Elijah Wood:

ELIJAH WOOD STROLLS through a Hollywood theater complex, a bag of CDs in one hand and a cigarette in the other. He sits at an outdoor table and orders coffee. And matches. Wood smokes a lot. In a couple of hours, he sucks on six or seven cigs as though they supply oxygen.

Despite the smokes, and the almost-beard that’s struggling to assert itself on his angelic face, Wood could still pass for 14. At 21, he’s already established a strong acting career. In 1997, he had a notable turn as a stoned high schooler in Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm, and today, thanks to an inescapable three-part fantasy saga called The Lord of the Rings, he’s a global superstar.

Wood, playing head hobbit Frodo Baggins in the trilogy, is eager to see The Two Towers, the new installment: “I haven’t seen it yet, but I know it’s going to be much better than the first one.”

Movies, it seems, are only Wood’s second-favorite subject – when he talks about music, his blue eyes blaze: “I love music so much. But I would never try to be like other actors and attempt to make some myself. I mean, have you heard 30 Seconds to Mars?” Upon learning that Jared Leto’s nü-metal act has somehow managed to evade Blender’s ears, Wood nearly shouts: “Fucking awful, man! I love music too much to ever do it any harm.”

This fall, the nü-metal-hata’s been preparing to embark on a worldwide promotional circus for The Two Towers by winnowing his collection to the bare-bones 300 CDs he’ll bring along for company. “One day, I’d love to have my own label,” he says, dragging on cigarette number seven. “Just something small. But highly influential, of course.” Of course…”Smashing Pumpkins, Siamese Dream
Virgin, 1993
“This was the first band I ever really worshiped, and this album meant everything to me. I’ve always stuck by them because of Siamese Dream, even though most people I know hate them, or, more specifically, hate Billy Corgan. I hope that in years to come people will reappraise it and realize that Corgan was perhaps the greatest songwriter of his generation.”


The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses
Silvertone, 1989
“I discovered it in New Zealand when we were filming The Lord of the Rings. Every time I play it, it fills me with memories of Frodo Baggins. It’s so innovative and progressive, and it has influenced so many people. The band’s story is a sad one, because the success of this record effectively ruined them – but maybe it’s even better because of that. My favorite album ever? Could be.”


Verbena, Souls for Sale
Merge, 1997
“I came upon them by accident, reading an article in a magazine. That’s what I do: I read about all different kinds of music, then I go out and experiment. It didn’t exactly sound like my thing, but I liked their enthusiasm, so I bought it. This is just a brilliant record.”


Miles Davis, Kind of Blue
Columbia, 1959
“This was the first record that really got me into jazz, back in ’96, ’97. I’d heard a little jazz at that point – Coltrane, Ellington – but I was intent on finding the perfect introduction. As soon as I heard this, I thought it was unbelievable. I’ve since branched off into lots of other kinds of jazz, but this remains a special album.”


Black Sabbath, Paranoid
Warner Bros., 1971
“I got into this during my mid-’90s metal stage. There is absolutely no correlation between this and the current crop of nü-metal, which, if you ask me, can get fucked. I hate all that shit: Limp Bizkit and Disturbed can go to hell. It’s not rock at all, and if it is, then it’s not good rock. The only band that comes close is maybe Queens of the Stone Age. The others suck.”


Buffalo Daughter, New Rock
Grand Royal, 1998
“Whenever I get tired of American music, I start reading, searching the Internet and browsing through record stores for weird shit. This is one I came up with recently. It’s two girls and one guy from Japan, and they do rock and dance-type electronica, with funk and soul thrown in. They do things with music that no American band can do. It’s impossible to get tired of. Check it out.”


The Sundays, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic
DGC, 1990
“I absolutely adore this album. I was really into discovering new things when it came out – I must have been 10 – and here was this cute band from England that the British press was going wild over. I liked the fact that I got it before any of my friends! The Sundays haven’t been very productive since, have they? [Sighs] I really do love them.”


The Meters, Look-Ka Py Py
Sundazed, 1970
“The Meters started in the ’60s in New Orleans and were partly made up of Neville brothers – as in the Neville Brothers. It’s the kind of thing I like to hear with a few buddies when we’re going to have an all-night session, you know? It’s that kind of music: instant atmosphere. It may be hard to dig up this album, but you have to try to find it – it’s worth it.”


A Tribe Called Quest, Midnight Marauders
Jive, 1993
“I like a lot of hip-hop – always have. I like the delivery, the poetry. And Q-Tip must have the best rap voice of them all. This has to be my favorite rap album, or at least my joint favorite alongside De La Soul Is Dead, which is another truly fantastic rap album. If I had to pick one? OK, this one, but just by a whisper.”


Prince, 1999
Warner Bros., 1983
“I’ve always loved Prince. He’s a genius. Or was a genius – he hasn’t done anything great for almost a decade. But the years ’79 to ’88, he was untouchable. He couldn’t write a bad song. I think 1999 is funkier than anything he’s ever done before or since, and it probably contains my favorite Prince songs, from ‘Lady Cab Driver’ to ‘D.M.S.R.’ It has so many different flavors, this album – it’s awesome.”