While many Hollywood stars gravitate towards romantic dramas, Johnny Depp stands distinct, often embracing eccentric character roles. From a swashbuckling, Keith Richards-inspired pirate to a scissor-handed loner and a Mad Hatter, Depp’s portfolio knows no bounds.

Depp’s unconventional path seems to reflect his complex relationship with Hollywood. As the actor’s fans know, his most profound passion lies not in acting but in rock music.

It was only at the urging of his close friend Nicolas Cage that Depp finally embraced acting in the late 1980s following underwhelming musical exploits.

“I ended up acting by accident,” Depp said during his closely followed defamation trial in 2022. “I was a musician, and I moved out to LA with my band when I was 20 years old….

There were a couple of things that happened where the band split up. I remember I was filling out a couple of job applications with a friend of mine.”

In recent years, Depp has fervently embraced his childhood dream of becoming a rock star.

Alongside his ongoing involvement with the supergroup Hollywood Vampires, in which he jams with Alice Cooper and Joe Perry, Depp embarked on a short musical collaboration with guitar hero Jeff Beck.

The pair toured prolifically and released the 2022 album 18 before Beck’s death in January 2023.

Beyond his friendship with Beck, Depp is a keen admirer of The Rolling Stones’ co-founding guitarist Keith Richards.

When appearing as the drunken pirate in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Depp sought to channel his inner Richards.

While picking out some of his all-time favourite albums in a 2009 feature with Entertainment Weekly, Depp praised Richards’ 1989 solo album, Unknown Dreams. “

Recorded in Toronto as Keith faced a prison sentence on a drugs charge, carrying a potential of life inside [he got probation], these eight tracks or so could make a grown man weep,” Depp noted of his choice. “Disarming, fragile, soulful. The sound of a man at the very edge, looking out.”

Throughout the feature, Depp let his deep adoration for The Rolling Stones shine forth, with two Stones albums, Tattoo You and Sticky Fingers, among the 17-strong selection.

“Almost impossible to pick one LP, even more difficult to name just two, as they are all glorious, but these efforts have successfully soundtracked many a riotous late night out, slurping up the city, in another life,” Depp said of his Stones selections.

In his selections, Depp also paid tribute to his close friend, New York punk poet Patti Smith, picking out three of her albums. “To be honest, I could choose any Patti Smith record,” he said.

“They are each a gift from the gods. Alongside Dylan, Waits, and Richards, she is one of music’s great survivors and a true legend in every sense of the word. As important a poet as has ever drawn breath.”

Listen to ‘Sister Morphine’ from The Rolling Stones’ 1971 masterpiece album Sticky Fingers below.