Politics from the Palouse to Puget Sound

Monday, April 14, 2008

Your Desert Island Discs

Okay, I know this is as hackneyed as it can be, but what 10 CDs would you need if you were marooned on a desert island? What songs wouldn't you mind hearing over and over again until you die?

I'm a child of the Seventies, going from age 7 to 16 in that decade. Elton John and my family's recent purchase of Rock Band for the Xbox 360 has gotten me thinking back to my rock-and-roll roots.

Here's my list, in no particular order:

  • Abbey Road, The Beatles - The Fab Four saved the best for last

  • Pet Sounds, The Beach Boys - One of the best albums ever with the best song ever

  • Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd - My seventh-grade Algebra teacher played it during class

  • Nevermind, Nirvana - The last really good rock album ever made

  • Appetite for Destruction, Guns-N-Roses - I dare ya to not play air guitar while listening to Sweet Child O' Mine

  • Get The Knack, The Knack - Yeah, I know it doesn't deserve to be up there with the greats, but to a 16-year old boy sick to death of the Bee Gees and disco, My Sharona was like an oasis in the desert

  • The Game, Queen - Again, not necessarily an all-time classic, but a favorite from my high school days

  • Pyromania, Def Leppard - Four words: Gunter Glieben Glotten Globen

  • Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Elton John - At age 12, the first time I really became aware of the "concept" album

  • Zenyattà Mondatta, The Police - Sting and the lads have made some good ones, but I think this was their best.


  • What are your "Desert Island Discs?"

    8 comments:

    Michael said...

    Only ten, huh?

    Well, here goes.
    1) My Fair Lady soundtrack. My all time favorite Broadway musical.

    2) Frank Zappa, “The Mothers, Filmore East, June 1971. I wasn’t at the concert, but I saw the Mothers shortly afterword while they were on the same tour.

    3) Handel’s “Messiah”

    4) The Music Man soundtrack. My all time second favorite Broadway musical.

    5) Big Brother and the Holding Company, “Cheap Thrills”

    6) Steely Dan, “Aja”

    7) Jethro Tull, “Thick as a Brick”

    8) Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony

    9) Cream, “Wheels of Fire”

    10) Frank Zappa, “Just Another Band From LA”

    Area Man said...

    I'll play. From over here on the east side of the border:
    1. "Toys in the Attic" Aerosmith
    2. "Women and Children First" Van Halen
    3. "Tejas" ZZ Top
    4. "Principle of Moments" Robert Plant
    5. "Double Live Gonzo" Ted Nugent (the definitive version of "Great White Buffalo")
    6. "Greatest Hits" Hank Williams Jr.
    7. "Slowhand" Eric Clapton
    8. "4" Led Zeppelin (yeah, I know, predictable)
    9. "Diver Down" Van Halen
    10. "Weekend Warriors" Ted Nugent (For the album cover, if nothing else!)

    Scotty said...

    My list is in alphabetical order. I also added two wrinkles. 1) I could not choose a "Greatest Hits" album. 2) I could only choose one album per band.
    And to the shock of many, the Reverend is nowhere to be found in my top ten...

    AC/DC - Back in Black

    Alan Jackson - Don't Rock the Jukebox

    Black Sabbath - Paranoid

    Heart - Dreamboat Annie

    Landis - Breakups and Booze

    Led Zeppelin - IV

    Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory

    Offspring - Smash

    Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

    Van Halen - Van Halen

    April E. Coggins said...

    1-10. Frank Sinatra

    Give me 10 CD's with Frank Sinatra and I would happily banish myself to a desert island. It would be heaven.

    Barenjager said...

    I'll cheat and start with a boxed set

    10: Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen (Solti)

    9: Emerson, Lake and Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery

    8: The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - Best of the Bonzos

    7: Jimmy Buffett - Changes in Latituedes, Changes in Atitudes

    6: Neil Young - Harvest

    5: Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

    4: Hank Williams - 40 Greatest Hits

    3: Jethro Tull - Aqualung

    2: Joan Jett - I Love Rock n' Roll

    1: The Who - Tommy

    I'd probably cheat again and smuggle in The Blues Brothers - Briefcase Full of Blues. Oh, what the heck. I'd have to bring CSNY - So Far and Jefferson Airplane - Worst Of, too.

    Satanic Mechanic said...

    1. Slayer's Seasons in the Abyss

    2. KMFDM - Symbols

    3. Metallica - Justice for all (everything after the Black album sucked).

    4. Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds

    5. Coven - Ble$$ed is the Black

    6. Star Blazers - 40 song compilation CD

    7. KMFDM - Light

    8. Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe

    9. Iron Maiden - Number of the beast

    10. Godzilla CD - soundtracks to the movies.

    Satanic Mechanic said...

    Barenjager,
    My mother loves Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen". Whenever that opera plays in Seattle, she makes a vacation of it. It takes three days to perform the opera.
    My mother also gave the name to my electric car "Grane", the mythical flying horse in the opera.

    Barenjager said...

    I'd have to bring my wife so she could bring ten more

    10: Fleetwood Mac - Rumors

    9: Bee Gees - Greatest Hits

    8: Peter Frampton - Frampton Comes Alive

    7: Heart - Little Queen

    6: Grease - Original Soundtrack

    5: Bee Gees - Best Of

    4: Stevie Nicks - Bella Donna

    3: Beatles - Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

    2: Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

    1: Fleetwood Mac - Tusk

    Ok, ok. I know she likes all these. They may not be her very favorites but they are the ones she listens to that wouldn't cause me to either sacrifice her to the volcano gods or just make me jump in the ocean and start swimming.

    I mean really; have you ever had to listen to The Monkees?