John Summit’s music taste is much more far-reaching than what you might think. In an interview with Rolling Stone Recommends, the DJ star shared his love for several of his favorite artists, including a recent deep dive into the Sixties and also Lady Gaga.
“I’ve been listening to a lot of Beach Boys, to be honest, especially since Brian Wilson passed away and he was such an amazing songwriter,” he says, calling “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” his favorite song by them. “The first time I got put onto the Beach Boys? Honestly, just through Reddit, because the ‘Let’s Talk Music’ subreddit is great, and where you can get very nerdy with everything, and I didn’t realize how incredible of a songwriter Brian Wilson was until I fully dove into it, and I just find that whole thing interesting and so fascinating.”
Summit also shared his love for Radiohead, Chappell Roan, Billie Eilish, and Charli XCX. He added that he really enjoys how young artists are trying new sonics in their approach, going further than the trends.
“I feel like last summer, especially pop music crushed [it], and it was very inspiring because it was very forward-thinking. It wasn’t formulaic, it wasn’t generic,” Summit said. “I started to hate pop music in the 2010s because everything sounded the same and it sounded like it was all written by the same person … Charli, Billie, absolutely crushed it. Chappell Roan, because she’s a Midwest girl. So Midwest, I think it’s really the art she creates is incredible.”
Oh, and Summit loves Lady Gaga, and is sad he still hasn’t gotten to see her Mayhem Ball Tour — but did get to catch her historic Coachella performance.
“She’s been the top of the game for years and years and years, and just so incredible live,” Summit said, adding that “her set design for her show is insane … It was like watching a whole movie. And then she sang fully live, of course, too, which is crazy.”
During the interview, Summit shared his thoughts on club etiquette, Chicago food, his Burning Man set, and also why he’s not a fan of the “Marvel-ization of cinema.”
“I didn’t like it, I didn’t really follow it too much, and everything just became so big budget, and then it kind of was the death of medium budget movies, especially comedies and everything like that,” he said. “It was just very green screen heavy, and I wasn’t a huge fan.”
