Norman Reedus names his favourite musicians of all time: “There’s a lot”
Norman Reedus has done such a good job over the last 15 years or so of playing a moody, slightly dishevelled post-apocalyptic vigilante that you’d imagine wakes up and immediately starts looking around his house for any unwanted intruders while waving a baseball bat or readying a bow and arrow.
Reedus has been truly iconic in the years-long run of HBO’s The Walking Dead, its video game adaptations and its spin-off Daryl Dixon, and he’s done it all while not really saying very much, which is super cool obviously.
A former model, Reedus was first really seen in the underrated 1999 movie The Boondock Saints, an action thriller featuring Willem Dafoe set in Boston that bombed on release due to fears of copycat killings after the Columbine Massacre. After that, he appeared in the Wesley Snipes slices-up-the-undead comic book romp Blade II and had a bit part in 2007’s American Gangster, but in the main, he was relegated to smaller roles, including a Boondock Saints follow-up.
That was until 2010 when The Walking Dead came around and he was cast as Daryl Dixon, the expert zombie tracker from the Deep South who went on to be one of the series’ most popular characters over a hugely popular 11 season run.
After leading man Andrew Lincoln left the show in season nine, Reedus’ character took over top billing as the main protagonist, opening up the chance for his own show once the original came to an end in 2022. That show is about to return for a third season and has followed Dixon after he washed up on the shores of France, where the original outbreak of the zombie virus took place. It has been hailed by critics as one of the best of the six Walking Dead spin-offs and also stars Harry Potter‘s Fleur Delacour actor Clémence Poésy, and fellow original series actor Melissa McBride.
In his early modelling day, Reedus often appeared in music videos, starring for bands including REM and Radiohead as well as later popping up in videos for Lady Gaga and Hillary Duff. In terms of his own musical tastes, they’re rather more eclectic as he revealed when asked to name bands he particularly liked.
Reedus replied, “Oh man. Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Laurie Anderson, Sonic Youth, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, there’s a lot”.
Nick Cave was a particular inspiration for him when filming his Walking Dead spin-off, as he has spoken of the Australian’s music becoming a constant listen. Reedus told the New York Times: “[Cave and Warren Ellis 2021 album] Carnage was my go-to for the entire French filming portion of the first two seasons, and in Spain it’s this album [2024’s Wild God]. It just sings, full of life and stories and beautiful thundering bliss. I don’t know anyone that doesn’t love this band. Not one person.”
Wild God has been a sensation for Cave, topping charts around the world and attracting considerable critical acclaim. It received two Grammy Award nominations and was hailed by many as a masterpiece.
Reedus, a musician in his own right, has recorded and released his own demos over the years in addition to curating his own playlists, which he’ll share with fans. He’s also been working on a movie with Joseph Gordon Levitt named Pendulum and will return to the world of the Boondock Saints in a third instalment.
