The 10 records that changed my life, by WWE star Baron Corbin

THE FIRST ALBUM I EVER BOUGHT WAS…

GREEN DAY - KERPLUNK [LOOKOUT, 1991]

“I remember buying that Green Day tape when I was in third or fourth grade. I had a yellow Walkman and I wore that tape out! I have no idea why I got into Green Day, maybe a friend suggested them to me.”

THE BEST ALBUM ARTWORK IS…

IRON MAIDEN - THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST [EMI, 1982]

“Growing up, it was always Iron Maiden who had the coolest album artwork. I’ve always thought their stuff was sick. Once I got older, I started going back to really step up my vinyl collection, and I have three Maiden vinyls at the moment – Killers, The Number Of The Beast and Death On The Road.”

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

ANTHRAX - AMONG THE LIVING [MEGAFORCE, 1987]

“Oh man, I gotta break them in old-school style with Anthrax. I feel like Among The Living would be awesome. Or maybe Slayer, Reign In Blood. You gotta throw them into the fire and then let them find their way, you know? If you want to give them something new, give them the new Gojira album.”

THE ALBUM THAT MAKES ME BREAK THE SPEED LIMIT IS…

LAMB OF GOD - SACRAMENT [EPIC, 2006]

“Oh, any kind of metal gets me going. My road rage just kicks into overdrive. You put Lamb Of God on and we are doing 120 down that highway! Ha ha ha!”

NOBODY WOULD BELIEVE I OWN A COPY OF…

PHIL COLLINS - FACE VALUE [VIRGIN, 1981]

“There are a couple of funny ones in my collection! Sometimes I go to the record store and get those brown paper bag deals where you get 10 albums for $15 and you have no idea what you’re getting. I think I definitely have some Phil Collins in there.”

THE ALBUM I WISH I MADE IS…

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE - RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE [EPIC, 1992]

“I’d wanna be a guitar player. When you watch the great guitarists through the years, they just have so much fun. Stevie Ray Vaughn, Munky from Korn, Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine… I can’t sing, but if I could make a guitar scream like those guys, that would be amazing.”

THE ALBUM I’D HAVE PLAYED AT MY FUNERAL IS…

BONES OWENS - MAKE ME NO KING [SELF-RELEASE, 2017]

“I would definitely have to go with Bones Owens, who’s just released a new album. I love folk music that has a dark vibe to it – music that makes me want to have a cigar and whisky and relax. That’s cruising down that dark highway.”

THE BEST WORKOUT ALBUM IS…

NOTHING MORE - NOTHING MORE [ELEVEN SEVEN, 2014]

“I was listening to the last Nothing More album in the gym the other day. They are phenomenal live, too – they go crazy. When you watch dudes from the 80s and 90s, when they were onstage, it was like they were in a trance, fully gone. When you watch the guy from Nothing More, he goes there. He leaves it all onstage.”

THE ALBUM THAT REMINDS ME OF SCHOOL IS…

MARILYN MANSON - ANTICHRIST SUPERSTAR [INTERSCOPE, 1996]

“Dude, when I hear Beautiful People, it takes me straight back to when I was getting into my ‘rebel stage’ in seventh grade. That song takes me right back there. I actually really liked his last album, The Pale Emperor. I do a move called Deep Six named after a song from that album.”

THE FIRST ALBUM I HAD SEX TO IS…

ORGY - CANDYASS [WARNER, 1998]

“This is gonna be so bad, ha ha ha! Do you remember that band Orgy? It was with one of the first girls I dated, a gothic chick, and she loved Orgy, so I remember that. I told you it was gonna be bad!”

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Merlin was promoted to Executive Editor of Louder in early 2022, following over ten years working at Metal Hammer. While there, he served as Online Editor and Deputy Editor, before being promoted to Editor in 2016. Before joining Metal Hammer, Merlin worked as Associate Editor at Terrorizer Magazine and has written for Classic Rock, Rock Sound, eFestivals and others. Across his career he has interviewed legends including Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Metallica, Iron Maiden (including getting a trip on Ed Force One courtesy of Bruce Dickinson), Guns N' Roses, KISS, Slipknot, System Of A Down and Meat Loaf. He has also presented and produced the Metal Hammer Podcast, presented the Metal Hammer Radio Show and is probably responsible for 90% of all nu metal-related content making it onto the site.