Judd Apatow picks five of his favourite songs of all time
As the mind behind empathetic comedies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Funny People, Judd Apatow curates deeply emotional and relatable stories – almost always underscored by an impeccably chosen soundtrack. Apatow’s relationship with music is consistently evident in his filmography, and it received a dedicated big-screen outing with his documentary May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers.
His thoughtful use of soundtracks reflects Apatow’s intrinsic understanding that music and story are irrevocably intertwined, each capable of elevating the other into something poignant that speaks to shared human experiences. So, when Apatow shares his favourite tunes, it’s not just a playlist; it’s the journey of a man whose career has been defined just as much sonically as it has visually.
Invited on as a guest DJ for KCRW, fans of Apatow and general music were treated to five of the director’s favourite songs. First up was ‘Don’t Be Shy’ by Cat Stevens, which carries for Apatow an essence of reassurance and affirmation. “It’s a life philosophy for an insecure nerd,” he shares. “You know, I’ve always related to that feeling you have when you’re a kid. You feel lost, and you don’t know who you are. You feel like you can’t compete. You feel strange.”
Warren Zevon’s ‘The French Inhaler’ also finds a place within Apatow’s list, incredibly impactful when he first encountered it live on the Larry Sanders show in the 1990s. It sounded like “people in a bar talking about their Hollywood lives and their dreams, their crumbling dreams,” Apatow recalls, clearly still moved by the potency of its story.
The reflective ‘I’m One’ by The Who, and particularly Pete Townshend’s vocal, encapsulates that turbulent, awkward navigation through teenage years. “It is about feeling like an awkward teenager and not knowing how you’re going to survive and who you’re going to be. Just feeling weird, but also having a sense that you might succeed.”
‘A Father and A Son’ by Loudon Wainwright perhaps cuts close to the bone, capturing the emotional terrain between fathers and sons, something that Apatow admits Wainwright does “better than anybody else ever has, or ever will”. On using the artist in This is 40, Apatow explains how “I thought that was a special thing because I don’t think I had heard them sing together on record before. I always, you know, try to get the people that I look up to involved in my work.”
Lastly, ‘Lightning Bolt’ by Pearl Jam speaks into Apatow’s life in a uniquely parallel way. The band and its evolution seem to mirror his own journey, “We all started in the late 80s, and we’re all around the same age… So when they put out new records, I feel like someone’s singing about my current life.”
Five of Judd Apatow’s favourite songs
- Cat Stevens – Don’t Be Shy
- Warren Zevon – The French Inhaler
- The Who – I Am One
- Loudon Wainwright – A Father and A Son
- Pearl Jam – Lightning Bolt
