“It’s got everything”: Corey Feldman’s five favourite albums
There are essentially two halves to troubled former child star Corey Feldman‘s sorry career. Those of a certain age will remember his kid roles in the massive 1980s movies like Gremlins, The Goonies, and Stand By Me that scores of movie fans hold deep, nostalgic affection for, the latter routinely listed in the decade’s ‘greatest movies’.
To the Gen Z crowd, he’s the bizarre pound shop Michael Jackson immortalised in eternal cringe from his surreal feature on NBC’s Today show performing the uncomfortably bad ‘Go 4 It’ single back in 2016.
The worldwide mockery Feldman’s crisis-filled gyrations prompted must be peppered with pangs of pity. Long alleging routine sexual abuse in the film industry as a boy, it’s hard not to view Feldman’s car crash music spot without some concern for his wellbeing. Himself the recipient of sexual misconduct allegations, his backing ‘Angels’ have since come forward and stated he had “abused, sexually harassed and taken advantage of them”, resulting in his removal from the Screen Actor’s Guild’s Sexual Harassment committee.
Questionable murk aside, Feldman’s EDM double opus Angelic 2 the Core wasn’t his first foray into music. Dropping the fake leather jacket plastic rock of 1994’s Love Left, followed by the Former Child Actor‘s stodgy electro-swagger in 2002, Feldman has earnestly flexed his musical fancies longer now than his acting chops. Speaking to SPIN last month, Feldman offered insight into the records he holds the dearest, leaning firmly into rock and pop with little in the way of electronic dance, which typified his late output.
“Abbey Road to me is the perfect Beatles album because it’s got everything.” Often a Fab Four fan’s favourite when pressed, the LP that captures their last studio effort together manages to wield hardcore canon cuts like ‘Come Together’ and ‘Something’, progressive trips with ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’, and it’s memorable medley suite that closes the album. “Every song is amazing—I don’t think there’s a throwaway song on the album. It’s a perfect, flawless piece of continuous music.”
His Pink Floyd selection is less obvious, however. Curiously opting for 1977’s angsty Animals over their more defining work, Feldman heaped particular praise on the snarling ‘Dogs’ track: “I love that it’s 15 minutes long and it’s so involved and it goes through so many changes. It’s got different variations, going from the really rocky stuff to the nice acoustic sound to the very psychedelic sound. It goes through every incarnation of their music in one song. I think that’s what I love about it.”
Moving toward the dual kings of 1980s singer-songwriter soft pop, Billy Joel and Phil Collins’ fronted Genesis is revealed to be close to Feldman’s heart. Highlighting the latter’s embrace of pop after its progressive founding, 1986’s Invisible Touch is elected as a firm favourite: “It keeps their psychological psychedelic trippy-type format with the longer songs and those big long musical numbers that they do. Then there are also so many quintessential pop hits and Top 40 songs that blow it through the roof.” Torn between Joel’s The Nylon Curtain and Storm Front, Feldman opted for both: “I can’t really go with one or the other, so I’m just going to have to call it right down the middle. If it were a double album, it would be perfect.”
Of course, the King of Pop makes an appearance. Crediting 1987’s Bad with altering the pop climate, Feldman confessed his stunned impression when first hearing the LP’s seventh (out of nine!) single: “Such an incredible bass line. I remember the first time I got to hear it was actually in person when I walked onto the set of ‘Smooth Criminal,’ and he had it playing on these giant speakers. When I heard that bass line for the first time, it was godly.” Knowing the late pop star on first name terms, Feldman summarises his admiration with no faint praise: “Of all the Michael work, I would definitely say that was his moment of perfection.”
Corey Feldman’s five favourite albums
- Abbey Road – The Beatles
- Animals – Pink Floyd
- Invisible Touch – Genesis
- The Nylon Curtain and Storm Front – Billy Joel
- Bad – Michael Jackson
