"I almost forgot about this one. It’s funny how easy it is to miss the things right in front of you, but this record, more than any other, is the most loved record of my life. I know it’s a compilation, not a proper album, etc, but all LPs are compilations of sorts and many of the songs on here didn't appear on LPs. Also, the LPs of that early era were stuffed full of covers that could have been played by anyone, so this is the most representative.
 
I’ve listened to it as a record all my life. The copy I picture right now is the copy that was in the flip-down compartment of my parents’ Grundig stereogram that they got as a wedding present. Like Angel Delight, the Ford Cortina, G-Plan furniture or Clark’s shoes, this LP was a ubiquitous object of their generation: a part of everyone’s life. That’s what it was to me as a kid – part of my life. It was my first taste of music, before I could speak, before I could describe what I was listening to. It’s still with me and I will always listen to it until I’m dead. It is part of life.
 
The context around this music has changed for me. When I was a toddler I had no idea how it came into existence. It was just there. Then I realised it was people who made it. Then I idolised them. Then I reckoned Lennon was probably a prick. Then I realised he was just a guy who wrote good songs, but became too rich and famous for his mental health.
 
I picked this rather than one of this band’s famous albums, even though each has such a strong identity, as it means so much to me. I know there are complexities of ideas, ground-breaking experimentation, revolutionary themes and era-defining moments elsewhere, but this is what defined me. It’s also their best period. It starts with 'Please Please Me'. It ends with 'Paperback Writer'. That’s The Beatles for me. Well, my Beatles. Well, The Beatles on the front cover. There’s that other band peering through their moustaches and beards from the back cover with the same name. Yeah, I love that band too, but not in the same way. The Red Album is the purest record ever made. I don’t know what it is – rock & roll, rock, pop, faux classical… I don’t care. I know the context, I know what it is and I know that nothing has ever or will ever be as great, just as I did when I was a toddler."

"“I’m starting with The Beatles because they were the band that got me into music in the first place, and I’ve chosen Revolver because it’s the point where it all gets a bit more sort of heavy and druggy, with Tomorrow Never Knows being the perfect example. “That’s a song that Ride played right from the first rehearsals and we still play it occasionally now. Revolver’s got a lot of guitar sounds that I still reference when I make records. It’s very bass-light and it’s very high-end-light, as well. It’s all middle with varying degrees of mids and high-mids. “That’s something that I know Noel Gallagher has always been into. He realised that if you take out the really low-end, you get more volume overall, so you can concentrate this loudness in the middle where all the guitars are operating. It’s like using guitar-playing as a production tool…"

"The Girl Can't Help It isn't about the status of teenagers, but it had huge impact on teenage audiences. On one level it's like one of those terrible Don't Knock The Rock films - just a compendium of performances. But it's got a more sophisticated plot that alludes to mob involvement in the music business. And it's got Tom Ewell, who's a very fine comic actor, and Jayne Mansfield, who's a fascinating and fated character as well. You get Eddie Cochran and Little Richard – neither of whom played in the UK for another few years – so you can imagine what it meant to The Beatles when they went to see it. All that early rock & roll period is so un-self conscious, people didn't know what they were doing and The Girl Can't Help It showed British teenagers the American lifestyle. America is the thing that everyone aspired to at that point. Glorious Technicolor in every way."

"Woody Allen movies are like Beatles songs. I can’t name my favorite without you immediately naming a better one. But this one tops the list for me. It invented the modern romantic comedy while simultaneously deconstructing it. It’s skeptically romantic, like most of us. Like a child’s imagining of what adult life is probably like, it’s filled with the kind of hilarious nonsense that defined Woody Allen’s standup and early writing, which I also loved. I recognize the mastery of Crimes and Misdemeanors. And Manhattan. Hannah and Her Sisters. I was floored by Blue Jasmine, which I’d put up there with his best. But this one, man it just nailed a tone I’ve never seen again. I immediately applied to NYU with every intention of meeting a woman who wears a tie."

"I think everyone has a complicated relationship with Michael Jackson, but if you listen back to his stuff it’s insanely unique. Nothing sounds like it, people might have a similar voice, but in terms of the kind of music, it’s very particular. It’s the first record I remember singing along with. I remember having a seven inch of ‘Another Part Of Me’ which had an instrumental on the other side and I realised it was just a karaoke opportunity. It was a huge pop record from when I was young, and very influential in a way; the same way that The Beatles teach you about music, Michael Jackson was like the first pop person I was aware of, and Kylie Minogue in our house was the female equivalent. An insanely successful guy who isn’t a macho guy, but is captivating in some way. Then you’ve got the ‘pinnacle’ of Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson together!"