Jeremy Piven of “The Goods”

While hanging at an L.A. Mexican restaurant, Jeremy Piven whips out his playlist for this exclusive ARTISTdirect.com feature. He really does have The Goods on his iTunes…

A Taste:

Rage Against the Machine, Common, Arctic Monkeys, Ben Harper

Once you get Barbara Streisand’s stamp of approval, you’ve officially made it.

Not that anyone is actively seeking it, or should be for that matter, but it’s quite an accolade nonetheless. Jeremy Piven got it because of his uproariously funny performance as Don Ready in The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard [Paramount] alongside Babs’ hubby James Brolin.

“The movie was as funny as I’d thought it be,” Piven laughs with a big smile. “Barbara Streisand liked it. I don’t know if she thought it was going to work, but guess what it worked! It worked, Babs [Laughs]!”

It works because Piven has got rhythm. He continues, “I’ve played the drums and I have my whole life. Maybe having some sort of rhythm helps with timing.” That makes it easy from him to slyly slip into Don Ready’s car salesman skin, and his performance has made for one of the funniest films of the whole year.

Music definitely helps him on set too. “Music can be so powerful for me,” continues Piven. “I remember when I was doing Smokin’ Aces, the director Joe Carnahan would actually play music. It can always get you to a place you want to get to. The Goods has more of a Sam & Dave kind of soundtrack. That’s the part where you put Sam and Dave under this entire interview [Laughs].”

Piven just plain rocks, and he spends a lot of time cranking his favorite bands. He shared his playlist with ARTISTdirect.com in this exclusive feature.

Check out Jeremy Piven’s playlist below and don’t miss him in The Goods this Friday!

Jeremy Piven’s Playlist:

1. Ben Harper — White Lies for Dark Times

Right now I’m listening to the new Ben Harper. I like that.

2. Arctic Monkeys

The new Artic Monkeys is good too.

3. Rage Against the Machine

I listen to a lot of Rage Against the Machine. I like almost every single Rage record. They’re pretty great! I like them live—they’re really great live.

4. Common

I’m also cranking some world beat stuff and a little Common. The last Common record [Universal Mind Control] was good.

5. Afrika Bambaataa

6. The Goods

The Goods should come out with a soundtrack because the music’s pretty cool in it. I like the retro stuff like the “Fox On The Run” song that plays on the trailer. I’m not going to tell you what to do, but you will be doing it [Laughs].

—Rick Florino
08.10.09

Tags: Arctic Monkeys, Ben Harper, Common, Jeremy Piven of "The Goods", Rage Against the Machine