Anton Corbijn

But nobody else seemed to agree in the early days, so I was really struggling.

In Holland, I lived in a brothel for a while.

And then in England, I lived in a squat in Dalston.

So it wasn't all plain sailing, but I believed very much in what I was doing.

And I think that's why I connected with people like Ian Curtis or Kurt Cobain.

Yeah, ridiculous, really.

But yes, yeah.

Because I worked for the NME almost from the get-go when I moved to England.

I kind of reached my ceiling in Holland.

Looking back, that's maybe exaggerated, but that's how I felt at the time.

Because I was not a studio photographer and I worked with all the Dutch bands that I liked at the time, you know, Super Sister or Golden Yearling or Grupo Sportivo and all that.

And I thought, well, what else can I do in Holland?

And every time I went to England for this Dutch magazine, I felt my photographs were better than the ones I took in Holland.

So I'm not sure why.

Maybe it's my romantic side that I felt.

A journey and a destination were interesting.

I showed some pictures in the summer of 79 to the NME, to Neil Spencer, the editor.

And he liked the pictures I showed a lot.

And he said, can we use some?

And I said, sure.