Andy Burnham, the former Mayor of Greater Manchester, was sworn in as Britain’s new Prime Minister yesterday, July 20. Burnham, 56, takes over from Sir Keir Starmer, who national polls indicated was the least popular Prime Minister since records began in 1977.
Burnham, by his own admission, is a fan of guitar music, and in 2022, speaking with The Quietus, he listed some of his favourite albums, including selections by The Strokes, The Pogues, The Smiths and The Wedding Present.
In his interview with the music website, Burnham described George Best, the 1987 debut album by Leeds indie band The Wedding Present, as “the pinnacle of guitar music.”
“I played this to death,” the politician said, “I loved it and it had everything for me. I love guitar bands, if there’s anything I’ve always loved it’s soaring guitar bands and George Best is the kind of album that does that better than anything. I love David Gedge’s style, that slightly conversational, matter-of-fact thing. Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft– it’s just great. It’s been a constant, I loved it when I first heard it and still do.”
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Another debut album that Burnham heaped praise upon is The Strokes’ Is This It. He described the New York quintet’s 2001 debut as possessing “24-carat purity”.
“It’s unbelievable,” he enthused. “For me, it’s one of those albums where you just absorb it for ages and ages.”
Burnham also gave a shout out to Manchester indie legends The Smiths, and nominated their 1984 compilation Hatful of Hollow as “the record that changed everything” for him.
“I remember everyone at school going on about The Smiths on Top Of The Pops,” he said, “it was a massive thing when that happened, and someone took a record to school and told me to take it home, it was Hatful Of Hollow. Then I remember buying it at Piccadilly Records. I listened to that to death. It was the first indie record I ever bought.”
Burnham also nominated The Pogues’ classic album Rum Sodomy & The Lash, noting that his family has Irish ancestry.
“I remember going to watch them at Liverpool University in 1988,” he said, “I was 18 and the song Poor Paddy – I remember Shane MacGowan being on the stage and deliberately playing up the lyric “In 1844 / I landed on the Liverpool shore” and the whole place went absolutely wild. It stuck with me, that. It was very personal… I always say to my son, in my more bleak moments, play The Sick Bed Of Cuchulainn at my funeral.”
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