“I think the music that affected me the most in my life happened pretty early,” Lady Gaga tells us. “I feel like those formative years when you’re first discovering music is when you’re like a sponge, and you soak everything up.” Coming off the release of her album Mayhem, the pop icon revisits those early influences as part of Rolling Stone‘s My Life in 10 Songs video series, taking a thoughtful look at the records that helped shape her identity.
The video opens with Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road,” a standout from 1975’s Born to Run that Gaga says she “chose instantly” for her list. “Springsteen has influenced me my whole career,” she explains to interviewer Christopher Kim. “Bruce had a very particular grit and soulfulness, and when I was making Born This Way, I thought a lot about how to incorporate who I really am into my music, even more than I did during The Fame.” Gaga describes the latter as “more about my dream for myself,” while Born This Way was “more of an album that was looking back on a particular time in my life.”
She adds that the song is closely tied to memories of her father, recalling how he would play it for her in the living room when she was young. For Gaga, the track represents “romanticizing the past, but in this way where you have this beautiful memory of how you let things go.”
The conversation then moves to Beck‘s “Nicotine & Gravy” from 1999’s Midnight Vultures. Gaga says the song “really spoke to who I was as a 19-year-old living in the Lower East Side, and getting my kicks with the locals. I would say the way that it affected my life the most is that watching Beck change made me feel like I wanted to change.” She also highlights 1977’s “I Was Born This Way” by pastor and gay rights activist Carl Bean, explaining its direct influence on “Born This Way,” her 2011 song and album. “I heard it, and I was like, ‘I wonder if there’s a way to flip this into a modern pop record,’” she says. “The genesis of this gave way to something that I think for me is the most important record of my career. Not just for me artistically, but for what it means.”
Gaga’s list continues with Iron Butterfly‘s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” David Bowie‘s “Watch That Man,” and Heavy Metal Kids’ “Hey Little Girl.” “When you find records that help you understand or see yourself, or they become the soundtrack to you and your friend group, that’s pretty powerful,” she says. She also reflects on a run of Seventies favorites, including Stevie Wonder‘s “Superstition,” noting “I definitely had my moments on Mayhem where I was thinking about him,” and Carole King‘s “Tapestry,” which she describes warmly with “Her voice and her songs are like a warm hug.”
From there, Gaga steps back into the Fifties, selecting two tracks released in 1959, Dinah Washington’s “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes” and Miles Davis‘ “So What.” She also speaks about her affection for classic rock mainstays such as the Rolling Stones‘ “Sympathy for the Devil” and Led Zeppelin‘s “Thank You.” Reflecting on the latter, she says, “It was kind of like learning that the unattainable rock & roll god could really love you. That there was a human being underneath the legend of it all. This idea of drama and theatricality in music, and then sincerity. I think those were two things that kind of yin-yang for me.”
Gaga wraps up her selections with She Wants Revenge’s “Tear You Apart,” the Cure‘s “Never Enough,” and Justice’s “Stress,” bringing her total to 15 songs. “That’s more than 10,” she jokes. “And I could go on and on and on.”
