Ali Campbell from UB40 chats to I Like Music

ILM: You've sold 70 million records, shed loads! You've toured the world…

ALI: Probably the most toured band in the world because we've never stopped. You know these bands who come back together to celebrate their 25th anniversary and haven't actually been a band for 17 years or whatever. We've done it year in year out. I think we are probably the most toured band. And I can only think of one other band that's still got after 27 years the same original line-up and that's U2, but there's half as many of them. But to have eight people still together and we've got the same crew. 27 years, so we're doing something right.

ILM: Now that's longevity! There are so many bands that have a few hits and then you don't hear of them again.

ALI: Well, it's a different world now. You've got an iPod generation who listen to music on their own. I don't understand that. For me, the beauty of music is the elation you get, reggae especially, when you play it to your mates and you say, 'listen to this!' It's a really interactive thing. And to be sat there with an iPod on with your own private selection shuffling away… that's an American idea right? The first time I saw people dancing on their own was in America in New York when we were about 20 years old. We came from a reggae background, when you'd dance with a woman. You don't dance on you're own, why would you want to do that for. And then in New York everyone's dancing on their own in a nightclub all night. At the end of the night they go home on their own and it's a very strange and cold and lonely thing.
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