The one album that changed Bryan Cranston’s life
The worlds of screen and radio are so intrinsically woven that we often find our music somewhat cinematic and our films and television shows festooned with musical accompaniment. Since the dawn of Hollywood, actors and musicians have been no strangers to each other’s pockets; whether it’s Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra in the 1950s or Lady Gaga and Harry Styles in the present day, our eminent entertainers love to straddle both media. For Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston, a career in acting never quite led him to the stage with a six-string and a mic, but his deep regard for music is palpable.
Born in 1956, Cranston grew up through rock ‘n’ roll’s unstoppable rise from its early heyday through to the British Invasion era of the 1960s. Like many so-called Baby Boomers, Cranston was first stirred by rock and roll. One of his earliest musical memories was a B.B. King gig: “When I was a kid, a friend’s Dad worked in the music business and got us tickets to see blues legend B.B. King,” Cranston said of his first-ever gig in a 2022 interview with NME. “I couldn’t believe the artistry of his musicianship. It was mind-boggling what he could do with a guitar. He played ‘Lucille’ and ‘The Thrill Is Gone’ and just wailed on that thing.”
Elsewhere in the NME interview feature, Cranston revealed the first song he fell in love with as a blend of cinematic and musical mastery. “I was much too young, but I’d just seen The Graduate. Oh my God! I was amazed by its overt sexuality and, being so young, I related to Dustin Hoffman’s character and the world of seduction he entered,” Cranston remembered. “That song was popular when I was 12 and was playing when I was trying to pluck up the courage to ask a girl out. But he who hesitates loses, and sure enough, another guy came over, asked her to dance, and they were on their way. It was crushing!”
While Simon and Garfunkel helped deliver Cranston a poignant life lesson, it was a familiar group from across the Atlantic that would change his life the most. When asked to pick out the album that changed his life, Cranston chose The Beatles’ 1967 psychedelic touchstone, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
“I was 11 years old when Sgt. Pepper’s came out, and that blew my mind. I thought: ‘Can they actually do this? This is The Beatles, right?’ It was incredibly bold to take on characters with their music. I was exploring too, as a young actor doing plays and theatre. I didn’t then realise that bands could take on personas and go into a completely different realm to what I was familiar with. When I listen to it now it’s still amazing.”
Listen to ‘A Day in the Life’, the closing track on Sgt. Pepper, below.
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