We’re putting Stirling University’s tutors under examination as we ask them what their favourite eight songs are. This week, biology’s Tim Whalley is going under the microscope.

The bird pattern shirt is, admittedly, better than The Tab logo

NAME: Dr Tim Whalley

DEPARTMENT: Biology

I AM THE ONE WHO: Likes to talk about aardvarks.

THE FIRST RECORD I BOUGHT WAS: Black & White by The Stranglers. I got into music through the son of my parents’ friends, so I was introduced to pop music via David Bowie. I had a good place to start, so thankfully my first record isn’t embarrassing.

MY FAVOURITE EIGHT SONGS ARE:

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“Monkey Man” – Toots and the Maytals

I’m a big fan of reggae and so is my wife. She was brought up in South America and this was always playing on the radio as she was driven around Georgetown Guyana. She absolutely loved it and still does. It’s fantastic and very funny.

“At Home He’s A Tourist” – Gang of Four

This reflects where I was really at in my late teens – Marxist pop-punk. Gang of Four were one of the first bands I ever saw, a real mixture of aggressive punk-rock and funkadelic beats and rhythms. They were very political and very influential, too – Red Hot Chili Peppers always say Gang of Four were one of the bands that influenced them. They were fantastic live, too, one of the best bands I’ve ever seen.

“Safe European Home” – The Clash

I saw The Clash, one of my favourite ever bands, a couple of times, at a club called Friars in Aylesbury, where I was brought up. Gigs were rather different to now, where big bands play big venues. Back then, it was all about touring the clubs and venues with capacities of about two thousand. Between the ages of 15 and 18 I must’ve seen about 100 bands in Friars, including The Clash, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, The Jam, The Specials and Madness.

“Atmosphere” – Joy Division

Joy Division were a great band and very depressing – though I actually find depressing music to be quite uplifting in a contradictory way. ‘Atmosphere’ is just a very beautiful song, one of those that you might pick to be played at your funeral because it’s so beautiful. I never saw Joy Division live. I was due to, but then the lead singer Ian Curtis killed himself two weeks before the gig at Friars.

“Frank’s Wild Years” – Tom Waits

Tom Waits is a strange guy with a voice that sounds like he’s been gargling with gravel and acid. He writes little vignettes about low-life America, and this track is from an album called Swordfishtrombones, a really interesting album with lots of musical styles. The song’s about a middle-aged, middle-class guy who gets pissed off with life, sets fire to his house and drives off into the sunset. It’s just Tom Waits dictating, with an organ, and that’s it – but it conjures up so many interesting images of noir films and Edward Hopper paintings.

“The Rite of Spring” – Stravinsky

Stravinsky was an innovative composer and influenced 20^th century music completely. ‘The Rite of Spring’ was a ballet that provoked riots because Stravinsky used violins and strings as percussion, which was totally new. It was brutal and bestial, about a ritual dance and sacrifice of a young girl to celebrate the Siberian spring. It’s definitely influenced film scores – the Psycho death scene and the shark from Jaws come directly from Stravinsky.

“Fruhling” – Strauss

This is one of Strauss’s ‘Four Last Songs’ – the last bits of music he wrote as he was dying. It’s just the most serenely beautiful music you could ever hear, especially this song. It shows that even someone in their last days is capable of fantastic beauty. This version is sung by Jessye Norman, a proper operatic diva with a fabulous voice – she doesn’t need amplification, if she sings, windows shatter.

“Gloria” – J.S. Bach

This music is very religious and I’m not. But I am a big fan of how people’s religious devotion leads to the production of beauty. There’s a lot of fantastic music based on religion and some of the world’s most gorgeous buildings are the cathedrals of Europe. Mass In B Minor, of which this is a part, goes on for about two hours, so you can find something new every time you listen to it.