John Simm's Revealing Musical Selections: Starting with Childhood Favorites to Unexplained Dislikes

The first tune I became enamored with
My earliest recollection is stepping into a room at kindergarten where they were spinning Yellow Submarine by the Fab Four. I was captivated by the sonic landscape, and John Lennon shouting: “Full speed ahead!” When it arrived at the hook, I distinctly thought: “This must be music!”

The very first single I acquired
When I was eight, I was victorious in a contest at school to select a new record to play at the weekly dance party we had on Friday afternoons. My instructor took me to Woolworths, and I picked out Come Back My Love by Darts. The first single I bought with my own savings was Mull of Kintyre by Wings from a music store in Lancashire. It was topping the charts at the time, and I chose it when my father noted that it was by one of the Beatles.

The song I do at karaoke
I frankly actively avoid public singing and dodge it at all costs. But if forced, I’d choose Summer Wind by Ol' Blue Eyes.

The piece I inexplicably remember every lyric to
I recently discovered that I know pretty much all the lyrics to The Boy in the Bubble, You Can Call Me Al, and the entire album on Graceland by Paul Simon.

The best track to play at a party
It hinges on what stage of the party you are at. At the start it would most likely be I Heard It Through the Grapevine by Marvin Gaye. As the party deepens, I’d work through the Artist, the Stones and Bowie, and when it gets lively, Phat Planet by Leftfield, Born Slippy .NUXX by the techno pioneers, and Ascension by the virtual band, which is an massive track.

The song I can not bear
I inexplicably cannot stand Mr Brightside by the Killers.

The best song to have sex to
Come Together by John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

The album that changed my life
When I was 12 and beginning to learn the six-string, I’d only listen to early rock and roll, and was obsessed with Elvis, the rock pioneer, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran. Then my childminder played Let There Be Rock by the Australian rockers. It was still guitar music, but it was high voltage rock ’n’roll. As soon as he dropped the record on the record player, I was hooked.

The song that wakes me in the morning
What’d I Say in its full glory by The Genius.

The track that makes me cry
Virtually any music makes me moved. Aretha Franklin, The Chairman of the Board, Elvis and the Beatles all stir my emotions because of the harmony and utter perfection of the vocals. But The Ocean by the Sheffield crooner hits me hard without fail.

The song I’d like to be played at my memorial service
The King. If I’m cremated, I’ll have Burning Love. If I’m laid to rest in the ground, I’ll have Way Down.