“I listened to classical music right up until I sa…
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Having risen to fame in the early 80s as frontman with Finnish glam legends Hanoi Rocks, flamboyant vocalist/ saxophonist Michael Monroe has delivered a dozen solo albums, most recently the collection that he considers to be his best yet, I Live Too Fast Die Young.
Having recently completed a run of dates celebrating the 40th anniversary of Hanoi Rocks’ 1984 masterpiece Two Steps From The Move, Monroe will tour the US in April 2025 and the UK the following month.
Below, he chooses some prime examples of the music that made him the man that he is today.
The first music I remember hearing
My mother and father listened to classical music when I was a kid. Symphonies, Sibelius. My maternal grandfather played cello and double bass, and his father was an oboe player. So I listened to classical music right up until I saw Black Sabbath on TV when I was eight. I’d never heard anything like it and I thought: “Wow, that guy going crazy upfront, maybe I could do that. And if I could make a living doing that, that would be amazing.”
The first song I performed live
Kill City Kills, the B-side of the first Hanoi Rocks single. It’s the song that started our first Hanoi gig, with our first line-up, back in 1980 at a place called Glädjehuset in Stockholm.
The greatest album of all time
Who’s the king and queen of rock’n’roll? Little Richard. So I’d have to say The Best Of Little Richard. He made a huge impression on me – his outrageousness, his make-up, the power in his voice. And Alice Cooper. My dad bought Love It To Death for my brother, and that changed my world.
The singer
Little Richard. The best rock singer of all time, if I’ve got to choose just one. This is gonna be a really one-sided selection, with Little Richard in every category.
The songwriter
Ian Hunter. His lyrics may be autobiographical sometimes, but you can relate to everything he writes. I know he’s a fan of Bob Dylan, but I prefer him. And he’s such a great guy, ageless and still doing his thing. Like Mick Jagger he’s an inspiration. People used to say rock’n’roll’s bad for you, but Mick Jagger’s still running a marathon on stage.
The guitar hero
Chuck Berry, he started it all. I first heard about him when I saw a documentary about rock’n’roll, which is where I also first saw Little Richard and the Rolling Stones. Which is when I thought if I ever have a band it’ll have two guitarists like that. So yeah, Keith Richards is a great rhythm player, but when it comes down to one: Chuck Berry.
The cult hero
[Dead Boys and Lords Of The New Church vocalist] Stiv Bators. I used to feed his cat Ziggy when he was away, then after his wife moved out I moved in so we’d save money by sharing the rent. It was a great time. Little Steven came over to produce the Lords, then Johnny Thunders got kicked out by his girlfriend’s family in Sweden, and he moved in too. Those were the days; the good old, bad old days.
The most underrated band ever
The Ruts. They were amazing, incredible players, and Malcolm Owen’s attitude… What a frontman. They didn’t get a long enough career, but were everything that a four-piece band should be in those days. One of my favourite groups of all time
My Saturday night party song
Rocks Off by the Rolling Stones. Goats Head Soup’s my favourite Stones album, but Exile On Main St.’s right up there. I envy Jagger’s style, his laid-backness, when he starts singing [drawls] ‘I hear you talking when I’m on the street’ it sounds like he just rolled out of bed. It’s so cool. He’s underrated as a vocalist because people look at his flamboyance, his appearance and all that, but he’s a really amazing singer.
My ‘in the mood for love’ song
There was a funk band in the early 70s called the Undisputed Truth who did this album called Higher Than High. It’s the coolest funk ever. The second song’s called Poontang and the lyric goes: ‘Poontang, I used to hate it till I ate it…’ So that’s my ‘in the mood for love’ song.
The song that makes me cry
Ian Hunter’s song Boy, from his eponymous debut solo album, co-produced with Mick Ronson. It’s a masterpiece. I use that album, especially the drum sound, as a reference when I mix my albums. It was made in 1975 and it still has the greatest sound.
The song I want played at my funeral
The long organ piece at the end of Killer by Alice Cooper. As a kid I used to say I wanted that played at my funeral, but then I decided I didn’t want to die. Just because nobody’s lived forever yet doesn’t mean that it’s impossible, so maybe I will live forever. But there’s a probability that I will, like most of us, leave this body of existence, and on that occasion I’d like to be remembered, by some close friends, who will be listening to the ending of Killer by Alice Cooper.
Michael Monroe’s US tour begins in New York on April 2, with UK shows kicking off at Newcastle University on May 22. For dates and tickets, check out Michael Monroe’s LinkTree.
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