{"id":2511598,"date":"2026-07-21T22:04:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T22:04:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2511598"},"modified":"2026-07-21T22:04:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T22:04:41","slug":"its-the-pinnacle-of-guitar-music-britains-new-prime-minister-andy-burnham-is-a-fan-of-the-smiths-the-strokes-the-pogues-and-the-wedding-present","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/its-the-pinnacle-of-guitar-music-britains-new-prime-minister-andy-burnham-is-a-fan-of-the-smiths-the-strokes-the-pogues-and-the-wedding-present\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;It&#8217;s the pinnacle of guitar music.&#8221; Britain&#8217;s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham is a fan of The Smiths, The Strokes, The Pogues and The Wedding Present"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p id=\"elk-06d3319a-851e-11f1-939e-c7ca1ad489a2\">Andy Burnham, the former Mayor of Greater Manchester, was sworn in as Britain&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>Burnham, by his own admission, is a fan of guitar music, and in 2022, speaking with <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thequietus.com\/interviews\/bakers-dozen\/andy-burnham-bakers-dozen-favourite-music\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/thequietus.com\/interviews\/bakers-dozen\/andy-burnham-bakers-dozen-favourite-music\/\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\"><em>The Quietus<\/em><\/a>, he listed some of his favourite albums, including selections by <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.loudersound.com\/features\/every-the-strokes-album-ranked-from-worst-to-best\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.loudersound.com\/features\/every-the-strokes-album-ranked-from-worst-to-best\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.loudersound.com\/features\/every-the-strokes-album-ranked-from-worst-to-best\">The Strokes<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.loudersound.com\/features\/every-the-pogues-album-ranked-from-worst-to-best\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.loudersound.com\/features\/every-the-pogues-album-ranked-from-worst-to-best\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.loudersound.com\/features\/every-the-pogues-album-ranked-from-worst-to-best\">The Pogues<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.loudersound.com\/features\/your-essential-guide-to-every-smiths-album\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.loudersound.com\/features\/your-essential-guide-to-every-smiths-album\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.loudersound.com\/features\/your-essential-guide-to-every-smiths-album\">The Smiths<\/a> and The Wedding Present.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" id=\"elk-seasonal\"\/><\/p>\n<aside data-block-type=\"embed\" data-render-type=\"fte\" data-skip=\"dealsy\" data-widget-type=\"seasonal\" class=\"hawk-root\"\/>\n<p id=\"elk-06d3319a-851e-11f1-939e-c7ca1ad489a2-2\">In his interview with the music website, Burnham described <em>George Best<\/em>, the 1987 debut album by Leeds indie band The Wedding Present, as &#8220;the pinnacle of guitar music.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I played this to death,&#8221; the politician said, &#8220;I loved it and it had everything for me. I love guitar bands, if there\u2019s anything I\u2019ve always loved it\u2019s soaring guitar bands and <em>George Best<\/em> is the kind of album that does that better than anything. I love David Gedge\u2019s style, that slightly conversational, matter-of-fact thing. <em>Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft<\/em>\u2013 it\u2019s just great. It\u2019s been a constant, I loved it when I first heard it and still do.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-6 w-full overflow-hidden lg:my-8\" data-component-name=\"JwPlayer:Carousel\" data-jwp-carousel=\"\" data-jwp-carousel-payload=\"{&quot;ids&quot;:{&quot;playerID&quot;:&quot;aAP34WaV&quot;,&quot;searchPlaylistID&quot;:&quot;3DfOCMYv&quot;,&quot;divID&quot;:&quot;botr_3DfOCMYv_aAP34WaV_div&quot;,&quot;fallbackPlaylistID&quot;:&quot;3DfOCMYv&quot;,&quot;fallbackDivID&quot;:&quot;botr_3DfOCMYv_aAP34WaV_div&quot;,&quot;key&quot;:&quot;V+hPR0fSRsLTWstxI93auiu0aFO9odb2e5R7xjemMNzuPx+\\\/&quot;,&quot;tintLogo&quot;:false,&quot;useSearchPlaylist&quot;:false,&quot;enabled&quot;:true},&quot;signPostingEnabled&quot;:true,&quot;signPostingLinkEnabled&quot;:true,&quot;waitForAdLoad&quot;:false,&quot;hidePlayerOnDesktop&quot;:false,&quot;hidePlayerOnMobile&quot;:false,&quot;hidePlayerOnTablet&quot;:false}\">\n<div class=\"flex h-[50px] items-center justify-between border-t-2 border-solid border-neutral-300 px-[14px] text-base font-bold uppercase text-black\" data-jwp-carousel-header=\"\">\n<p><span class=\"jwp-carousel-title-mobile\"\/><span class=\"jwp-carousel-title-desktop\">Latest Videos From Louder<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"aspect-video w-full min-h-[200px] lg:min-h-[330px] relative overflow-hidden bg-black\" data-jwp-carousel-container=\"\">\n<div class=\"absolute inset-0 size-full items-center justify-center bg-white\" data-jwp-carousel-fallback=\"\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Another debut album that Burnham heaped praise upon is The Strokes&#8217; <em>Is This It<\/em>. He described the New York quintet&#8217;s 2001 debut as possessing &#8220;24-carat purity&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It\u2019s unbelievable,&#8221; he enthused. &#8220;For me, it\u2019s one of those albums where you just absorb it for ages and ages.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Burnham also gave a shout out to Manchester indie legends The Smiths, and nominated their 1984 compilation <em>Hatful of Hollow<\/em> as &#8220;the record that changed everything&#8221; for him. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I remember everyone at school going on about The Smiths on <em>Top Of The Pops<\/em>,&#8221; he said, &#8220;it was a massive thing when that happened, and someone took a record to school and told me to take it home, it was <em>Hatful Of Hollow<\/em>. Then I remember buying it at Piccadilly Records. I listened to that to death. It was the first indie record I ever bought.&#8221;<\/p>\n<aside data-component-name=\"Recirculation:ArticleRiver\" data-recirculation-type=\"inline\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"Trending Bar\" data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"clear-both pt-2 pb-0 mb-4\">\n        <span class=\"&#10;            flex&#10;            after:content-[''] after:flex-1 after:ml-4 after:my-[0.7rem] after:border-t after:border-solid after:border-t-[#ccc]&#10;            before:content-[''] before:flex-1 before:mr-4 before:my-[0.7rem] before:border-t before:border-solid before:border-t-[#ccc]&#10;            font-article-heading pb-0 text-[length:var(--article-river-title--font-size,1em)] uppercase sm:text-[length:var(--article-river-title--font-size,0.875em)] font-bold&#10;        \"><br \/>\n            You may like<br \/>\n        <\/span><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Burnham also nominated The Pogues&#8217; classic album <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.loudersound.com\/features\/pogues-rum-sodomy-lash-story-behind-album\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.loudersound.com\/features\/pogues-rum-sodomy-lash-story-behind-album\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.loudersound.com\/features\/pogues-rum-sodomy-lash-story-behind-album\"><em>Rum Sodomy &amp; The Lash<\/em><\/a>, noting that his family has Irish ancestry.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I remember going to watch them at Liverpool University in 1988,&#8221; he said, &#8220;I was 18 and the song <em>Poor Paddy<\/em> \u2013 I remember Shane MacGowan being on the stage and deliberately playing up the lyric \u201c<em>In 1844 \/ I landed on the Liverpool shore<\/em>\u201d and the whole place went absolutely wild. It stuck with me, that. It was very personal&#8230; I always say to my son, in my more bleak moments, play <em>The Sick Bed Of Cuchulainn<\/em> at my funeral.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"slice-container-newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-uToYqGhCtx8LnKQERqhGE3\" class=\"slice-container newsletter-inbodyContent-slice newsletterForm-articleInbodyContent-uToYqGhCtx8LnKQERqhGE3 slice-container-newsletterForm\">\n<div data-hydrate=\"true\" class=\"newsletter-form__wrapper newsletter-form__wrapper--inbodyContent\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-form__container\">\n<section class=\"newsletter-form__top-bar\"\/>\n<section class=\"newsletter-form__main-section\">\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">The latest news, features and interviews direct to your inbox, from the global home of alternative music.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read the feature in full <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thequietus.com\/interviews\/bakers-dozen\/andy-burnham-bakers-dozen-favourite-music\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/thequietus.com\/interviews\/bakers-dozen\/andy-burnham-bakers-dozen-favourite-music\/\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.loudersound.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Andy Burnham, the former Mayor of Greater Manchester, was sworn in as Britain&#8217;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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2511599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2511598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Its-the-pinnacle-of-guitar-music-Britains-new-Prime-Minister.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2511598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2511598"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2511598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2511600,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2511598\/revisions\/2511600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2511599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2511598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2511598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2511598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}