The favourite songs of Cocteau Twins’ Robin Guthrie
The post-punk scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s yielded an array of incredible and unique bands, but none could match up to the stunning individuality of Cocteau Twins. The band’s often haunting, gothic instrumentals, backed with the wonderfully nonsensical lyrics of Elizabeth Fraser, have gained the band huge notoriety and enduring popularity among fans of alternative music.
Songwriter and guitarist Robin Guthrie formed the band with bassist Will Heggie in 1979, but it was not until Fraser was recruited in 1981 that the band really found its footing. Her ethereal vocal performances became the signature sound of Cocteau Twins. The band transcended the post-punk scene they came from, pioneering the dream pop genre and acting as a huge inspiration for establishing shoegaze towards the end of the ’80s.
With Guthrie and Fraser acting as the main creative forces driving the band when their romantic relationship broke down, so did the group. In 1997, Cocteau Twins disbanded, and Fraser publicly stated that the band would likely never reform due to her unwillingness to share a stage with Guthrie, her former partner.
Since the disbanding of Cocteau Twins, Guthrie has occupied himself by recording numerous solo albums over the years, collaborating with other artists, and soundtracking the 2004 coming-of-age drama Mysterious Skin. Guthrie also founded the independent record label Bella Union with former Cocteau Twins bandmate Simon Raymonde, though it is now run entirely by Raymonde.
Guthrie and Cocteau Twins had a huge impact on alternative rock music, influencing countless future bands and genres. Shedding a light on his own influences, the songwriter revealed his favourite songs back in 1993 while speaking to Melody Maker. Check out his wonderfully eclectic picks below.
Robin Guthrie’s favourite songs:
‘The Mercy Seat’ – Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Taken from Tender Prey, this dark and mysterious track by Nick Cave tells the story of someone being executed via the electric chair. The stirring quality of the track, accentuated in Johnny Cash’s cover of the song, certainly lines up with the kind of work Guthrie helped to create with Cocteau Twins.
The songwriter clearly holds a lot of respect for Cave, who rose to prominence with The Birthday Party around the same time as Cocteau Twins were starting up. Speaking about Cave, Guthrie said, “I’m a sucker for wasted types, men who can wear tight trousers and pointy shoes without looking like a pillock. Me, I turned out the wrong shape to be wasted!”
‘State of Independence’ – Donna Summer
From post-punk to disco, Guthrie’s next pick brings in the legendary Donna Summer. This track, while perhaps not her best work, features heavy usage of synth and drum machines, something Guthrie was doing in his band.
“I love the arrangement of it, the movement, the way it built up,” he said. “This was just as we were starting out, and maybe it influenced the way we built our sound up”. Perhaps not the most obvious artist to influence Cocteau Twins, but we see it.
‘She is Beyond Good and Evil’ – The Pop Group
Pioneering and criminally underrated post-punk group The Pop Group take Guthrie’s next pick. The band are often noted for their anti-pop sensibilities and inclusion of dub, funk, and jazz influences in their music. This track, evoking the title of a book by Friedrich Nietzche, is no exception.
Talking about the importance of The Pop Group on the post-punk scene, Guthrie explained, “The Pop Group were the first ones ever to mix post-punk with fun and dance rhythms. But it was always harder than the ones doing it now.”
‘The Friend Catcher’ – The Birthday Party
Once again, wearing his adoration of Nick Cave on his sleeve, Guthrie selected ‘The Friend Catcher’. The track is much more distorted and experimental than his previous choice, but it still features the deep and dark voice of Cave that Guthrie loved, albeit younger.
Guthrie fondly remembers how influential the band was during the early days of Cocteau Twins, “I just remember listening to The Birthday Party on the radio thinking, ‘Fucking Hell!’ We’d be down the front at every gig, follow them around everywhere—when we were still young and stupid, these people were big stars to us”. The songwriter also credits Nick Cave with getting the Twins a deal with 4AD — The Birthday Party frontman was seemingly integral to the success of Guthrie’s group.
‘Lonely Planet’ – The The
Another entry by Guthrie’s notable post-punk contemporaries, ‘Lonely Planet’ is taken from The The‘s 1993 record Dusk. The track has an epic, cinematic quality to it, and Matt Johnson’s vocal performance on it connotes Heroes-era David Bowie.
“What a fucking record”, Guthrie shares, “‘If you can’t change the world, change yourself.’ It’s only recently I’ve come round to thinking like that myself. He was only about 20 when he made it. I didn’t have much time for the things he was doing a few years back, but with his last album, I’m right back into him.”
‘Ghost Rider’ – Suicide
No wave legends Suicide were a huge influence on a lot of post-punk and alternative rock in the late 1970s and 1980s. The New York duo pioneered the use of drum machines and synths within their work and were noted for their confrontational performances. “I still rip ‘em off!” Guthrie reveals, “Them and Roxy Music were the first people I ever heard using keyboards like machines and not just Hammond organs”.
Although the track he selected, ‘Ghost Rider’, is the band’s definitive song, Guthrie also noted an appreciation for their evocative single ‘Frankie Teardrop’. He said: “You try sitting alone, fucked up on drugs, late at night, listening to that 1ten-minute track, ‘Frankie Teardrop’—you’ll fucking die! It’s so scary. After that, they went on to make a lot of crap.”
‘Killing In the Name’ – Rage Against the Machine
A more current choice, at least for when Guthrie compiled this list back in 1993, is the seminal track ‘Killing In the Name’ from Rage Against The Machine, which came around when Guthrie was rekindling his love for music. “I went through a phase a couple of years ago of not listening to anybody else’s music at all,” he said, “but just this past year I’ve had an incredibly refreshed attitude, I’ve rekindled my love”.
The track has a huge reputation in its own right. Discussing themes of police brutality and racial discrimination in the US, ‘Killing In the Name’ certainly put Rage on the map. “I love them, love this,” Guthrie shares, “It’s not particularly the militant thing about them, it’s more from hearing it in the clubs, the noise it makes.”
‘Sweet Dreams’ – Patsy Cline
Something of a curveball given the rest of his picks, country and western star Patsy Cline is the next to feature. Released shortly after Cline’s untimely death in a plane crash, ‘Sweet Dreams’ is one of the singer’s most iconic tracks.
It was Cline’s voice that acted as a big inspiration for Guthrie, “It’s the voice, isn’t it? The other voice,” before jokingly adding, “Patsy Cline died 20-odd years ago, so it was a bit tricky getting her to join the Cocteaus so I had to get Liz.”
‘Be My Baby’ – The Ronettes
The songwriter continues the theme of venerated tracks from 1963 with this pick. The Ronettes‘ classic ‘Be My Baby’ is a celebrated track from the 1960s girl group scene, potentially one of the decade’s greatest tracks outright.
For Guthrie, however, it was the influence of producer Phil Spector that drew him to the song, “I could have picked any number of Phil Spector tracks—I don’t suppose I need to explain why. I’ve been an obsessive collector of Phil Spector’s stuff, I’ve got loads and loads on vinyl, a lot of rarities. Nice tunes, big sounds—yeah, it was an obvious influence.”
‘In Dreams’ – Roy Orbison
King of the rock ballads, Roy Orbison had an indisputable influence on so much that came after the early rock ‘n’ roll scene. This hit song was first released in 1963 but rose in popularity again in the late 1980s thanks to its inclusion in the David Lynch film Blue Velvet.
Guthrie shared his experiences with Orbison, saying, “I saw him at the Mean Fiddler. It was just him, his guitar and voice, so beautiful, so moving—what a fucking guy. And I was waiting out back to meet him, and I did. Y’know what he said to me? ‘Get out of the way, son,’ as he pushed past me on the way to his limousine.”
‘Creep’ – Radiohead
Another current track when this list was made, ‘Creep’ was the debut single by the much beloved Radiohead. Although the band themselves soon grew tired of it, the song remains their best-selling single. ‘Creep’, while somewhat lacklustre when looking at Radiohead’s entire body of work now, put them on the musical map and enabled the band to go on and make some of the greatest records of all time.
“I do love this, but I know virtually nothing about the band,” says Guthrie, “There was a time when liking a record meant I would have had to go out and find out everything about the band, these days, as long as it’s a good fucking record, I really don’t care.”
‘Woman’ – John Lennon
An ode to his wife, Yoko Ono, ‘Woman’ became the first single by John Lennon to be released following his murder in 1980. ‘Woman’ is also noted as Lennon’s most Beatles-esque song to be made during his solo career.
The Cocteau Twins guitarist uses this track as an example of how punk rock acted as a hindrance for him musically, “John Lennon’s somebody I never even listened to until a few years ago. Same with The Doors, Dylan—I shut all these people out because punk rock told me to. And the wealth of stuff I was denying myself! Punk had always seemed such a positive energy to me that I never saw the negative side of it.”
