Pop: Riffs

The First and Last Records Bought By Lou Barlow, lead singer of Sebadoh

First record

Commander Cody and His Lost Airman: "Hot Rod Lincoln"

It was a one-hit wonder - surprised? I really liked it, but then I was only seven years old. It just seemed exciting. It's a very fast song about someone getting arrested for speeding. The hook was a man saying to his son that it would drive him to drink if he carried on driving that hot rod Lincoln. It's a song with a real jocular guitar, rock-a-Billy style. It was the type of silly single I bought at that age, which is quite frightening because everything I hear has some influence on me.

Last Record

Johnny Cash: "Greatest Hits"

My parents had one Johnny Cash record, so I was introduced to him when I was a kid. This is an album of his earliest hits, very minimal music - stripped-down guitar, bass and drum. The songs are two minutes long apiece and have very simple lyrics. His songs may all sound approximately the same, but I love them all.

Sebadoh release `Flame' (Domino) on 18 January 1999, and play The Astoria, London on 19 January