5. Public Image LtdThis Is What You Want… This Is What You Get
NK: This one was my pick and this record came to me very early, probably when I was 12 or 13. It was on a cassette tape that a friend had made with the Dead Kennedy’s on the other side. There are things that really stick with you throughout your life and this is a record that when I first listened to it I had no interest in being in a band, ever. It was just a fluke I fell into this. This record is one that continues to inspire me as a vocalist and a front person in ways that I don’t even think I fully understand. When this record came to me all my friends were listening to Kylie Minogue and Madonna, a lot of sweet high-pitched stuff. Those are really hard notes to hit and I have a really glottal fry kind of way of talking as it is. Hearing this record was like, ‘what?’ But at the same time a lot of it is at this pop level but also so ugly. I probably like some of the other records better in a sense but this was the beginning, this was a real sweet spot.
AM: A lot of people say that with punk rock, ‘you don’t have to know how to be able to play, just learn three chords’ but I’m surprised more people don’t say: ‘you don’t have to know how to sing either.’ That’s what I think is so great about so many artists in this list, they don’t know how to sing but they are such great vocalists.
