Eurovision star Sam Ryder has made you a playlist and it's an absolute blast

If you tuned into Sam Ryder’s BBC New Years bash, you’ll know he throws a great party. A former wedding singer who honed his stage chops at receptions across Essex and the South East, he knows exactly how to get a crowd going. From Taylor Swift and Bryan Adams mega-hits to an I Believe In A Thing Called Love duet with Justin Hawkins, it was gloriously, gleefully uncool fun for the whole family.

But ask Sam about the music that really shaped him, and things get a little spicier – and a lot heavier. The pop hits are still there, but he’s at least as quick to enthuse about Iron Maiden, Metallica and Queen, reflecting years of guitar geekery, closed doors and short-lived bands (including rock and hardcore groups as well as busking, wedding and club gigs).

It was during the pandemic that his fortunes began to change. He amassed legions of Tik Tok followers with assorted covers, before Space Man was picked up by the BBC as the UK’s Eurovision contender for 2022.

“It [Space Man] came out of absolutely nowhere in ten minutes with two friends of mine, and it changed everything,” he remembers. “The song was written a year and a half before that phone call ever happened, so it was laying sort of in wait. And it's a joy to sing. It's technical, it's imaginative, it's humorous. It paints a picture of something that I've loved since I was a kid; space and space travel and the wonderment of that.”

He adds: “And I got to put the guitar solo in it for the Queen's Jubilee. That was really fun.”

From his parents’ records to formative heavy metal tastes, 00s guitar greats and the sugariest of pop heart attacks (the good kind), this is Sam Ryder’s selection.

Freddie Mercury - Living On My Own
Iron Maiden - The Evil That Men Do
Queen - Too Much Love Will Kill You
Billy Joel - The Entertainer
Metallica - Whiskey In The Jar (Thin Lizzzy cover)
Shadow King - I Want You
S Club 7 - Reach
Green Day - Basket Case
Iron Maiden - Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al
Queen - Killer Queen
Tina Turner - Proud Mary
Metallica - Astronomy (Blue Oyster Cult cover)
Sam Ryder - Space Man
Cher - If I Could Turn Back Time

Sam Ryder's debut album There's Nothing But Space, Man! is out now. Sam also stars in the Soundtrack Of My Life feature in the new issue of Classic Rock, which is out now.

Polly is deputy editor at Classic Rock magazine, where she writes and commissions regular pieces and longer reads (including new band coverage), and has interviewed rock's biggest and newest names. She also contributes to Louder, Prog and Metal Hammer and talks about songs on the 20 Minute Club podcast. Elsewhere she's had work published in The Musician, delicious. magazine and others, and written biographies for various album campaigns. In a previous life as a women's magazine junior she interviewed Tracey Emin and Lily James – and wangled Rival Sons into the arts pages. In her spare time she writes fiction and cooks.