Want a few ideas of what music tracks you should be lining up on your phone or MP3 player? Fancy trying something new that you wouldn’t normally have thought to listen to?
As part of a new regular series, Pocket-lint in collaboration with Cambridge Audio will be asking celebrities and tech industry figureheads about their music tastes and the types of tracks they currently enjoy the most. Plus, we’ll be finding out a little more about their favourite British bands and what specific songs remind them of significant moments in their past.
First up we spoke to Great British long jumper Greg Rutherford, who won gold medals in his discipline at both the London Olympics and Glasgow Commonwealth Games. He’s also a big fan of the LeapFrog LeapBand, an activity tracker and wrist-worn game for young children, and as you’ll discover, he’s got quite a varied taste in music.
Who are you?
“Greg Rutherford.”
What do you do?
“Olympic and Commonwealth gold medal-winning athlete.”
What are your top five tracks right now?
“I have quite an eclectic taste in music so it varies a lot…
“I’ll have to chuck in at least one Ed Sheeran track from his new album. Sing, that’s quite a popular one.
“I also quite like the new Michael Jackson Escape album, which is music that he had never released before and The Place with no Name is on that, which I’m quite a big fan of.
“I like The 1975 as well, who I was listening to all summer. Settle Down featured quite heavily.
“Megalithic Symphony do a track called Sail, which was also on a BMW ad during the London Olympics, which was quite popular.
“And the Banks album Goddess is good. It’s a girl that I had the EP of and the full album’s just come out. It’s a really good album, she’s got a pretty amazing voice. The first one on that is Waiting Game.”
WIN: A Cambridge Audio Go Bluetooth speaker worth £120
What’s your favourite British band and why?
“At the moment, The 1975. I think it’s rare that you come across an album where nearly all the songs and tracks on it are really good. To me anyway. And from that point of view, having a decent amount of music coming out of one band shows their ability.
“I’ve been a real big fan of them, and I think they’ve done incredibly well this year. They’ve blown up around the world, which is impressive too.”
What track makes you think of the summer. The summer of the London Olympics 2012, for example?
“That’ll be Blinded by the Lights, the dubstep remix done by Nero. That was my track of London 2012 and was very much a summery track.”
What track makes you think of the winter?
“Ooo blimey… I’ve never really thought of that before. Like I say, I’ve got quite an eclectic taste in music, so probably an Elton John track. I’ve got his Greatest Hits which I listen to a lot. Probably Your Song as it’s the first song on there. But I always bake when I listen to it, which is quite different. But it’s quite wintery as I bake more in the winter.”
What’s your favourite gadget at the moment?
“My GoPro. I just recently invested in a mountain bike as well, can that be passed as a gadget? They go sort of hand-in-hand.”
What’s the next gadget you are hoping to buy soon?
“Again, it’s related to the mountain bike, I want to get a Garmin bike computer that follows all of the routes tracked and everything else, GPS-wise. That’s £300 though, so I’m sort-of assessing whether it’s necessary for someone like me who’s a bit of an amateur.”
When you listen to music on the go, in a hotel room or the like, do you listen to music on a pair of speakers or are you a headphones kind of person?
“I use a mini Bluetooth speaker. It’s good for me for travelling because obviously I’m shooting about, travelling all over Europe, but I only ever spend two or three days in a country I go to for a competition.
“Because it’s small and actually quite powerful as well, I use one of them.”
If you could have lunch with one band or singer (dead or alive) who would it be and why?
“Jimi Hendrix. Firstly because his music’s pretty amazing, but I also think he’ll be a fun guy to hang around with. I don’t know if he’d be that mental though, because in all of his old interviews he also seemed quite chilled out and relaxed.
“But he’d be quite a cool character to have at the dinner table. He’d probably order something exotic and strange. It’s could be just a mac and cheese though, couldn’t it?”
Since 1968 Cambridge Audio has been driven by a simple belief; that music should always sound amazing. Its original British-designed products are enjoyed the world over by people like you who share a love of music.
The company has an envied reputation for innovation and every one of its engineers is fanatical in their pursuit of delivering an authentic and enjoyable experience. When you listen to a Cambridge Audio product you don’t just hear the difference, you feel it. It wants everyone to experience that pleasure.
The Cambridge Audio team are all music lovers, plain and simple and want to share that love. Because great things happen when people who love music design hi-fi!
