Lady Gaga sat down with Rolling Stone for an installment of the publication’s video series “My Life in 10 Songs” — but she was so passionate about the topic, she ended up choosing 15 songs instead.
Her selections spanned multiple genres, including jazz from Miles Davis and Dinah Washington; classic rock from Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin; alternative rock from Beck and The Cure; soft rock by Carole King; R&B from Stevie Wonder, and “theatrical” music by David Bowie.
One particularly interesting choice was Iron Butterfly‘s 1968 rocker “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” whose title originated from the band being too drunk to properly sing “In the Garden of Eden.” According to Gaga, the song showed her it was okay to write songs with nonsense words in them — something she later did in songs like “Bad Romance” and “Abracadabra.”
Gaga also chose songs from several lesser known acts, including the U.K. hard rock/glam band Heavy Metal Kids, French electronic duo Justice, goth-dance group She Wants Revenge and the late Carl Bean, whose 1977 song “I Was Born This Way” directly inspired Gaga’s own hit “Born This Way.”
While some of Gaga’s choices might initially seem odd or random, she has detailed explanations for each selection, clearly outlining how the songs — and the artists behind them — shaped and influenced her own music.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
