Tricky's Honest Playlist: From Night Nurse to Sia
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- Tricky credits Gregory Isaacs' "Night Nurse" as the first song he fell in love with, tied to a teenage relationship with a Jamaican girl; the couple had a daughter at 17, now 35 and working as a social worker in Bristol.
- Tricky says the Specials' "Too Much Too Young" changed his life, explaining that seeing Terry Hall and Neville Staple sing about the life he knew made him realize he could make music too.
- Tricky recalls buying the Specials album as his first single, riding the bus from Knowle West into town and reading every word of the sleeve notes on the way home.
- Tricky claims he can still rap every word of Eric B and Rakim's "Check Out My Melody" from memory, 40 years later.
- Tricky says fans have told him they conceived children to his music — flattering, he adds, though he doesn't think sex and music "even go together."
- Tricky admits he secretly loves Sia's "Breathe Me" while telling everyone he hates it, and says he'd never do karaoke but would pick Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors" if forced.
- Tricky's new album "When It's Silent" is out now.
Why it matters: The piece reframes Tricky not just as a trip-hop originator but as a Bristol working-class kid who found a path to music through the Specials — a lineage that contextualizes "When It's Silent" as the latest extension of a 40-year creative arc rooted in his hometown.
