"I was once in a room with Kate Bush. I was too frightened to say anything." Doctor Who and The Thick Of It star Peter Capaldi on his love for Kate Bush and the Sex Pistols

Bush, Capaldi, Lydon — (Image credit: Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images | Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images | Richard E. Aaron/Redferns)

In an alternate universe, the world wouldn't know Peter Capaldi for his unforgettable depiction of spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in the brilliant political satire The Thick Of It. Oh, or as the 12th incarnation of time lord Doctor Who, but rather as a punk rock legend, for before the Glaswegian actor ever appeared on a TV screen he'd taken a shot at rock 'n' roll infamy with the Bastards From Hell and the Dreamboys back in 1977.

But Capaldi's love for music has never waned - the 67-year-old star is actually touring the UK this month and next in support of his solo album Sweet Illusions - and in a new interview with The Quietus, he shares his favourite albums of all time, from punk rock classics by Television and the Sex Pistols, to more esoteric choices by Robert Donat and Frank Sinatra.

Exemplifying the diversity of his tastes, Capaldi's nominations include Kate Bush's Hounds of Love, and the Sex Pistols' Never Mind The Bollocks.

"I was once in a room with Kate Bush," Capaldi tells interviewer Jude Rogers. "I was too frightened to say anything. It was at an exhibition of the wonderful painter John Byrne’s work. I’m not the kind of person to have regrets in my life, but I wish I’d said hello to her."

Going on to discuss Hounds Of Love, he continues, "when this album came out, I just loved it – there was so much invention in it, sound-wise, and it was really at the cutting edge of what you could do technically. I couldn’t understand how she was writing songs like Hello Earth, with the astronaut guy and all the bleeps, and Waking The Witch, with all those hellos, and how she was somehow able to make them out of collaging sounds, and using samples of voices.. And in tracks like And Dream Of Sheep, she can delve into the subconscious and touch it very deeply."

Moving on to discuss Never Mind The Bollocks, Capaldi says, "This was inevitable, really, wasn’t it?"

"I was there when it came out, and I just thought it was incredible," he continues. "The whole brouhaha about the Sex Pistols in the newspapers took over the whole culture before we’d even heard a note, so it was hard to grasp their musical identity, other than the fact that everyone said that they were terrible, they couldn’t play, all that stuff. Finally, Virgin signed them, and they brought this out, and it’s just stunning."

"The idea that you could make such powerful music so simply was so exciting," he adds, "especially after there’d been such a dominance of musical sophistication with Yes and Genesis and the supergroups, which all demanded a kind of musical bravado and technical skill that was way beyond the limit of any of us. The fact that this was available to us, and driven by a kind of youthful anger, was so exciting. It still is!"

Read the full interview on The Quietus.

Artists

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.