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5 Albums I Can't Live Without

5 Albums I Can’t Live Without: Gavin Rossdale of Bush

(Credit: Pedro Becerra/Redferns)

Name  Gavin Rossdale

Best known for  Bush, a small dog and a few kids.

Current city  On tour, two weeks from home…doesn’t matter…and no one told me.

Dream city  Home. This has been a long year.

Excited about  The Art Of Survival(Oct. 7). Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas with my boys.

Current music  The Mars Volta, XXXTentacion, Idles, Alice In Chains, Kendrick Lamar, PJ Harvey

And a little bit of  Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares, Jon Brion, Aphex Twin

 

 

5 Albums I Can’t Live Without:

 

1
The Psychedelic Furs
, The Psychedelic Furs 

 

 

I was a total punk as a kid. It was a revolution. I loved all the bands, but this record had a depth that was new to me. Richard Butler is an incredible singer and writes melodies that have sat in my DNA ever since.

This band drew me in heavily. They moved me emotionally. All layers and alleyways.

 

 

2
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
, David Bowie

 

 

This record was a gift from my aunt. It opened a whole new world. Where I grew up everyone listened to R&B and made custom cars out of Ford Cortinas or Ford Fiestas, so listening to Bowie was a clandestine, under-the-radar affair. Private-world music.

As I left the walls of my youth, I realized that everyone cool I met also loved Bowie.

 

3
Rid of Me
, PJ Harvey

 

 

I’d loved Polly’s first record, but this record was nuts. It just spoke to me in a way you need music to matter. It was so inspiring. Polly with the most brilliant and economic band. Warren Ellis and Steve Vaughan moving perfectly through the excellent and wild songs. One of those records where every second is remembered and every sound vital and stored in the memory—imprinted on the DNA.

 

 

4
Welcome To The Boomtown
, David & David

 

 

This was a massive favorite and a huge inspiration—a secret record that no one else seemed to know about. The dubby bass lines with the stories of struggle and survival struck a deep nerve with me and informed so much of what i love about music.

The vocals (David Baerwald, Dave Ricketts ) are full of life and all it offers or takes away.

The songs are mini movies that resonate with everyday living. With all of us.

And when I did a solo record I reached out to one David—he sent me some really good world music – but we never ended up using it.

Both Davids went on to have huge careers but this was their only album together. time for a sequel.

 

5
Maxinquaye
, Tricky

 

 

This was the birth of trip hop—Tricky changed the game. It’s a perfect haze of a record and Martina Topley-Bird being the perfect foil for Tricky’s mesmerizing raps.

It was the start of a movement. And a great antidote to the guitar music that was everywhere. I played this record through.

I recorded with tricky. We did “in a lonely place” by Joy Division, but I never got to sing with Martina…maybe one day.