Black Stone Cherry's John Fred Young on his top 10 albums of all time

THE FIRST ALBUM I BOUGHT WAS…

JETHRO TULL

AQUALUNG [1971, REPRISE]

“My dad and uncle gave me a lot of music so I didn’t buy many records myself, but the fi rst album my dad ever gave me was this. When I was little, the cover with the homeless guy scared me to death, it totally freaked me out.”

MY FAVOURITE ALBUM ARTWORK IS…

CREAM

DISRAELI [GEARS 1967, REACTION]

“That cover is LSD and marijuana! Ginger Baker would play polyrhythms with di erent limbs, he’s crazy. Watching him play was so infl uential but quite terrifying at the same time.” The album I wish I’d made is…

THE ALBUM I WISH I’D MADE IS…

THE BEATLES

THE BEATLES [1968, APPLE]

“My dad used to sing Rocky Raccoon to me when I was a kid. It’s a great song from an amazing record so I’ve started singing it to my daughter.”

THE ALBUM I WANT TO BE REMEMBERED FOR IS…

BLACK STONE CHERRY

BLACK STONE CHERRY [2006, ROADRUNNER]

“We were so young, my dad helped us produce it; we had no idea about anything in the world, we were singing about things crazy old people told us on their front porches. That’s what captivated us in the first place, and it shows how incredible it is for us to have the opportunity to put an imprint on the music world.”

A KID ASKS ME WHAT METAL IS. I HAND THEM A COPY OF…

BLACK SABBATH

HEAVEN AND HELL [1980, VERTIGO]

“Anything Dio ever did was the best and most organic representation of pure metal – that’d be the best influence I could give a kid, not the commercial hybrids of today. We played a show in Paris with Heaven And Hell-era Sabbath and it was incredible watching them play side stage. Their production was like a haunted house, but it wasn’t cheesy because they were doing it.”

NOBODY WILL BELIEVE I OWN A COPY OF…

ADELE

21 [2011, COLUMBIA]

“My music taste is pretty crazy, I fi nd myself listening to Mozart, Boyz II Men and Adele – I can’t get enough of her. I love that she doesn’t fit the mould – she isn’t a blonde bombshell, she’s a curvy redhead with one of the best voices in the world, and it goes to show true music and musicianship can outweigh the image and expectations. I’m an Ellie Goulding fan, too!”

THE ALBUM THAT REMINDS ME OF SCHOOL IS…

SILVERCHAIR

FROGSTOMP [1995, MURMUR]

“We used to jam Silverchair so much in school. Kevin Shirley, who mixed our first record, also mixed this album. Israel’s Son was daunting for us as young musicians. Their song Straight Lines from Young Modern was total pop but it should go down in rock history – Daniel Johns’ voice was shot so he just started screaming lyrics. It makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.”

THE ALBUM THAT BROKE MY HEART IS…

CHRIS STAPLETON

TRAVELLER [2015, MERCURY NASHVILLE]

“Our singer Chris [Robertson] got me onto this guy from [bluegrass band] The SteelDrivers. He’s gone viral in America since he did a song with Justin Timberlake. He’s an amazing songwriter that can really bring a tear to your eye, he writes some of the most emotional tracks I’ve heard in a long time.”

THE ALBUM I WANT PLAYED AT MY FUNERAL IS…

LED ZEPPELIN

LED ZEPPELIN II [1969, ATLANTIC]

“I don’t wanna be buried – throw me into the woods and let the coyotes eat me or let me rot so I can become part of the forest. Play Zeppelin and Sabbath; I want everybody to be hammered and partying like a bunch of hillbilly Vikings!”

THE MOST UNDERRATED ALBUM IS…

PANTERA

COWBOYS FROM HELL [1990, ATCO]

“It’s one of the heaviest records I owned as a kid. I was jamming it in my grandmother’s house so much, I used to fall asleep listening to Cemetery Gates and my grandma was so cool with it.”

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