlet - E-rotic

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Wednesday's Question Of The Day: Revisiting A Favorite

Wednesday's Question Of The Day:

Revisiting A Favorite

Hump day? Well, I'll give you something to ponder.

Yes, it's time for Wednesday's Question Of The Day.

Each Wednesday, a new question to give you the opportunity to do a bit of self-examination.  Think of it as a way of getting to know all about you and a chance to learn a little more about me. 

That's right. You know me; spill that tea! For I am the king of over-sharing!

Oh, and please leave your responses in the comments section. 

Why, think of this as a little blogging kiki!

Okay! Ready, set... 

Here's today's question:

Have you ever revisited something (a book, a movie, etc.) and found it hasn't aged well? What and how?

Sex In The City (the series)

I was cat-sitting for my sister while she was in Japan for ten days. I had very little to do. I ran three miles every day. Wrote a lot. Ate super healthy. And cleaned her house.

I also started re-watching Sex In The City, which was originally shown on HBO. 

My memories of it are very fond. I adored Samantha's sexual exploits and the candidness with which the women would discuss sexual matters. I adored Miranda's stubbornness, drive to achieve, snarkiness, and desire to remain independent. Charlotte was always problematic for me because I can't relate to WASPs. Her prudishness and disregard for reality, while playing well against her more pragmatic cohorts, left me cold. It would seem that the writers also had no idea what to do with her, for they took great joy in placing Charlotte in the most humiliating circumstances possible, something meant to be humorous, but now strikes me as passive-aggressively sado-masochistic.

And then, there was Carrie.

I used to think she was cute and adorable. Like a puppy, mindlessly bounding about with enthusiasm, in need of protection. I wanted to share her lust for life.

Carrie hasn't aged well.

She's myopic; everything is about Carrie. Carrie's latest crisis. Carrie's latest need. Carrie's romance. Carrie, Carrie, Carrie. 

The bitch is exhausting. 

After a point? I wouldn't be inviting her to join us for brunch anymore.

She whines. All the time. She makes excuses - it's always someone else's fault. She never learns. She never grows. There is a surprising lack of maturity and self-awareness hobbling about the streets of New York City on those Louis Vuittons. 

The third time she strays back and reattaches to Mr. Big? You want to take her by both shoulders and shake her like a ragdoll. Honestly? What are you thinking? Have you no self-respect? Are you really this needy? This stupid?

And then there's her relationship with Aidan. The first thing out of her mouth is a lie and she simply continues to lie from that moment on. He's so sweet. He's like a cuddly, loyal yellow Labrador Retriever. And he can fix things! Carrie is a damn fool.

Then there's the matter of what these women actually do. Oh, they are all super-successful - owner of a successful PR firm, manager of a hip, cutting-edge art gallery, partner at a powerful attorney's, firm, and the writer of a popular, salacious newspaper column. But, what do we see them do? They go to restaurants. They go to bars. They go to clubs. They go to art gallery openings. They go to fashion shows. They go shopping. They buy designer shoes. Their homes are little more than places to sleep, have sex, and to store and change clothes. 

It's a mind-numbing. repetitive existence. 

They do walk the streets of New York City - in Carrie's case, frequently looking like a three-dollar hooker. 

I don't fault the actresses. Or the writers, for that matter - although one can only imagine how scripts were written and story arcs determined without anyone raising the possibility that these women were capable of growing and evolving as human beings.

The thing which I adored about the series? The fact that these women formed this tightknit circle, one where everything was on the table. They spoke with a candor which I found refreshing, and still do. It's what I wanted for myself. It's what we all want for ourselves. 

Well, that closeness remains evident. But, post-COVID, it strikes me as little more than a quaint idea, an ideal whose time has passed me by and been rendered a relic. I can't imagine spending that amount of time with the same three people. I now require a lot more privacy and alone time. My days of yearning to adopt a pack mentality have vanished along with my sense of personal safety, appreciation of technology, and desire to tell people what they need to do or be.

In a way, it's a shame.

Revisiting this series? It's as close as I'll ever come to going to a high school reunion. For the longest time, these ladies were my best friends, relationship archetypes I attempted to recreate in real life. Well, you can imagine how well that went, huh? 

In the end? Watching this series again was exactly like going to said reunion. You find yourself surrounded by people you once knew intimately, relied upon constantly and appreciated greatly. But life moved on, and so did you. They're strangers to you now. And all you have in common...

...is the thought of what you used to think used to be.

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Used To Be Young - Miley Cyrus

Sunday Diva / Three From The Hip: Rusty Warren

Sunday Diva / Three From The Hip: 

Rusty Warren

In my own personal big gay church, there is a wing dedicated to the Ladies Of Comedy. Theses are the gals who made us laugh and, on occasion, brought a tear to our eyes. They are visionaries, capturing aspects of the human condition while holding up a mirror to the world. Their characters, style, and phrases have helped form our daily vernacular in ways we are not even always aware of - but that is the power of comedy and the magic these ladies all possess. Breaking ground while breaking all the rules?

One such firecracker?

Rusty Warren.

Knockers up!

The 'Mother of the Sexual Revolution'.

The woman was inescapable.

Dressed in the latest style, seated behind her spinet piano, this diva helped define naughty cocktail humor.

And boy howdy, did she have some impact!

The lady was a huge hit; both live, on the nightclub scene and in the living rooms of sexually adventurous adults - thanks to the sale of her brilliant, progressive L.P.s.

She was there - on the forefront - liberating women one bra at a time. 

Many albums later and after years of touring, she retired in Hawaii.

But... this diva had done her tour of duty - freeing up both boob and booty - for the betterment of the world.

The gospel according to her?

Well, here are three from the hip, dropping from her lips.

The topic? Her Sex Evolution

"I started out as a music teacher. Worked a few dinner houses in my college years then, as the years went on, I got to talk more than play the piano."

"I never started out as a comedienne. I was playing piano in small lounges and clubs when one of my bosses asked me if I knew any parodies? I didn't know what he meant, and when I found out I started to buy them from places in New York that used to sell them by the page. He also said that he would give me more money if I would sing them along with my regular songs of the day. I did, he did, and that's how it all started."

"It was the time when cities were spreading out to the suburbs, and the lifestyles were changing to barbeques and backyard parties. They would play my records and just have an evening of their own entertainment. It was reasonable and they could stay at home (as the kids were young then and you can't always go out when you have youngsters). I guess I was doing my thing at the right time and the right place, in the years of the sexual revolution of the '60s."

"Before I ever made albums I played my act every where I could get work. Many of the rooms weren't geared for my type of 'sex talk,' so I would get some walk-outs. Actually, most of the audience enjoyed what I was doing and it proved to be a great 'material experience' - what to use and what to throw out, because it just doesn't work. What a learning venue! In fact, the Knockers Up march was started in Dayton, Ohio, in a club called Mike Longo's. I was telling the gals to 'get your knockers up and let's show the guys we have something to give in this world today.' My boss, Mike, started to go through the room trying to get the gals to throw out their chests, and, as he was going through the room, I started playing a march rhythm on the piano and adlibbing words to what was going down. So that's how it happened and the rest became 'Rusty Warren History.' The Knockers Up march was born!"

"My manager, Stan Zucker, used to tell me that when he was putting together the Midwest tour dates, every club I worked couldn't wait for me to come in with my new show. The club owners made money every time I worked there and it spread by word of mouth to 'buy that Rusty Warren gal - she's naughty but you'll make money.'"

"There were only a few of us doing so-called risqué comedy. I was the 'tame one' of all of us, as I didn't use any four-letter word, as did Belle Barth or Pearl Williams."

"Every town I played in the Midwest had their own group of women who would show up with their husbands and neighbors, sometimes driving many miles to get to the local club I was appearing at. God, those gals were something else! But they were the driving force of the Rusty Warren movement in the '60s."

"You have to realize that we spoke differently in the '60's. We veiled a lot of what we were saying and how we were saying it. But it was sex just the same. Ours was more innuendo than the realistic way it's talked about on stage today. And the female comediennes today are coming right out and saying what they want to say and don't have to worry about being censored."

Knockers! Up - Rusty Warren

Bounce Your Boobies - Rusty Warren

Am I Growing Older - Rusty Warren

"My mentor was Sophie Tucker who, in her day, was considered 'naughty" for her times. She caught me, or her writer saw my show and told her I did her Life Begins At Forty song at my piano bar, and she asked me to have lunch at her hotel. She asked me why would I ever do that song when I was 24 years-old? She also told me 'to be honest with my audiences as they will know if your lying, because audiences are smarter than you think they are and they'll catch you on it every time.' They are...and they'll catch you on it every time.

Weekend Onesie: An Important Part Of Balanced Diet

Weekend Onesie:

An Important Part Of Balanced Diet

I, for one, always make sure I get plenty of protein.

There are many different ways of incorporating it into your diet.

But I do have my favorite.

What can I say? Why mess with perfection?

When it works, it works!

Here's hoping you're getting all you need.

If not?

Well, step it up and get with the program, Poindexter.

- uptonking from Wonderland Burlesque

Cream - Prince & The New Power Generation

Wonderland Burlesque's Let's All Go To The Movies: Keeping It Confidential Edition, Part II

Wonderland Burlesque's 

Let's All Go To The Movies

Keeping It Confidential Edition

Part II

Ah, more Hollywood movies keeping it oh-so very confidential.

Former or future Academy Award nominees? Check. Behind the scenes intrigue? Check. Actors trying to keep things on the down low? Check.

A bit of gossip and tons of trivia for those of you who like such things. Plenty of secrets to keep... family secrets, secret trysts, business secrets, government secrets, secret pacts...

So, mums the word, as we peruse this week's film tasty selections.

I won't tell, if you won't! 

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Strictly Confidential

(1919)

"How's your pedigree?"

(A vivacious chorus girl attracts the affections of an English nobleman. He falls hard for her and the two hastily marry. When he brings her home to his ancestral castle to meet the family, she is horrified to discover that she is related, in one way or another, to all 23 members of the house servant staff!)

(Madge Kennedy was a popular Broadway stage and silent screen actress. A contract player for Goldwyn Pictures, beginning 1917, she appeared in dozens of films, successfully making the leap into talkies. Her film career endured into the 1970's with roles in 1969's They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, 1970's The Baby Maker, 1975's The Day of the Locust, and 1976's Marathon Man.)

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Strictly Confidential

(1943)

AKA: Broadway Bill

(A high-society heiress breaks away from her controlling family. In the process, she secretly joins forces with her sister's husband in order to race a horse he owns, named Broadway Bill.)

(Directed by Frank Capra, the screenplay is based upon the story Strictly Confidential by Mark Hellinger and it's under that title that the film was initially conceived and advertised. However, while the film retained that title in the UK, in the US it was renamed and marketed as Broadway Bill.)

(Myrna Loy, always a hoot, stars as the wayward heiress. She remains one of my all-time favorite actresses. She was Capra's only choice for the role of the heiress. 1934 also marks her debut as Nora Charles in the popular Thin Man series.)

"The comedy successor to It Happened One Night!"

(Despite a warm critical reception, director Capra was never happy with the film. After audience previews, he re-edited the film based on the audiences comments. He even went so far as to remake it in 1950 as Riding High, with Bing Crosby and Coleen Gray.)

(Clark Gable was originally considered for the lead, but proved unavailable. Capra settled for Warner Baxter, despite the actor's fear of horses which made it nearly impossible to gain close-ups of the actor with the horse. Thus Capra vowed to remake the film one day, with an actor who loved horses.)

(Capra was also dissatisfied with the film's original happy ending, wanting something more bittersweet and ambivalent, to reflect the true nature of American success. With the original screenwriter in Europe on another project, he drafted the help of Sidney Buchman, who provided four additional scenes to replace the ending, for which Buchman received no screen credit.)

(Lucille Ball, who was 23 years-old at the time, can be spotted in a scene as a blonde telephone operator.)

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Confidentially Connie

(1953)

"She knows her way around men."

(A plot only the meat industry could love; a bigtime Texas cattleman comes to Maine to visit his son Joe, a college poetry instructor, and his wife Connie in the hopes of persuading Joe to give up his teaching career and come back to Texas to take over the family ranch so the cattleman can retire. When the father finds out that Connie, who is expecting a baby, can not afford the steaks she yearns for on Joe's salary, her father-in-law, who believes that pregnant women must have meat, arranges for the local butcher to cut his prices in half - with the father-in-law paying the difference - so that Connie can have the meat she desires.)

(Really... that's the whole film.)

(Starring Van Johnson, described as "the embodiment of boy-next-door wholesomeness." In the 1940's and 50's, he made a career playing "the red-haired, freckle-faced soldier, sailor, or bomber pilot who used to live down the street." He got his start thanks to Lucille Ball, who, on the eve before he was to depart L.A. for New York, took him to dinner at Chasen's restaurant, where she introduced him to MGM casting agent, Billy Grady. This led to a screentest and, after a short stint at Warner Bros., a long-term contract with MGM.) 

(But Mr. Johnson had a not-so-well-hid secret: he was gay. At one point, to avoid scandal, according to a note left by his wife, Evie - to be read after her death, the studio arranged for her to divorce actor Keenan Wynn and marry Johnson the next day. This resulted in Hollywood's first well-known 'thruple', or, what Ed Wynn, Keenan's father, called a very confusing situation, for it seems; "Evie loves Keenan. Keenan loves Evie. Van loves Evie. Evie loves Van. Van loves Keenan. Keenan loves Van."  In 1985, returning to Broadway for the first time since Pal Joey, Johnson was cast in the starring role of the musical La Cage aux Folles.)

(Janet Leigh was discovered at the age of eighteen by actress Norma Shearer, who helped her secure a contract with MGM. Her career in pictures lasted over five decades. The former wife of Tony Curtis, she is the mother of Jamie Lee Curtis. Leigh's best known role was as Marion Crane in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, earning her a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.)

(Louis Calhern's best remembered for his role as the villain in the film noir, 1950's The Asphalt Jungle. He was nominated that same year for an Academy Award as Best Actor for portraying Oliver Wendell Holmes in the film The Magnificent Yankee.)

(The film also features Gene Lockhart who, as the treacherous informant in 1938's Algiers, earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He also had pivotal roles in a pair of holiday classics; Bob Cratchit in 1938's A Christmas Carol and the judge in 1947's Miracle On 34th Street.)

(Former leading lady, Mae Clark plays a bit part billed as 'Happy Shopper'. Clark was a huge star throughout the 1930's, however, during the 40's she saw her career dwindle, as she was cast as the lead in pictures with smaller and smaller budgets. By the 1950's, she was reduce to bit parts, frequently appearing uncredited. Her most famous role is that of the girlfriend to James Cagney in Public Enemy. In the film, there is a scene where Cagney famously pushes a grapefruit into her face before dumping her for Jean Harlow.) 

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Strictly Confidential

(1959)

"The rise and fall of two temporary tycoons!"

(In this comedy, a pair of seasoned con-men are freed from prison, only to return to a life of hijinks and crime. Enlisted by the wife of a deceased industrialist in order to gain control of her husband's corporation, things become complicated when her true intentions are revealed.)

(Richard Murdoch made his mark creating and starring in a number of British radio serials. He was also a popular draw in the West End and motion pictures. His co-star, William Kendall was also a West End regular, where he appeared in dozens of musicals.)

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College Confidential

(1960)

"No film ever dared touch this theme before!"

"It's like a Kinsey Report on the campus - Walter Winchell"

(A sociology professor conducting a survey at Collins College about the mores and lifestyles of the students ends up in hot water when some of the good citizens of the college town take exception to his work once they find out it includes questions about sex. When a reporter receives an anonymous tip that the good professor is corrupting local youth, the professor's past comes back to haunt him and all hell breaks loose.)

(The film was an unofficial follow-up to High School Confidential, which had been made two years prior. When asked about the film, Steve Allen said it was supposed to be progressive. Sadly, it has never been released commercially for home viewing in any form. The film also stars Jayne Meadows - Allen's real life wife, sexpot Mamie Van Doren and film critic Walter Winchell.)

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Campus Confidential

(1968)

(Director Stephen C. Apostolof, a contemporary and frequent collaborator of Ed Wood, Jr., made a series of three films in the late 1960's dealing with the 'confidential' sexual appetites of different segments of society, the other two being Motel Confidential and College Girl Confidential.)

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Confidentially Yours

(1983)

AKA: Finally, Sunday!

(An estate agent comes under suspicion when a wealthy man is murdered in the same area he is hunting in. Things grow even more complicated when the estate agent's fingerprints are discovered on the dead man's car and investigators learn that, not only do the two men know one another, but the deceased was also having a secret affair with the estate agent's wife. When the wife also turns up dead, to clear his name, the estate agent's secretary, who remains unsure of his guilt, conducts her own investigation.)

(This was the last film directed by Francois Truffaut before his death in October, the following year. Fanny Ardant, a major film star, first gained international recognition for her role opposite Gérard Depardieu in La Femme d'à côté, directed by Truffaut.)

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Confidential

(1986)

(In 1949, a journalist sets out to research an unsolved axe murder from 37-years earlier, but goes missing himself, necessitating the hiring of a private detective to find him. The detective's search leads him to the son of the woman accused of the murder, who has secrets of his own to protect.)

(Upon release, this stylish Canadian film, amply invoking classic film noir, was dismissed as "a pale imitation of Chinatown, with another critic complaining, "there's mystery here all right, but no logic.")

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Student Confidential

(1986)

"A powder keg of ambition, passion and violence..."

"It's teenage dynamite ready to explode."

(A mysterious millionaire leads four high school students into the world of cheap thrills and adult kicks.)

(A Troma film featuring Marlon Jackson of The Jackson 5, one-time Academy Award Best Supporting Actress nominee Ronne Blakely, former Playboy Playmate, Susie Scott, and the least successful offspring of Kirk Douglas, comedian Eric Douglas, whose act consisted of self-deprecating humor making light of his status as the black sheep of  his famous family.)

(Before her film debut in Robert Altman's Nashville, Blakely composed music scores for films and recorded her own self-penned songs for Elektra and Warner Bros. Records. Her first album features a duet with Linda Ronstadt called Bluebird. Post Nashville, she toured as part of  Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Review, and her performances are captured on Dylan's The Basement Tapes. She then sang back-up vocals for Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Hoyt Axton and made her Broadway debut in 1982's Pump Boys And Dinettes. She married director Wim Wenders and her career was put on hold while she raised her daughter and recovered from a serious back injury.)

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Comic Book Confidential

(1988)

(A documentary about the artistic history and social relevance of the comic book. It includes numerous interviews with some of the biggest names in the industry, including Robert Crumb, Stan Lee, William M. Gaines, Will Eisner, and Lynda Berry.)

(The project began taking shape in the mid-1980's when the director was doing PR work for the comedy Legal Eagles. He co-opted the studio's crew, money and film stock to interview the comic artists during off hours. Left on the cutting room floor? Footage of Frank Zappa, Scrooge McDuck creator Carl Barks, All American Comics editor Julius Schwartz, and editor of the first all-woman comic book It Ain't Me Babe, Trina Robbins.)

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And that's all for now...

Tune in next week.

Same time, same channel.

Strictly Confidential - Personal Column

Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip: Peaches

Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip: 

Peaches

In my own personal big gay church there are many wings. In one such wing reside those who have forged careers by marching to a beat only they can hear. They are originals - unlike any other. Their styles created archetypes upon which many careers were built, but it all began with them. They created it. They own it.

One such sexual warrior?

Peaches.

Visceral. Imaginative. Gut-wrenchingly honest.

Confrontational - but in the manner all great art should be. 

She pulls no punches. It's been that way since day one. 

Her path, uniquely sexual in nature, hasn't always been received well.

To this day, she continues to battle ageism, sexism, and people's fear of sex. 

Her best videos/songs are available on YouTube, but I can't share them with you because they are blocked from being shared by the site. 

Fuck The Pain Away is the one that actually set it off. For her legions of fans, it remains a rallying cry. It's also been covered many times by other artists and has become part of our cultural landscape. 

Visually, she continues to stun. She's intensely creative, as she presents human kind's biological imperative from her very personal and unique perspective.

The gospel according to her?

Well, here are three from the hip, dropping from her lips. 

The topic? Being Peaches

"Even when I started out, people had so many different opinions about me. Like, I was a feminist; I wasn’t a feminist; I was obsessed with sex; I wasn’t sexy at all; I was super angry; I was too funny. I was like, ‘Wow, how can all these super opposing things come from one direct line from me?’"

"You know, when I played my first NME show (at London’s Astoria in 2001) I opened for The Strokes – and then it was (…And You Will Know Us by the) Trail of Dead and Rocket from the Crypt. I was 33, and the headlines were like ‘Grandma, You’re Scaring the Kids’. It’s amazing. I noticed (ageism) at the beginning and then it was just like, forget it. I’ve never drank the juice of all of that, anyway. I found out I was ugly from becoming Peaches too, 'her ugliness is what’s so great about…’ I was like, oh, I’m ugly? Ok!"

"I beat myself up all the time. I tell myself bullshit all the time. And the minute I wake up, I tell myself, ‘You're doing something wrong. What are you doing? Why are you still in bed? What are you doing lying around? You should get up. You should be doing something. Go outside. Take a walk. Why don't you read something? Why don’t you learn something?’ And this is still when I'm in bed. I haven't even had a chance to get up, to take a few breaths, to say good morning to myself. ‘Good morning, Peaches’. I don't say that to myself. I don't even open my eyes. I just tell myself, ‘What the hell are you doing?’"

"Sometimes when you bring humour into it people can laugh for a second, and let it in a little more. I find those situations that are serious quite absurd, in a way. When I generate other absurdities – and people are like, oh she’s just being absurd – it’s like, actually, look at the real situation! You know how people say ‘you couldn’t make this shit up?’ It couldn’t be more absurd than the reality of it."

Set It Off - Peaches

Billionaire - Peaches

Vaginoplasty - Peaches

And one last parting shot...

"It’s good for me to have contact with the next generation of thinkers because it keeps evolving."

"I was so obsessed with infiltrating everywhere. I was like, this is the moment, I have to do it. I don’t think I would change that. The beginning was a light switch moment, and that light switch has just been on ever since."

"I didn’t want to move towards the mainstream, I wanted the mainstream to move towards me."

"I’m going to do whatever the fuck I want"