“Unchained Melody makes me want to live out Swayze fantasies”: Gary Jarman’s honest playlist | music

The first song I fell in love with
You’re just one of the flying pegs – at least according to my mother [my twin brother and bandmate] Ryan and I were singing along to the Christmas song Top of the Pops with her. We now use it as our live song and it makes my mom very emotional.

First song I bought
“Somewhere in My Heart” was written by Aztec Camera, from Boots in Wakefield in 1988, after hearing it at a disco while on holiday at the Pontins in Morecambe.

The song I play at karaoke
Baltimore’s Tarzan Boy had a second life after his appearance in Stranger Things, but I was only doing so because he was still relatively obscure. The best part is when you get to the chorus and the words are just “oh-oh-oh”, screen after screen.

The song to which I inexplicably know all the words
Ryan and I both listened to the Bee Gees’ “Size Ain’t Everything” on cassette tape when it came out, so the lyrics to “For Whom the Bell Tolls” have been ingrained in my mind since 1993.

Best song to play at a party
“Young Bastards” is an alternative, because it’s exciting and raw but has more meaning than some stupid shit that gets off the rocks.

The song I can no longer listen to
When I was a teenager, I rinsed off Martika’s Toy Soldiers to the point where I couldn’t listen to it anymore.

The song I secretly love, but tell everyone I hate
The Power of Love by Jennifer Rush has everything I’d normally be averse to: it’s overly produced and too intensely emotional. But oh my god, I can’t stop myself from loving him.

Best song for sex
Given how much I love Patrick Swayze and Ghost, I think I’d like to live out my Swayze fantasies to the tune of Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers. It’s better than Gary getting a boner from the replacements.

The song that changed my life
A friend’s older brother made me a compilation tape that had all this heavy stuff on it — Sepultura, Pantera, Cannibal Corpse — but there was something about the tune of In Bloom by Nirvana that I could relate to. Nirvana went on to change my life.

The song that makes me cry
I have no qualms admitting that a lot of the songs make me cry. Two nights ago, I was listening to Beachwood Sparks’ cover of Sade’s By Your Side and I cried a little because it’s so beautiful.

The song that wakes me up in the morning
The Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy from Queen sounds like a great way to start the day.

The song I would want played at my funeral
“Be Here Now” by George Harrison, because it’s not a very sad thing. I don’t want to bother people with Gary’s Got a Boner by the Alternatives.

The Cris are touring the UK this month, starting from Leeds, 11 July.