A playlist of Steve Jobs’ favourite songs
The iconic founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, sadly passed away in October 2011 after an eight-year battle with pancreatic cancer. Though he only lived to 56, Jobs boasted many lifetimes’ worth of achievement as one of America’s most prominent and inspiring tech innovators. Without his imaginative flare, the world of computing, mobile phones, tablets, and music consumption wouldn’t be where they are today.
After Jobs’ death, the Beggars Group chairman Martin Mills discussed the seismic difference Jobs made to the music industry over the 20th century. “Steve Jobs’ legacy to music is immense,” the famed label owner told The Guardian. “Apple alone had the strength to manhandle music licences out of big companies intent on doing it themselves, and iTunes’ independent editorial policy, judging music just on its merits, has benefited thousands of new artists.”
What set Jobs aside from many of his peers in the tech world was his affinity for the more artistic side of creation. While the structured, binary nature of science and mathematics undoubtedly held their place, the analogous and uncertain realms of creativity and imagination were never overlooked.
“I always thought of myself as a humanities person as a kid, but I liked electronics,” Jobs told his biographer Walter Isaacson. “Then I read something that one of my heroes, Edwin Land of Polaroid, said about the importance of people who could stand at the intersection of humanities and sciences, and I decided that’s what I wanted to do.”
Just as Jobs’ work influenced art, most notably in the music industry, art profoundly impacted him in return. It comes as no surprise that the creator of the iPod was a fan of music. Jobs was a habitual meditator and an avid listener who strongly believed in music’s power to steer imagination and fortitude.
While working with esteemed author Walter Isaacson for his 2011 biography, Jobs unfurled his iPod contents to share some of his favourite artists and music. Intriguingly, Jobs’ musical tastes were closely tethered to the rock and folk music of the 1960s and ‘70s. “His iPod selections were those of a kid from the ’70s with his heart in the ’60s,” Isaacson wrote in Steve Jobs. “More contemporary artists [made up] only about a quarter” of the artists on Jobs’ iPod. These included the likes of U2, Talking Heads, Moby, Dido and Seal.
When challenged by Isaacson to choose between The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, Jobs said, “If the vault was on fire and I could grab only one set of master tapes, I would grab the Beatles.”
“Somebody else could have replicated the Stones,” he added. “Nobody could have been Dylan or the Beatles.”
Below, we have compiled a list of Steve Jobs’ favourite songs that he picked out from his iPod as particular favourites. Listen to our Spotify playlist if you like what you see.
Steve Jobs’ favourite songs:
- Bob Dylan – ‘One Too Many Mornings’
- Bob Dylan – ‘Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands’
- Bob Dylan – ‘The Times They’re A- Changing
- John Lennon – ‘Imagine’
- Cat Stevens – ‘Hard Headed Woman’
- Bob Dylan – ‘Highway 61 Revisited’
- J.S. Bach – ‘The Goldberg Variations’
- The Grateful Dead – ‘Truckin’’
- Jackson Browne – ‘Late For The Sky’
- Miles Davis – ‘Blue In Green’
- The Rolling Stones – ‘Beast Of Burden’
- The Who – ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’
- Peter, Paul and Mary – ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’
- Joan Baez – ‘Love Is A Four Letter Word’
- Joni Mitchell – ‘Both Sides Now’
- The Grateful Dead – ‘Uncle John’s Band’
- The Beatles – ‘Here Comes The Sun’
- Bob Dylan – ‘Like A Rolling Stone’
- Bob Dylan – ‘Shelter From The Storm’
- The Rolling Stones – ‘Sympathy For The Devil’
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