MBW’s Key Songs In The Life Of… is a series in which we ask influential music industry figures about the tracks that have — so far — defined their journey and their existence. Rifling through the jukebox of his years this time is Elliot Grainge, CEO of Atlantic Music Group. The Key Songs… series is supported by Sony Music Publishing.
Elliot Grainge should be in a happy and relaxed mood.
He’ll soon have completed his first year in charge of Atlantic Music Group, overseeing major global successes with artists like Charli XCX, Alex Warren, Bruno Mars, ROSÉ, The Marias, and more.
Meanwhile, his decision to sell his indie label, 10K Projects, to Warner Music Group continues to pay off: 10K’s total US market share jumped more than half a percentage point in the last 12 months, according to Luminate data.
In hindsight, by majority-buying 10K, WMG was making an acqui-hire as much as a label acquisition – a down-payment on Grainge’s potential to lead Atlantic into a new era.
Last week, yet more good news for Grainge arrived: Atlantic Records UK will now report directly to his Atlantic Music Group, consolidating additional international power under Grainge’s control.
The move, partly driven by cost-cutting, positions the UK label as a Nashville-style A&R repertoire source for Atlantic’s global HQ. For Grainge, it also provides the keys to coordinate transatlantic marketing campaigns for priority releases.
As Elliot tells MBW: “This is about plugging talent from both countries into a bigger amplifier.”
Despite all of these pluses, Grainge isn’t feeling content. In fact, he’s downright antagonized.
Not by his professional or personal life, both of which appear to be going swimmingly.
No, he’s tortured by MBW’s Key Songs In The Life Of… request: to pick seven songs that have defined his existence to date.
“This is genuinely one of the hardest exercises I’ve ever been asked to do,” he says from his home in Los Angeles. “I’ve really overthought it. You’ve caused me sleepless nights.”
Grainge’s list reveals a musical education that spans everything from Eddie Van Halen’s guitar solos to The Sex Pistols’ snarl, taking in dashes of Pavarotti, Tupac, and Funkadelic along the way.
There’s mention of the influence of his dad, Universal Music Group boss Sir Lucian Grainge, and – particularly – that of his late uncle Nigel, the founder of Ensign Records.
Elliot’s Key Songs tell the story of an executive who was raised on rebellion, educated by vinyl collecting, and ultimately found his professional calling in the digital age.
Here’s his list, in his own words…
1) Michael Jackson, Beat It (1982)
Anyone who doesn’t like this song is a psychopath.
It’s my daughter’s favourite song – we both love it. Any time it’s on, she’s dancing to it. [Grainge welcomed Eloise, his daughter with wife Sofia Richie, into the world last year.]
Beat It reminds me of a time when I was 11 or 12, and obsessed with becoming a guitarist. I just wanted to shred guitar like Jimi Hendrix.
I would go on this website, UltimateGuitar.com, which gave you the top 100 solos of all time. Stairway To Heaven was in there, Comfortably Numb, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Santana, obviously… and Beat It.
“I was 11 or 12, and I just wanted to shred like Jimi Hendrix.”
At first I thought, ‘What is a Michael Jackson track doing on this list?’ Of course, it’s because of the amazing Eddie Van Halen guitar solo, which he nailed in one take. I don’t even think he got any splits on it; he did it as a work-for-hire.
It opened my mind to the fact that guitar riffs can be used in different genres and still sound great.
I’ll play my daughter 150 different songs. But when it comes to Beat It, I don’t know what it is, but she’s drawn to that riff. She just starts moving – her knees go.
2) Sex Pistols, Anarchy In The UK (1976/1977)
My dad has had a massive influence on why I’ve got such a broad palette of decades and genres [in my music collection].
When I was a kid, he played me ABBA, Pavarotti, and The Bee Gees, but he also played me The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, Buzzcocks — I could go on and on.
When I was 13, I started going to these vinyl fairs at Olympia in London, close to Kensington High Street. I’d take my pocket money, and the yellow sleeve of Never Mind The Bollocks: Here’s The Sex Pistols jumped out at me. I’d never seen anything like it before.
These American vinyl collectors used to fly over to London for this vinyl fair, looking to buy special UK editions [of LPs] and fly back to the US with them. I remember being very proud of myself for swapping an early UK edition of Never Mind The Bollocks – the one released on Virgin, not EMI – with the US version with the orange sleeve. My first ever trade; I must have been 12 years old.
“We still have rebellion culture in the music business. It might come far more infrequently than it did. But when it does, I sprint towards it.”
My favourite songs on [Bollocks] are Bodies, God Save The Queen, and Anarchy In The UK. When you hear that opening of [Anarchy], it’s game over. You can taste Britain, 1977.
The Sex Pistols are a great example of what happens when artists are allowed to push boundaries.
I can find parallels in XXXTentacion. If you went to an X show in 2016-2018, it was very close to punk rock. There was a mosh pit, spit, he was climbing the fence and jumping down.
We still have rebellion culture in the music business. It might come far more infrequently than it did. But when it does, I sprint towards it.
3) Funkadelic, Maggot Brain (1971)
Maggot Brain is a 10-minute guitar solo, with no lyrics aside from some spoken word at the beginning.
My late uncle Nigel had a really cool home in Notting Hill, and in his attic, he had all this vinyl. The sleeve for [the Maggot Brain album], that image, it really took me. I’d never seen anything like it before.
Nigel put the album on the turntable and played [the title track]. I just remember listening to this shrieking guitar for 10 minutes and thinking, What the fuck is this?!
I was 13 or 14, and discovering one of the most extraordinary songs ever.
I spent months trying to learn that solo. I can still play about a minute and a half of it because of the muscle memory.
“I just remember listening to this shrieking guitar for 10 minutes and thinking, What the fuck is this?!”
Along with While My Guitar Gently Weeps, it taught me that sometimes a song can say more with just a guitar than it could with words.
Nigel was encyclopedic — that’s the right word to describe him. He knew every song, [every] B-side, of any genre. It was the same with TV and with film; he was like a sponge. He was a total savant, and he had so much success in the ’70s and ’80s. [During his career, Nigel Grainge signed Thin Lizzy, 10cc, the Steve Miller Band, Sinead O’Connor, The Waterboys, and many more.]
And he had such strong opinions. If you told him, ‘There’s this B-side by Genesis I quite like,’ he’d say, ‘No. It’s terrible, the worst thing they ever did.’ But then you’d look and he’d still have three versions in his collection.
That was Nigel. If he loved something, he really loved it, and he had to tell you. And if he hated something, he had to tell you that too!
4) Clairo, Sofia (2019)
Sofia is the name of my better half, my one true love. When she and I were dating, I would play this song on repeat and sing along to it [in the car]. She was like, ‘You gotta change this,’ and then she ended up loving it.
I fucking love this song. I love it obviously as a [tribute] to my wife. But also, Clairo’s just got something. She’s one of our generation’s really incredible, true artists.
“I’m a massive Clairo fan; she can do no wrong.”
I’m a massive Clairo fan; she can do no wrong. If she releases a pop record or a peculiar art record, it doesn’t matter – I’ll be at the front of the queue to buy it.
I’m telling you, she’s one of the greats. In 30 years’ time, you’ll be [saying], ‘You were right about Clairo.’
5) Eminem, Like Toy Soldiers (2004) / Tupac, Changes (1998)
For my 11th birthday, I got an iPod Mini. It was light blue, and had a low storage capacity – I think I could put 400 songs on it.
I’d carry it everywhere. If I was in bed, I’d fall asleep listening to the music on it. I’d honestly spend 17, 18 hours a day with it.
I just remember playing Like Toy Soldiers on that iPod constantly. It’s from a very underrated album called Encore.
“If I was in bed, I’d fall asleep listening to music. I’d honestly spend 17, 18 hours a day with my iPod Mini.”
Eminem was one of the first hip-hop icons to really break out in the UK. Of course you had Biggie, Tupac, Jay-Z, Nas, The Game, 50 Cent, Dre, and Snoop. But [mainstream-wise] Eminem took it to a different place.
Speaking of Tupac, I’m insisting on having Changes included here too, mainly because of the balls it took to put that out when the expectation on him was for ‘gangsta rap’.
California Love and Hit ‘Em Up are bangers, but Changes is a very special record; it was a hit without trying to be.
6) Jamiroquai, Virtual Insanity (1996)
I’m three or four years old. It’s the 1990s. I’m at my uncle and aunt’s house in Gerrards Cross with my family.
The birds are chirping, Arsenal are winning the double. On the TV is [Jamiroquai frontman] Jay Kay in that iconic video where the couches and the walls are moving.
Life is good.
7) L’Impératrice, Sonate Pacifique (2012)
It’s 2015, and I’m in my 20s at college in Boston. I’m no longer a wannabe rock star guitarist. I’m living an independent life, and it’s cold.
This cool Colombian kid in my class says to me,’ You’ve got to hear this song.’ It’s like Phoenix meets Daft Punk, meets psychedelic dance, meets I-don’t-even-know-what.
“It’s like Phoenix meets Daft Punk meets psychedelic dance meets I don’t even know what.”
I really get into it. The artwork is cool. I love it to this day. It’s a really unusual album.
It opened the door into French electronic music for me. It’s part of the whole ‘French Touch’ era, which is one of the most iconic and underrated genres I’ve ever heard.
This was in my senior year at Boston, where I was thinking, ‘There’s something brewing here on SoundCloud; this is where the future is, and people are missing it. This is cool, this is my passion – I can do this.’
That was the beginning of what became 10K Projects.
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