Tracks of my years
- Publication: Q
- Date: April 2014
- Author:
- Page: 50
- Language: English
The former Doctor Who actor on the songs that soundtracked key times in his life as a hip-hop homeboy, trance trailblazer and rock'n'roll roughneck.
1 WEIRD FISHES/ARPEGGI, RADIOHEAD (2007)
"When I got the part of Doctor Who, I was listening to this a lot. I connect it to starting that journey; it's a song that gives you courage and the sense that you've gotta keep going. I've always listened to a lot of music on set. There was a year when I listened to Weird Fishes every single day. After being into rap, Radiohead were the really big band for me. The first time I heard them I was like, 'Holy mother of puck, what is this?!' They have a proper body of work and every album is a real leap and an expression and a risk."
2 DRIVING TO THE FOOTBALL THE GREAT GIG IN THE SKY, PINK FLOYD (1973)
"I would listen to this in the car with my dad when we used to travel to Leicester (Smith played in Leicester City's youth team before a back injury ended his football career]when I was 14. The Great Gig In The Sky is an extraordinary song, the woman just wails. We'd listen to Floyd and The Beatles and stuff on the way there."
Pink Floyd: all fancied a shot at playing the Doctor back in the '70s.
3 CHOOSING OASIS OVER BLUR
CHAMPAGNE SUPERNOVA, OASIS (1995)
"I remember lying on my back listening to this and thinking, 'I have no idea what this song is about.' I do now, obviously! It's a great bit of music from a brilliant album. At the time, it was Oasis vs Blur - I like Blur, but I was from Northampton - only girls or posh kids liked Blur. I went to the state school and liked Oasis and rap music. Not like I'm from some ghetto cos I'm not. But I was always Oasis. If you listen to Oasis properly, there's a real love and understanding of rock'n'roll. Noel Gallagher has listened to Floyd and all those people. He gets it."
Noel contest: Matt picked Oasis, not Blur.
4 CRUISING NORTHAMPTON WITH HIS CREW
NY STATE OF MIND, NAS (1994)
"I got into rap music really heavily. It was at the time of Biggie and Tupac and picking a side, East Coast or West Coast, and I went East. Nas' [debut album] Illmatic reminds me of being on the school bus at 15 or 16, listening to Memory Lane and NY State Of Mind. Later, me and my mates would get together and drive around listening to this album in a car. I had a Vauxhall Coma."
Nas: a double-denim state of mind.
5 KING OF THE DISCO
TELL ME IT'S REAL, K-CI &JOJO (1999)
"When I was 17, I got into garage and used to hang out in a record store called Spinadisc in Northampton. I became head boy at school, purely so I could be in charge of the party fund and we'd throw parties where me and my mates would DJ. I used to hire out the cricket club for the school disco. People were like, 'Can you play some songs that we know?'! I was playing, like, trance! Now everyone is into David Guetta and I'm like, 'Dude, I was rocking these big trance tracks years ago!"'
THE CROSS-DRESSING YEARS!
6 GETTING READY TO GO ONSTAGE MOONLIGHT SONATA, BEETHOVEN
"I've always loved classical music. Moonlight Sonata is a perfect piece of drama. When I did the play That Face in London's West End (m 2008;1 used to listen to this before I went on.
I'd sit on the steps of the Duke Of York's Theatre and listen to it. Music ignites my imagination."
Mr and Mrs Smith: Matt wows the West End in 2008.
7 ROMANCE IN BRAZIL
BABA O'RILEY, THE WHO (1971) "I was in Brazil when I was 25, just hanging out with friends from university. I'd go on long walks and play this. I met a girl, fell in love and stayed there. This song reminds me of sunshine and the sea. I love its sense of bravado and its faith in youth."
Rock in Rio: The Who remind Matt of "sunshine and the sea."
Caption: Let's do the timelord again: Matt Smith (as Doctor Who) discovers that the Zygons are, in fact, all Blur fans.
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- APA 6th ed.: (April 2014). Tracks of my years. Q p. 50.
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- Turabian: "Tracks of my years." Q, April 2014, section, 50 edition.
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