The musician Johnny Depp said has “the best tunes”
When we think of Johnny Depp, we naturally think of the many brilliant acting performances that he has given across a career and life in the spotlight. Among them are those in the films Edward Scissorhands, Dead Man, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Pirates of the Caribbean and Donnie Brasco.
However, beyond Depp’s prowess as an actor, which has naturally afforded him a position of cultural power, the Kentucky-born star has also shown his creative talent in a number of different mediums, most notably in the field of music. In fact, before Depp enjoyed success in Hollywood, his original dream was to become a famous rock guitarist.
Naturally, as his reputation in American cinema grew, Depp has been able to work with some of his favourite musicians and bands, including Shane McGowan of The Pogues, Oasis, Iggy Pop, Jeff Beck and Aerosmith, while he also formed a supergroup with Alice Cooper and Joe Perry call Hollywood Vampires.
In a feature with Entertainment Weekly, Depp once named his favourite musicians of all time and stated his admiration for Tom Waits, noting, “The devil doesn’t have the best tunes. Tom Waits does”. The feature had seen Depp pick out an album from his top choice singers and instrumentalists, but when it came to Waits, he found the challenge incredibly difficult.
“It’s almost impossible to single out a particular recording of his,” Depp said. “Over the years, Waits’ continued quality of output has never faltered. His high-water marks are countless.” Indeed, Waits’ output has varied in genre, beginning in the folk scene and then later working under the aesthetics of jazz, rock, blues, funk and even hip-hop, but the quality has always been there.
With lyrics focusing on the outcast and marginalised members of society and the banality of everyday life, delivered in his trademark gravelly voice, Waits is a true legend of the music game. Inspired by the likes of Bob Dylan and members of the Beat Generation, Waits crafted memorable characters through his songs, giving them something of a literary quality.
Hard-pressed on an answer for the best Tom Waits album, though, admitting that it is “merely one among many”, Depp spoke of his 1985 record and ninth studio album in total, Rain Dogs, saying that it ought to be considered good listening “for moon lovers and junkyard dogs everywhere”.
Waits had conceived of Rain Dogs as being an album about the disenfranchised inhabitants of New York City. It is generally believed to be part of a trilogy of records along with 1983’s Swordfishtrombonesand 1987’s Franks Wild Years. Keith Richards and Marc Ribot both contributed guitar to Rain Dogs and its dirty blues sound, which includes the tracks ‘Jockey Full of Bourbon’, ‘Hang Down Your Head’, ‘Time’ and ‘Downtown Train’.
In the EW feature, Depp named some of his other favourite albums, including Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks, The Pogues Rum Sodomy & the Lash, Serge Gainsbourg’s Histoire de Melody Nelson and The Rolling Stones’ Tattoo You and Sticky Finger. But amongst such artists, Waits has the “best tunes,” according to the actor.
Back in 2006, Depp had brought Waits in with a number of notable musicians, including Keith Richards, Nick Cave, Dr John and Todd Rundgren, to record new versions of old “pirate ballads, sea songs, and chanteys”, allowing the actor to work for a moment with one of his all-time heroes.
