In association with Apple Music Festival
The Beats 1 head honcho and DJ talks about queueing for U2 records and falling for Tom Petty
The first song I fell in love with
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – ‘Here Comes My Girl’
“The album ‘Damn The Torpedoes’ was on a lot in our house when it came out in 1979. I just thought Tom Petty looked like the coolest person I’d ever seen in my life. I’ve never met Tom. The closest I’ve got is telling Jimmy Iovine, who produced that record and who I work for at Beats and Apple, how seminal that album was for me.”
The song that made me want to DJ
Deftones – ‘Feiticeira’
“Everything that I’ve ever done professionally or creatively has stemmed from wanting to be close to music. So I wasn’t like, ‘I really want to be a radio DJ’, I was just like, ‘This is cool, I get to talk about music!’ I started my first XFM evening show with ‘Feiticeira’ – I was really nervous, but the one thing I kept going back to to get me excited was that song.”
The first album I bought
U2 – ‘War’
“It was at a record store in Auckland and it was rammed. I remember very clearly being in that store and being overwhelmed by how many people were in front of the counter trying to buy music. I was obsessed with U2 for a long time after that.”
The first song I remember hearing
Deep Purple – ‘Smoke On The Water’
“I was with my uncle. I remember hearing that record and becoming totally obsessed with music from then onwards. There wasn’t anything that distracted me from music after that. It was a pretty formative moment.”
The song I do at karaoke
REM – ‘The One I Love’
“I absolutely am a karaoke fan, but I haven’t done it in a very long time. I remember I did it once on a road trip in America and sang ‘The One I Love’ with a friend of mine. The range is very high on that, it’s very hard. When he sings the word ‘fire’ it’s a total struggle. It was a disaster.”
The album I can no longer listen to
Radiohead – ‘OK Computer’
“There was a time when I didn’t think I’d ever stop listening to ‘OK Computer’. But I remember I had to walk away from that album. It took me a few years to go back and listen to it.”
The song that makes me dance
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – ‘First World Problem’
“It’s a really modern funk record, and it’s hard to make funk these days. I love it. Every time I play it on the show there’s a lot of movement in the studio from everybody.”
The first song I played on Beats 1
Spring King – ‘City’
“It was the night before the first show and I remember saying to my team, ‘What if we went with Spring King?’ We’d been listening to it a lot and it just felt perfect. I didn’t really give a huge amount of thought to the fact they were unsigned – we just loved the song and loved the band.”
Listen to Zane’s show weeknights from 5pm on Beats 1 / Apple Music
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