Ian Griffin, What Are You Listening To?

Astronomer Ian Griffin Selects a Variety of Musical Stars

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Courtesy Ian Griffin

Ian Griffin

Ian Griffin's Picks
'Paradise' by Bruce Springsteen from 'The Rising'
'Good to Be on the Way Back Home' by Cornershop from 'When I Was Born for the 7th Time'
'Theme from Stingray' composed by Barry Gray from 'Television's Greatest Hits In Living Color'

All Things Considered, November 1, 2003 · All Things Considered enjoys finding out what regular people have playing on ther car stereos, their ipods and their turntables. Past visitors to "What Are You Listening To?" have included a postal worker, an artist and a middle-school student, to name but a few. This time, NPR's Steve Inskeep is joined by an astronomer. Ian Griffin watches the stars and listens to music in Baltimore, Md.

His first selection is from Bruce Springsteen. Griffin is enough of a fan of The Boss to have named an asteroid he discovered after him. After Sept. 11, Springsteen produced The Rising, and Griffin has been listening to "Paradise" from that CD.

His second pick comes from Cornershop, an Indian band from Britain. Cornershop plays with a variety of sounds -- including a version of The Beatles classic "Norwegian Wood" sung in Punjabi. Griffin is fond of "Good to Be on the Way Back Home" from the album When I Was Born for the 7th Time.

Selection three is a bit of a departure, and lots of fun. It's the theme from Stingray, a 1960s British TV show and cult favorite created by Gerry Anderson, the noted purveyor of science fiction programming (Thunderbirds, Space: 1999, UFO, Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons). Griffin and his colleagues used to make tapes of music from the shows to listen to while they worked. The composer is Barry Gray.

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