Hollywood superstar Javier Bardem credits AC/DC‘s 1979 album Highway To Hell as the album that changed his life.
The Spanish actor, currently starring as Max Cady in Apple TV’s remake of Cape Fear, and recently acclaimed for his performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, revealed his gateway into the world of rock and metal during an appearance on popular online series Subway Takes. Bardem’s ‘hot take’ is ‘Hard rock and metal are the best music genres, with the best fans and the best audiences!’, which host Kareem Rahma was “100 per cent” in agreement with.
“That’s sick!,” Rahma responds. “Unexpected and great!”
Bardem, 57, tells the host that he’s been a “headbanger” since the ’80s, and says that there’s a “brotherhood” when you’re a metal fan, with mutual respect and admiration shared.
“It’s a really great energizing music that puts you… puts me in my place, like helps me also to relax, whether you believe it or not.”
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“The first album that I remember was Highway To Hell,” he reveals. “I was 10. And the moment that I heard – sings the title track’s main riff – my life changed. That moment, I was like, this is what I want to listen to for the rest of my life.”
Bardem goes on to namecheck Metallica, Bad Omens, and Falling In Reverse as bands he’s currently listening to, and gives a shout out to Linkin Park’s Emily Armstrong as an “amazing singer”.
Back In June, Bardem revealed that listening to Slipknot, Linkin Park,Falling In Reverse and Bad Omens helped inspire his frighteningly intense performance as vengeance-seeking psychopath Max Cady in the new Cape Fear.
“We absolutely went for a metal look, I loved that,” the star told Kerrang!
“I listened to five songs especially,” he says. “Two from Linkin Park, Given Up, with the great Chester [Bennington], and Up From The Bottom from the last album, From Zero. I think [Emily Armstrong] is an amazing singer.
“She really brought it back,” he continues. “Those two songs really express frustration and the fight for raising up from [one’s] own ashes that [resonates] with Max. And songs by Slipknot, Falling In Reverse, and Bad Omens. I’m so bad with the names of songs, but they were in my head all day long before doing anything and helped put me in the mood.”