Nick Grimshaw: From Age 7 Rave Tape to Bowie Funeral
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Nick Grimshaw credits Simon and Garfunkel's "America" as the first song he fell in love with, recalling family car drives with his mum and dad singing along to his father's small but well-chosen record collection of Bob Marley, Bill Withers, Ella Fitzgerald, and Tina Turner.
- Grimshaw's mum handed him a rave compilation called "Hardcore Ecstasy" when he was seven, but his first actual single purchase was Björk's "It's Oh So Quiet," bought at age nine from HMV in Oldham because — by his own admission — he was drawn to the silver metallic hyper-futuristic packaging, not the artist.
- An older brother and sister pulled Grimshaw into Manchester's music scene, exposing him to Joy Division, Kraftwerk, NWA, and A Guy Called Gerald; their advice to him — "Don't get a real job, we've fallen for it. Go and do what you want" — is what he credits with sending him toward a career in music, with New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" becoming his life-changing song.
- Grimshaw chooses Pulp's "Common People" as his karaoke go-to and lists Notorious B.I.G.'s "Juicy," Lil' Kim's "Queen Bitch," and Dr Dre and Eminem as artists whose lyrics are permanently cemented in his head from his teenage years.
- Grace Jones's "Pull Up to the Bumper" is his pick for the best party song, praising its beeping cars and city-sound atmosphere, while Rosalía's "Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti" — which he notes she sings across 13 languages — is the track that makes him cry.
- For his own funeral, Grimshaw wants David Bowie's "Subterraneans" played as mourners leave the church, describing the desired mood as "moody, atmospheric and dramatic" and joking that as someone who picks music daily, he'd like "a day off" on the occasion.
Why it matters: The piece doubles as an origin story: Grimshaw traces his entire broadcasting career back to his siblings' nudge out of conventional work and into Manchester's music ecosystem, lending personal weight to the 6 Music festival coverage it promotes (28 March, BBC Sounds). For readers, it reads less as a playlist and more as a compact memoir — revealing that a seven-year-old's rave tape and a metallic Björk sleeve, not formal training, set the course.
