Michael Anthony

I hate to exercise.

The band changes one guy, sometimes the whole damn thing changes - look what happened when I joined Van Halen.

I had a great time playing on '1984.' I felt like I was growing as a player and background singer.

Jack Bruce really showed me that you could go anywhere with a bass part, and as long as you stayed in time, as long as you held down the groove, the door was wide open.

So much of the time people focus on the awesome power of Led Zeppelin, the whole 'Hammer of the Gods' thing, but John Paul Jones, probably because he was a session player, he put a lot of thought into his playing. He didn't just lumber through.

I played trumpet in school at an early age.

My father played music, so I was always around music, even from the time I was born. My father actually was the one that originally got me into music.

I want to go out, play music and have a good time.

I always said to my wife, 'That's for sissies. Girls get facials.' The first time I tried it I said, 'Oh man, what the hell have I been missing all these years.' Let me tell you, I go in there for about an hour and a half, and the girl does my facial and also massages my neck and my arms.

I always want harmony within the band. I want it to work.

Being a bass player in these big-time rock bands is hard work.