Artists whose tastes surprised you

Watching musicians/directors/actors load up on free records and DVDs from Amoeba and Criterion and gushing about them is always a treat but I'm trying to think of the last one who I really wouldn't have expected repping for this, and drew a blank.

just reading yesterday that Ant & Dec were into Urusei Yatsura (the band, not the cartoon)

Matt Berry being a huge fan of Cluster II was definitely a shock

Do they actually get the records/DVDs free in exchange for those videos? It makes sense that there would be some kind of deal but some people seem to get a lot more stuff than others.

I could imagine Steve Hillage being a P-Funk fan but Bill Oddie?

We give them a gift certificate and they are welcome to buy the items they pick out with that. Sometimes they buy a lot more stuff than what the GC could cover and sometimes they don't. It's totally up to each guest.

— Amoeba Music (@amoebamusic) May 25, 2018

We give them a gift certificate and they are welcome to buy the items they pick out with that. Sometimes they buy a lot more stuff than what the GC could cover and sometimes they don't. It's totally up to each guest.

It looks like Criterion has a "whatever fits in the bag" policy, or it seems like it based on how much these guys are cramming in some of them.

Some good examples in here:

Famous Folks who are Unlikely Fans of Your Favorite Artist

Wham-era George Michael was a Joy Division fan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj3HOklzUTo

I could imagine Steve Hillage being a P-Funk fan but Bill Oddie?

― Foot Heads Arms Body (Tom D.), Wednesday, July 5, 2023 8:01 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Listen to "The Funky Gibbon"! Total Stevie Wonder worship, albeit far cheaper. Not so far from there to P-Funk. Someone I knew who worked in Tower said he'd come in and buy up loads of tedious fuzak albums, figures.

Eric Andre buying an Arvo Pärt choral CD at Amoeba was a surprise.

Immolation, they ate at Subway before one of their shows

i heard the mountain goats guy is way into the blackest metal

the matmos guy might be even ~crazier~

Wes Anderson and Neon Genesis Evangelion?

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8eKajyL

Big Boi being a huge Kate Bush fan

The gold standard for this is always gonna be Sherman Hemsley, huge prog-rock fan.

I remember, decades ago reading about George Wendt's love of American post-hardcore bands, fIREHOSE, and suchlike, that was cool.

nicki minaj (when people still listened to her) probably did a lot to help enya's reputation among millennials

Prince being such a massive Kate Bush fan was a surprise to me a few years ago, but seems to make sense now.

oh no it wasn't Kate Bush, it was Joni Mitchell

The gold standard for this is always gonna be Sherman Hemsley, huge prog-rock fan.

― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, July 5, 2023 11:58 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

This is amazing.

Harry Styles shouting out Hosono House was pretty unexpected.

I believe Helmsley was super into Gong which makes it even weirder

re: wes anderson repping for eva, the youtube clip that came from actually inspired the thread, except to me I was all, oh anderson likes distant parent precocious kids robot anime? no surprise there.

there's quite a bit in the series (I gather it's a French movie rental chain?)
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=konbini+video+club

here's bong joon ho pretending(?) to steal a stack of blurays
https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/j7kzcdqrdr7.jpeg

Gavin Rosedale (Bush) is a huge fan of The Fall

Rossdale

I remember that The Cocteau Twins went on tour with Metallica in the 90s because Lars Ulrich was a huge fan

Weren't the Cardigans huge metalheads?

chino moreno pantha du prince fan

Xpost Their guitar player once apologized to the audience for the quiet nature of the show, saying they needed bigger amplifiers, so he was clearly a fan of Spinal Tap

I remember that The Cocteau Twins went on tour with Metallica in the 90s because Lars Ulrich was a huge fan

OK, this made my head spin around so I had to look it up. What actually happened was, the Cocteau Twins were booked as special guest openers on one of the Lollapalooza dates that Metallica headlined. It didn't go well for them apparently, but it would likely have gone much worse had it been a full-on Metallica concert (other main stage acts: Soundgarden, Ramones, Rancid, Screaming Trees).

"Have the Thompson Twins killed"

"but SIR"

yeah it didn't go well

http://www.evo.org/4ad-faq/artists/cocteau-twins/metallica-concert.txt

Metallica also invited Waylon Jennings along for that Lolla tour, which apparently worked a bit better.

Glenn Howerton (wearing a Tomahawk shirt) repped Mike Patton in a greatest rock singers conversation on the Always Sunny podcast some weeks ago, kind of strange but then maybe this is an insight into his character on the show

I feel like his character would have also liked Patton

but for the wrong reasons

Paul Westerberg professed his love for the Cocteau Twins in a drunken MTV interview in the late 80s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=284iOLWmQCw

re:Lars Ulrich, It's Great When You're Straight, Yeah was his no. 1 album of 1995

Robert Palmer being a fan of Comsat Angels

Yorkshire connection.

Michael Nesmith of the Monkees is apparently a big vaporwave fan

Not that surprising imo, a man varied enough to start a Country Rock career, create the music video show format AND executive produce Repo Man? That's almost Hosono-level eclecticism.

also was, not is :(

Yes that doesn't really surprise me that much.

Still reeling from Lars and Black Grape.

I remember geeking out with Steve Arrington some years ago over our mutual love of YES. He sang me the opening lines to "The Revealing Science Of God"!

Des O'Connor being a huge Prodigy fan from the off - he said Experience was his favourite album ever and "Firestarter" (joint with "Louie Louie") his favourite single. The early support got him namechecked in the thank yous on the "Wind It Up (Rewound)" sleeve. Apparently he also followed Thundercat on twitter.

On a similar note Paul McCartney heard "On a Ragga Tip" on Kiss, ahead of it being a hit, and asked XL to send him a copy. Learnt this through The Chart Show.

Steve Albini repping for UB40 in an issue of Matter, around the time of Labour of Love? I guess the famous outlier in his tastes was "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)".

I'm not baffled by Gary Moore loving big beat/drum and bass [Jeff Beck and Clapton ditto] but to the extent of making a Fatboy Slim tribute called "Fatboy"?

I quite enjoyed watching Rick Astley's 'What's In My Bag' feature, which includes Japan's Quiet Life and Genesis' Selling England By The Pound. Also Bauhaus, AC/DC & Sinatra.

Once heard Desmond Carrington (RIP) drop The Streets' 'Dry Your Eyes', saying "There's still good music around if you look for it".

xpost You can also find a clip of Robert Palmer actually covering a bit of Husker Du!

Whoa at Des and Prodigy!

Leeroy: "Just after the first album came out Des O'Connor was on Radio One. And they asked him what he did to psyche himself up before he went onstage. And he said, Listen to The Prodigy album. So on our next single we put, Respect to Des O'Connor."

Frank Zappa liked the Spin Doctors and Amy Grant (according to his daughter Moon's memoir)

He's not a literary writer or anything like that but Alan Dean Foster said that Nightwish were his favortite rock band, he was talking about them as if he'd finally found the perfect rock band

Matt Berry being a huge fan of Cluster II was definitely a shock

― frogbs, Wednesday, July 5, 2023 3:18 PM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxB4_uZyWAI

Ones that struck me as odd when I first heard, but kinda do make sense...

Hendrix digging Clapton
Miles digging Willie
Iggy digging Sinatra

Miles digging Willie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fI8c-E7zrw

They had the same manager at the time that Davis recorded this tune (1970).

Every so often on that Oasis/Kasabian swagger thread a band will cite Red Hot Chili Peppers alongside the boilerplate brit guitar stuff

Nancy Sinatra considered Courtney Love a great talent

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSuaMnbcL/

Christian Bale picks Bummed by Happy Mondays as the album he can't live without, followed by Pure Phase and Laser Guided Melodies

Terrence Malick being a huge Green Dan fan is my gold standard for this

I was sure Danny DeVito: noise bro would have appeared on this thread. He was often spotted at No Fun Fest-type events back in the day and is a huge Wolf Eyes fan iirc.

I'm reading the new Liza Minnelli memoir and was surprised to see her name the late rapper Heavy D as one of the artists she's loved over the years.

I hardly ever follow actors or other really famous celebrities on social media but I'm surprised you don't hear about really famous celebrities boosting obscure bands more often. Is there many others like DeVito and Steve Davis (snooker player)?

Thomas Pynchon and Lotion.

Taylor Swift and The Blue Nile, although I guess strictly speaking it was Matty Healy who was the fan.

Wasn't Shia LaBeouf obsessed with the rapper Cage to the point where he'd planned to write, direct and star in a biopic? Or did I dream that?

"Artists"

I'm surprised you don't hear about really famous celebrities boosting obscure bands more often. Is there many others like DeVito and Steve Davis (snooker player)?

Is Danny DeVito boosting any obscure bands?

i dunno, Wolf Eyes is obscure to most people.

I was sure Danny DeVito: noise bro would have appeared on this thread. He was often spotted at No Fun Fest-type events back in the day and is a huge Wolf Eyes fan iirc.

― Paul Ponzi, Saturday, March 14, 2026 7:35 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

this needs a fact check - only because i want it to be true

Cate Blanchett namechecking Neubauten and Xenakis.

xp He really likes Mike Patton, at least.

He's not a literary writer or anything like that but Alan Dean Foster said that Nightwish were his favortite rock band, he was talking about them as if he'd finally found the perfect rock band

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, February 25, 2026 6:41 PM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

alan dean foster otm

He even composed a symphony dedicated to them

Sorry to play thread police, but isn’t there a distinction to be made between “someone likes music that’s different from the kind they’re known for” and “someone has actually unlikely music tastes.”

Like, is it surprising that lars ulrich listens to non-metal, or that mainstream artists listen to non-mainstream music. Seems like it’s setting low expectations for people we don’t personally know?

Ofc I do this too. Favourite example is UK industrial techno legend, Surgeon opened for Lady Gaga and is a fan.