Under the Influence: Clint Mansell

1. David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars [1972]

It all began with Ziggy Stardust. It was 1972 and I was up at my nan's house on a Thursday night. Bowie did Starman on TOTP and it just blew my mind. I don’t even recall if it was actually in colour, but looking back it seems like the day where the world turned day-glo. From Ian McCulloch to Pete Wylie to Julian Cope, all the musicians of my generation say the exact same thing about that Top of the Pops moment. We all witnessed it and it’s very difficult to put just what it meant into context for people now. The following Saturday I had to go shopping with my mum and – after throwing a tantrum – I ended up forcing her to buy me the Starman single. The album is full of things a nine-year-old isn’t going to understand, but I was just mesmerized by it.

We met when I was working on The Fountain with Darren Aronofsky as we wanted him to do some of the music with me. It didn’t work out in the end, but he was brilliant. Playing my demos to David Bowie is one of the most extreme experiences I’ll ever have. To be in the company of this guy, who was responsible for me doing what I wanted to do was just incredible. The first time I met him I remember he was just so jovial and lighthearted, but also supremely intelligent and well-read too. I was thinking, 'Hey, i'm talking to David Bowie here as an equal and keeping it together,' but after the meeting I basically collapsed as it was such an intense experience for me. We had a few meetings after that and every time he was so nice, inquisitive and always open to new ideas.

2. Ennio Morricone – Once Upon a Time in the West [1968]

You’re spoiled for choice with Morricone. I could easily have gone for any of the Dollars trilogy, The Mission or the score he did for Carpenter on The Thing. I also like what he did for the Hateful Eight more recently; it really reminded me of a Hammer horror score. When you hear Morricone’s work in spaghetti westerns it creates a whole different vibe. It’s very accessible music that is unlike other films. The whistling is almost like pop. It opens you up to a new way of thinking and you can go a little further with what else is out there and start developing an understanding of the language. It just becomes part of what excites you.

3. The Ramones – Leave Home [1977]

The first punk album for me. I missed the first album in '76, but then heard Sheena is a Punk Rocker on Radio Luxembourg as it would play stuff that was a little more leftfield than Radio 1. I just thought, 'Oh my God, this is amazing, what is it?!' The last record I bought before Sheena is a Punk Rocker was The Killing of Georgie by Rod Stewart – a great track and one I still love – but in comparison it was just so MOR and pleasant. Looking back you can say it’s not too far removed from bubblegum pop, but for me it had such drive and attitude. Mick Ronson was an amazing guitarist, but Johnny Ramone’s sound was something I’d never heard before. It was the album which led me on to magazines like Sounds, the NME and Melody Maker. I still to this day think it’s a great record – it’s just one tune after the other.

4. Siouxsie and the Banshees – The Scream [1978]

My first foray with post-punk would have been through Siouxsie and the Banshees. I know they came along with punk but by the time their first album came out and they’d done their John Peel sessions, the scene was moving off from punk culture and going into a sort of bluesy, glam direction. The Banshees leaned more toward the avant-garde. The Scream was a huge record for me. I recently got asked if I’d be interested in working with Siouxsie, which would be a fucking dream come true.

5. John Carpenter – Assault on Precinct 13 [1976]

Back in those days there wasn’t a great deal to do apart from watch movies. Stuff like The Parallax View, All the President’s Men and Walkabout stick out. The music in The Parallax View and Klute is great – both by Michael Small. It’s that sound of edginess with the jarring, discordant piano. I also remember the scoring of Picnic at Hanging Rock with the pan pipes, a completely uncool instrument, but they worked so well in creating a dreamlike experience. At the time, I wasn’t even aware I was responding to it and it was only much later I realised it got to me.

The first one I really did get would have been Assault on Precinct 13. I hadn’t heard that synthesizer approach before. It wasn’t a film that belonged to your dad or grandad and instead felt very much like it was of the moment. It came out in '76 but I probably wouldn’t have seen it until 1979, 1980. The feeling he creates with his scores is amazing, as is the way he fuses melody with doom.

6. Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures [1979]

This was another record that was bringing in things for me that I’d been hitherto unexposed to. I knew albums like [Bowie's] Low, but hadn’t yet heard stuff like [Iggy Pop's] The Idiot. My main takeaway from Unknown Pleasures was Martin Hannett’s production skills which, to my uninitiated ear, were revolutionary. He was way ahead of his time in his use of dub recording techniques, extreme panning and strange gadgets. 

7. Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back [1988]

Both License to Ill and Raising Hell were really pivotal. We [Pop Will Eat Itself] saw the Beastie Boys with Run D.M.C. together at Birmingham Odeon in 1987 and it was just fantastic. The record that really sticks out, however, was A Nation of Millions. It was almost like a punk record with the Bomb Squad and the dawn of the sampler. Their use of it is just fantastic. The Beasties' first record was a brilliant party record with frat boys and all that sort of stuff, but Public Enemy brought something else. It was dangerous and had a point. I’d never heard anything like Rebel Without a Pause with its squealing sax and lyrical delivery. It really influenced the first album we did for RCA.

8. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven [2000]

This was the first Godspeed album I heard and it's the one I always go back to. Hearing Storm for the first time was some experience. The way it built was so emotional but also captivating and hard-hitting. To a degree it’s classical music, but it didn’t feel like your music teacher's type of classical. There was a real honesty and grit to it that spoke to me. It was such a huge influence on my work and the other things I went on to listen to. They were just so uncompromising; their ethos and outlook is not at all dissimilar to Public Enemy and the Banshees'.

9. Soap&Skin – Lovetune for Vacuum [2009]

Back in the Myspace days somebody sent me a link of Anja performing live. She was doing a cover version off Requiem for a Dream, not the Lux Aeterna part, but the crazy stuff that comes in at the end. She was playing along to it on piano with all these crazy electronics coming out of a laptop and I was just like, 'Oh man, this is incredible, I’ve never heard anyone cover my music before.' I then checked out her record which was so strong, deep and emotional. She has this Nico-ish vibe going on, but it’s totally her own thing.

10. Mogwai – Rave Tapes [2014]

I think the most impressive thing about Mogwai is the way they’ve moved in and out of the genre without getting stale. The increasing use of electronics in their latter work is just fantastic and makes them every bit as vital as their earlier records. I saw them play out in LA a couple of years ago and to me it was mind-bending. I was so lucky to get to see them up close with the Kronos Quartet while working on The Fountain. The recent work they did for Mark Cousins on his documentary about the Atomic Bomb was perfect.