My Ears Through the Years with Joy Wilkinson

Hello! And welcome back to My Ears Through the Years, the series where a brilliant creative mind in the industry picks their own personal playlist of tracks that have travelled with them through time. 

Now you don’t have to be rich to enjoy this latest METTY but you do have to love Prince… Joining us today is the wonderful Joy Wilkinson! As a prolific writer, Joy has written across film, TV, theatre, radio drama, as well as prose fiction, and her directorial debut feature ‘7 Keys’ recently had its world premiere at SXSW in March 2024. But what wonderful, mind-bending stories can her ears tell us? Let’s dive in!

Q> Hi Joy! Tell us, what’s your first memory of music… 

Joy> The tapes that my parents played in the car. We had rubbish cars and random cassettes that my Dad bought from petrol stations. They were mostly ‘Sounds Like’ cover bands doing Wings, Blondie and ABBA, or a strange compilation of ‘Xanadu’, ‘Starting Over’ and obscure German hits. But Dad also had a soft spot for Barbara Dickson so her songs are really evocative to me. I’m desperate to put her version of ‘Caravan Song’ on one of my film soundtracks.

Q> What was the first music you bought yourself?

Joy> I’m proud to say that the first 7” I ever bought was ‘Ghost Town’ by The Specials, which is a supremely cool first record. I’d never heard it and only chose it because of the spooky title, so I wasn’t cool at all, though I did like it and came to appreciate its deeper meanings. 

Q> The first gig you went to?

Joy> My first gig was Transvision Vamp at Manchester Apollo. This was the era when there were hardly any female leads in British bands, especially in bands with loud guitars and attitude, so Wendy James was a revelation, for a little while at least. 

Q> What’s the first song that comes into your head at any given opportunity?

Joy> It’s not quite an earworm, but when I get stressed out – usually when driving, as I’m not a great driver – Prince’s ‘Arms of Orion’ always pops into my head and plays on a loop to keep me vaguely calm. It’s very far from my favourite Prince song, but it’s somehow comforting.

Q> Your first slow dance?

Joy> I don’t think I’ve ever had a slow dance. I like fast dances! I’ve a dim memory of snogging to ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ by New Order at a youth theatre disco once, but not while dancing. These things take full concentration. 

Q> A song you felt you couldn’t escape from?

Joy> Jean Michel Jarre’s ‘Oxygene’ haunted my childhood. I feel like it was used on every science show for kids, endlessly on ‘Tomorrow’s World’ montages, and always brought a sinister vibe. ‘Popcorn’ by Gershon Kingsley was another one. Synth nightmares from another dimension!

Q> Your walkout song?

Joy> ‘Epic’ by Faith No More. It’s my favourite track of all time and I loved it from the first moment I heard that opening riff. It’s precision-tooled for stage-entering apotheosis. 

Q> Your dancefloor anthem?

Joy> ‘Two Can Play That Game’ by Bobby Brown, which was never a big feature in anyone’s life, but is a surprisingly irresistible dancefloor filler and I’m here for it. 

Q> Your musical guilty pleasure?

Joy> I have a big soft spot for Kiss and am pathetically entertained by their childish smut, from the relatively classy ‘70s ‘Love Gun’ to the shameless ‘80s ‘Keep Me Comin’ and ‘Lick It Up’. Their lifelong dedication to cock rock innuendo tickles me no end. 

Q> A song that reminds you of growing up?

Joy> ‘Hideaway’ by Erasure. It’s a coming out song, which isn’t my story, but it was used in a play I was in at Burnley Youth Theatre, and Erasure – and other electro-pop – was a big part of life there, so that sound always takes me back to the home of my teens. 

Q> An unpopular opinion… 

Joy> It is with a ninja-like stealth that I have managed to avoid ever knowingly listening to a whole Ed Sheeran track. It seemed impossible while he had a zillion songs on the chart, and I might have caught snatches on the radio before I realised what it was, but never enough for it to get a foothold in my psyche and neutralise me. It’s not that I believe it’s bad, no doubt it’s the best of its type, but that feels like the epitome of what’s not for me. I’ve always preferred things to be more extreme, good or bad, genius or trash, so a mild man with a strummy guitar is my ultimate musical turn-off. 

Q> An artist you think is underrated?

Joy> I have to pay homage here to the niche genius of Rob Hubbard and his Commodore 64 masterpieces. Monty on the Run, Commando, Spellbound… his music was way better than it needed to be in an era where most games had very basic tunes. Now there’s whole worlds of wonderful gaming soundtracks, but some of the retro best – like Toby Fox’s Undertale – seem to nod back to the influence of Hubbard. I reckon there’s an incredible cinematic dance sequence to be created for his Crazy Comets – by me if I ever get the chance! 

Q> Your desert island disc… 

Joy> If I can have the whole album, I’d take ‘Aerial’ by Kate Bush. Across the two sections – A Sea of Honey and A Sky of Honey – it feels like all the right moods to manage life on a desert island. Deep and reflective but without ever getting maudlin, and a real sense of the connection with nature with something almost spiritual in the music and humanity of it. If I can only have one track off it then it’d have to be ‘Nocturn’, perfect for starting at the shoreline and being whisked away to other realms. 

Q> A song you want played at your funeral…

Joy> Probably ‘Paisley Park’ by Prince as that feels like the best vision of heaven without getting all religious about it. I also quite fancy going into the incinerator to the High Score music from Monty on the Run (see Rob Hubbard answer). The tone it captured for that end-game roller feels apt for scoring my sad-yet-triumphant exit.

Q> Best sync moment?

Joy> I could pick any of the tracks from ‘Thelma and Louise’ and it’s tempting to pick the most heartrending, but truly the one that really struck me and stayed was ‘Better Not Look Down’ by BB King which plays over one of the more fun sections of the film and is such a joyous lift. The way they bob in the car to the chorus made me feel like I was right there with them, transported from rainy Lancashire to their T-bird on the dusty desert road, having a blast. That brief happy bonding to BB lays the track so that the later tragedy can truly sing. 

Q> Best theme song?

Joy> Has anyone ever been able to supplant ‘Cagney and Lacey’? It’s a hard one to beat. ‘The Sopranos’ comes close and is much cooler in its way, but for sheer joie de vivre Cagney wins.  

Q> Favourite film soundtrack or score?

Joy> Currently it’s Michael Giacchino’s score for ‘The Batman’. To take on such well-worn territory and make it your own in such a distinctive and thrilling way is quite a feat. I went to that movie expecting to be bored and ended up seeing it three times at the cinema, and part of that is down to the music, most of all that menacing piano that perfectly captures the mood. I listen to it when I walk in the rain with my hood up, pretending “I am vengeance”. 

Q> And finally track you’d love to sync?

Joy> I have a whole sequence worked out in my head for ‘Remember Tomorrow’ by Iron Maiden. It’s such a vast track that goes from kindling embers into a roaring expanse. I’d love it to be the lynchpin of a futuristic feature that’s soundtracked entirely by awesome old British rock. Watch this space, it’s gotta happen…