Thriller - Michael Jackson
It's a good tune and totally uncontentious these days. I wasn't ever that into music. I bought Thriller because my cousins got it and I thought, "I want that too".
It
was an interesting start for me because I'm not interested in pop culture. I've always had an aversion to hooking into the main thing that's happening. I'll deliberately not get into it.
I wasn't allowed to watch the Thriller video. We were only allowed to watch a bit of telly each day but I wasn't really into it anyway. I reckon I've watched 10 music videos ever in my entire childhood. I wasn't interested and I remain quite uninterested although this year alone I've pumped nearly all my savings into making the f***ing things.
Wannabe - Spice Girls
I don't have the same relationship with music as a lot of people. I don't store music with emotional memories. It doesn't work like that for me. Music's more like a parallel train running along.
However, 1996 was defined by an ironic love of Spice Girls. I had a Spice Girls poster on my wall and my band played Wannabe as a cover with guitars. Not a punk version, we were genuine and absolutely loved the song.
Because it was the post-Grunge era it was an ironic relationship but like so many ironic things it just became … like, my entire look and persona started ironic and has become who I am.
What's hilarious with the Spice Girls is that I then went on and worked with Mel C [Sporty Spice] a lot with Jesus Christ Superstar and got to know Emma [Baby Spice] and met all the girls. Mel is still a very, very dear friend. She's my mate but Baby Spice was - and remains - a bit of a crush. If Sporty ever reads this article I'll get in trouble.
She's Leaving Home - The Beatles