David Croft - Sports Broadcaster
There are some sports that are just more heavy metal than most. American Football, for example. Boxing. Wrestling. And then there’s motorsport. Specifically, there’s F1. And it’s just as well that F1 is the sporting equivalent of a KISS show in full flight, because the man whose voice has become synonymous with the sport is at his happiest when the guitars are turned up loud.
David Croft - or Crofty as he’s been affectionately known by everyone who’s worked with him since he started his career as a PR for the Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage back in the 80s - is possibly one of the world’s biggest Bruce Springsteen fans, and over the years that devotion has grown rather than diminished, to the point where he’s a walking encyclopaedia of knowledge about all things Boss-related.
But co-habiting with Springsteen in his ears is also metal. And not just old skool metal either, though he’s a very definite fan of Metallica, Iron Maiden and The Black Crowes, among others. You’ll also find him listening to the likes of Parkway Drive (a firm favourite also of McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo), The War On Drugs, and Guns N’ Roses. Oh, and he’s also an avid listener to - and champion of - independent metal station Primordial.
His tastes are so metal, in fact, that the rest of the Sky Sports commentary team (Martin Brundle aside) can’t bring themselves to listen to his pre-race playlist
Earlier this year, the Sadmen got the chance to spend an hour with the man himself and delve into his love affair with hard rock and heavy metal - an affair that started in earnest at Knebworth Park in 1985 and his first encounter with Deep Purple, Meat Loaf, UFO, the Scorpions and Blackfoot - among others - and has continued to his karaoke choices at the F1 constructors’ Christmas parties that he’s occasionally invited to.
Listen on the player below to discover how a eve-of-race Springsteen show in Barcelona almost rendered him literally speechless for the following day’s Spanish GP, his and the boys’ tribute to the simple pleasure of visiting a record shop, and how his journey with the music he loves - metal or not - has helped shape who he is today.
You can also scroll down further to find out his top 10 albums of all time.
Crofty’s Top 10 Albums of All Time
10. The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream (2014)
“There are some tracks on here that are unbelievably good. Underneath all of this is a man who’s really suffering - a lot of these songs build into a climax and I love the way the album just builds and builds and builds. I absolutely adore this album and I put it on when I just need to sit down and let music wash over me.”
9. Guns N’ Roses - Appetite For Destruction (1987)
“Appetite For Destruction is in the top ten because it has to be in the top ten, and if Guns N’ Roses had stopped after this I don’t think I’d have been disappointed, because nothing they did afterwards was as good. This is their Never Mind The Bollocks.
“This is just a sensational album. Twelve tracks by a band who were burning at their brightest and who weren’t going to burn for long.”
8. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks (1968)
“I put this in because there are some albums that you have to listen to at a certain time of the day, and if you listen to Astral Weeks for heaven’s sake don’t listen to it before eleven o’clock at night because you just won’t get what Van Morrison was trying to achieve.
“It’s a stream of consciousness that doesn’t necessarily make much sense. It’s rock folk blues jazz, a jam session with a bunch of musicians who were absolutely in the right moment together. And it contains Sweet Thing, which I think is just one of the most gorgeous tunes ever written.”
7. Jason Isbell - Southeastern (2014)
“This is not necessarily a happy album but it’s an album written by a man who is coming to terms with the way his life is, who doesn’t have the answers to how his life will pan out, but knows the answers will come eventually.
“No one is writing songs like Jason Isbell at the moment. I adore great lyricists, and he absolutely falls into that category.”
6. Queen - A Night At The Opera (1975)
“This was the most expensive album album ever made at the time they recorded it and this was Queen showing what Queen could really do when they were let loose in a studio - A Night At The Opera is every bit of this band’s talents.
“Bohemian Rhap[sody does tend to dominate most people’s view of this album, but The Prophet’s Song is an amazing piece of operatic rock, 39 is a wonderful folky tune that George Michael used to busk to, Love of My Life is a beautiful song. There are so many great tracks on this album.
“It’s the first album I ever bought and I still play it to this day.”
5. Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast (1982)
“I loved Number Of The Beast. This was just the dog’s, wasn’t it? Invaders could have been a better opening track, but it starts slow and builds to a cresecendo. Then there’s Children of the Damned - my god, you see the difference between DiAnno and Dickinson on a track like that!
“But it’s tracks 5 through 8 - Number of the Beast, Run to the Hills, Gangland and Hallowed Be Thy Name - that make the album. Commercial they may be, but they’re still staples in a Maiden set today.”
4. Bruce Springsteen - Darkness On The Edge Of Town (1978)
“There are a lot of Springsteen fans out there who’ll be wondering why this isn’t in the top 3, and the simple reason is that I prefer the other one that is in my top 3.
“I’m a hopeless optimist. I dream of better days and there’s something in Born To Run that strikes a chord with me in every single track.
“Darkness On The Edge of Town is a great introduction to Springsteen, but it’s an album he wrote after a long protracted dispute with his former manager that stopped him recording any music for a couple of years.
“This is a more grown up Springsteen. There’s a more guitar orientated sound than was on Born To Run. This is regarded by many of his fans as his best work.”
3. Metallica - Ride The Lightning (1984)
“Who agrees with me that this is the best Metallica album of all time? Ride The Lightning is the album that introduced the proper Metallica to the world.
“The confidence this band had to put out an album with acoustic guitar in a thrash metal album showed they had the guts and belief that what they were doing would be appreciated by the majority of people.
“They could have continued doing what they were doing and we’d all have been very happy with that, but they experimented and there are just some intense tracks on this album as a result.”
2. The Black Crowes - The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion (1992)
“The Black Crowes could have been the biggest band on the planet, but a mixture of greed, drug taking, the fight for control that wasa going on, and several bad decisions, they didn’t become the banmd they should have become.
“This album is The Black Crowes’ legacy - a great album that the world should appreciate and enjoy. It took eight days to record and I think it’s incredible.”
1. Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run (1976)
“I think Thunder Road is the most beautiful song ever written. The whole album is full of images that Springsteen set to music. Lyrics like these only get written once, and for me this is an album of hope.
“The album is a band that’s finding its feet. The Vietnam War had just ended and Springsteen captures the mood of a nation with this.
“It’s also the album where the band is joined by Clarence Clemons and its a colelction of songs that celebrates Springsteen, the white rock star and Clemons, the Black horn guy, not just as friends but partners.
“Just a fabulous album.”